The Parable of the Large White Church
Why many white churches will never have racial and ethnic diversity.
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Sometimes a ancient storytelling device can be a helpful vehicle for sharing a modern truth.
Recently, I used the format of a parable to illustrate why many predominantly white churches may never have the racial and ethnic diversity they say they want.
I called it “The Parable of the Large White Church.”
It is modeled after the story of the rich young ruler in the gospels.
Jesus told his followers that one day a rich young man came to him and asked, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 18:18).
Jesus cited some of the 10 Commandments, and the young man basically said, “Yeah. Yeah. I got all that. I’m good, right?”
But then Jesus goes after the true source of the man’s confidence—his money.
“You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me” (Luke 18:22).
The young man went away sad because he had a lot of money, and he would have to give up his source of security to live the dangerous life of a disciple.
The twist at the end of the story has challenged generations of Christians to examine what it truly means to be a follower of Jesus and what may be holding them back.
I thought, “What if we took this familiar story structure and applied it to race and diversity in the church?
The result is what follows below.
Parable of a Large White Church
A certain group of church leaders from a very large church asked a racial justice expert*, “Teacher what must our church do to have diversity?”
The expert answered, “You know the racial reconciliation commandments. You shall preach equality, you shall do pulpit swaps, you shall hire a Black musical worship leader.”
“All of these we have kept since the racial justice protests of 2020,” the church leaders said.
When the racial justice expert heard this he said to the them, “You still lack one thing. Commit yourselves to dismantling systemic racism and let the rich, angry donors withdraw their money. Then you will have diversity.”
When they heard this the church leaders were very sad, because their church was very wealthy.
*The racial justice expert stands in the place of Jesus not as savior but as teacher and guide.
Applications
Of course, this parable does not only apply to large white churches. It has relevance for small churches, urban, rural, and suburban settings, churches comprised of races and ethnicities other than white.
The lesson need not even apply just to churches. It contains truth that any organization needs to hear.
This is a story that helps us get at the real reasons why we don’t see more racial progress in our society.
We may grab the low-hanging fruit of diversity, but we hesitate to strain ourselves to reach higher levels of understanding and integration.
What’s stopping us?
Too often in the past and the present, the deciding factor on whether an organization makes substantive changes for racial diversity is money.
Pursuing racial justice will not generally win you more congregants or attendees. It won’t get you a huge uptick in donations.
More likely, your church or institution will face backlash, lose members, and see the bank accounts dwindle.
But it is necessary that we move beyond piety and performance to solidarity and sacrifice in order to see racial justice today.
The problem with pursuing racial justice is not that we don’t know what to do, it’s that we aren’t willing to do it.
Maybe when we realize how much we have in common with the rich young ruler who went away sad when he realized the cost of following Jesus and justice, we can humbly stop going through the motions of faithfulness and become true agents of uplift.
Our small, rural church started by removing the flags from the Sanctury and lost members and working to build a thicker theology within a core of members to reach into our Latino neighbors. Some are participating in racial righteousness programs through our denomination, too.
Wow. Parables communicate in a unique and highly effective way. This turbo-charges my understanding and insight into what is going on.