Multiracial But Not Multicultural

The challenge of racially diverse churches

Christian colleges and universities used to be the main places that booked me to speak. No longer. Many are afraid of being labeled “woke” or pushing CRT. Those invitations compromised a large part of my budget, but now I rely much more on Substack readers like you. Consider becoming a paid supporter today.

---

While it is still mostly true that “11 o’clock am on Sunday morning is the most segregated hour in America,” that reality has been changing with the rise of multiracial churches.

Also called multi-ethnic churches, they are defined as places where no single racial or ethnic group comprises more than 80 percent of the congregation.

A study on multiracial congregations found that the percentage of such congregations increased from 6 percent in 1998 to 19 percent in 2019. 

Tripling the number of multiracial churches in about 20 years is not insignificant.

But even though the number of multiracial churches is growing, they are not always welcoming places for people of color, especially Black people.

Many of them have multiple races but are still not multicultural.

I recently spoke at a conference and I reference this reality during my talk. It elicited, by far, the most “amens” and enthusiastic agreement of anything I said, especially among the Black people.

I can relate.

Photo Credit: Sam Balye

Multiracial Churches Often Cater to White People

Early in my ministry I bought wholesale into two ideas: 1) that the Christian church was best equipped to lead the way toward racial reconciliation in the nation and 2) that if Christians were going to be leaders in reconciliation we had to have more multiracial churches.

In 2011, I resigned from my job as a middle school principal and eagerly moved to Jackson, Mississippi. I had enrolled in seminary there and, more significantly, I found an intentionally multiracial church with a Black pastor where I wanted to intern.

While I gained great friends and a lot of experiences in both seminary and the church where I interned, I also came to see that true racial unity was going to take a lot more work than getting different “hues in the pews,” as I say.

The reality of many multiracial churches is that they remain white-centered in their theory and practice.

Korie Little Edwards, author of The Elusive Dream: The Power of Race in Interracial Churches, wrote,

“The cultures and structures of interracial churches emulate those more commonly observed in white churches. Interracial churches tend to cater to the predilections of whites. The worship styles and practices mainly suit the desires of whites.”

I’ve often said, a church or institution moving toward racial and ethnic diversity only goes as fast as the most fragile white person in their midst.

The pace of change in diversity efforts is often dictated by white people.

In multiracial settings, people of color and perhaps a small group of white people, want to make significant changes as fast as possible. But far too frequently, all it takes is one disgruntled white person or white constituency to slam the brakes on progress.

This dynamic in multiracial churches privileges the fragility of white people instead of centering the needs of the marginalized.

The Movement Toward Multiracial Churches Is One-Way

There’s also an “If you build it, they will come” mentality in many white-centered multiracial churches.

Michael Emerson, a sociologist and co-author of the influential book Divided by Faith, said in an interview,

“All the growth [in multiracial churches] has been people of color moving into white churches. We have seen zero change in the percentage of whites moving into churches of color.”

These churches are typically led by a white senior minister or they are existing congregations that started with a nearly all-white membership that now wants to diversify.

So, in their mission to be multiracial, they say all people are welcome, hire a few people of color, and invite folks of different races and ethnicities to join in what they are already doing.

Multiracial churches struggle to truly be multicultural because white Christians with white cultural church practices expect people of color to enter “their” spaces and assimilate into the existing culture.

It never seriously crosses their minds to leave their white churches and go to churches made up predominantly of Black and brown folks.

That means Black people and other people of color are making most of the sacrifices for the sake of diversity

It means struggling through unfamiliar music, sermons that don’t address their core concerns, programs and services that don’t fit their needs, traveling to majority white communities, and more.

Movement in the reverse—white people going to congregations that are majority people of color—shifts the cultural dynamic to give white people the opportunity to learn from people of color and expand their experience of church.

The question white people often ask is, “If I go to a Black church, will I mess it up?”

No. You don’t have that much power.

I also don’t foresee so many white people deciding to join Black churches that any sort of ecclesiastical gentrification takes place.

So go.

Support for Trump Is Harming Multiracial Church Efforts

In recent years, white Christian support for Donald Trump has further revealed rifts that lurked beneath the surface when Black people and other people of color worshiped in white churches.

In an article I’ve often cited titled “A Quiet Exodus” Emerson said,

“Everything we tried is not working. The [2016] election itself was the single most harmful event to the whole movement of reconciliation in at least the past 30 years. “It’s about to completely break apart.”

We saw this reality in several personal stories of Black Christians leaving their majority-white Christian spaces in our Pass The Mic podcast series called “Leave Loud.”

Many of these churches would have given lip-service to diversity and made gestures at racial reconciliation.

But they ignored or minimized the concerns of the many people who pointed out Trump’s racism and the danger his policies posed to people of color.

Multiracial Churches Have Theory Problem

Beyond the actual practices of multiracial churches and their struggle to become multicultural, there’s a flaw in the theory.

The emphasis on racial and ethnic diversity may actually work against the goal of diversity.

Edwards put it this way in an interview,

"I would argue that the goal shouldn't be diversity. Rather, all churches are called to be places of justice, uplifting the oppressed. That is what the Christian faith is. All churches, regardless of their racial and ethnic composition, should be like that. And then you can move toward integration."

When diversity itself is the goal, then the priority becomes keeping all different kinds of people in the church. That typically means playing the middle and avoiding any stances that might upset one group and make them leave.

You end up with a milquetoast approach to church that speaks eloquently about the need for and importance of racially diverse congregations while shrinking back from the hard but essential shifts that must happen in the church and society.

Instead, God-glorifying justice should be the goal.

Loving your neighbor well through action and attending to the personal and policy needs that affect their flourishing should be the priorities.

God loves justice (Psalm 11:7) and when communities of Christ-followers mobilize on mission to pursue justice, you get diversity in the process.

All kinds of different people link arms in their pursuit of God’s kingdom. But the focus is on Kingdom justice, not racial or ethnic diversity itself.

I realize there are healthy multiracial churches out there that are also multicultural. But such congregations appear to be the exception rather than the norm.

In order to fulfill the promise of multiracial congregations to bring about unity, they must become truly multicultural, too.

What is your experience with multiracial churches? How can churches be multicultural and not just multiracial? Share your thoughts below.

Many Black Christians never had the opportunity (or desire) to join white congregations. They worked for justice from out of the strength they found in the Black church. You can learn about dozens of such historical figures in The Spirit of Justice: True Stories of Faith, Race, and Resistance.