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I recently served on my church’s nominating committee. The nominating committee picks slates of candidates who are then elected to the church’s governing boards. The slates of candidates are chosen from names of members who are nominated by other church members (or who nominate themselves).
One governing board oversees the church’s legal, financial, personnel and other business-like matters, so we sought lawyers, people with HR and financial experience, etc. for that board.
When we were done with coming up with the slates of candidates, one member of the nominating committee became very upset because the candidates for the governing board above were disproportionately white men.
She convinced the nominating committee to remove all white men from the lists of candidates. Then the nominating committee sought people who weren’t white men to be candidates and when the nominating committee ran out of people, then the remaining slots of the candidate lists were filled by some white men. It was really hard to find enough people to fill all candidate positions even before white men were removed from the initial list of candidates.
1. Does this happen at your church?
2. What do you think of this?
3. If you were a white man who wanted to volunteer at the church, what would you do?
Replace the word white with black, and reread what you wrote. Its pure racism, plain and simple. These secular ideas belong nowhere in a church, and are Satan's doing.
If people can be nominated by others, OR can nominate themselves, then I don't see where the racism could possibly come in. Even if no one nominated non-white men, or women of any race, they could still nominate themselves, right? Assuming no volunteers would be turned down, there is no racism.
I have been a small-church member my entire life and all volunteers are always welcome, because there are never enough. I do recall one time when our pastor had to move to another state and helped the congregation set up a search committee for a new pastor before he left. At a meeting, he specifically recommended that we try to arrange for a roughly equal number of men and women on the committee, because their different perspectives would be valuable. But to have race mentioned has never happened in my experience.
Replace the word white with black, and reread what you wrote. Its pure racism, plain and simple. These secular ideas belong nowhere in a church, and are Satan's doing.
If people can be nominated by others, OR can nominate themselves, then I don't see where the racism could possibly come in. Even if no one nominated non-white men, or women of any race, they could still nominate themselves, right? Assuming no volunteers would be turned down, there is no racism.
Here’s how it works:
1. Anyone can nominate anyone (who is a church member) to be considered for being an officer.
2. The nominating committee then sorts through all of the names from step 1 and comes up with a list of candidates to be elected.
3. The whole church then votes to approve the list picked by the nominating committee.
In step 2, the nominating committee said “no” to the many white men who had been proposed at step 1 and filled only the seats that remained infilled after the nominating committee had tried to fill them with gays (who weren’t white men), women and people of color.
I recently served on my church’s nominating committee. The nominating committee picks slates of candidates who are then elected to the church’s governing boards. The slates of candidates are chosen from names of members who are nominated by other church members (or who nominate themselves).
One governing board oversees the church’s legal, financial, personnel and other business-like matters, so we sought lawyers, people with HR and financial experience, etc. for that board.
When we were done with coming up with the slates of candidates, one member of the nominating committee became very upset because the candidates for the governing board above were disproportionately white men.
She convinced the nominating committee to remove all white men from the lists of candidates. Then the nominating committee sought people who weren’t white men to be candidates and when the nominating committee ran out of people, then the remaining slots of the candidate lists were filled by some white men. It was really hard to find enough people to fill all candidate positions even before white men were removed from the initial list of candidates.
1. Does this happen at your church?
2. What do you think of this?
3. If you were a white man who wanted to volunteer at the church, what would you do?
4. Do other nonprofits pick volunteers this way?
Thanks.
My town is 99% white. Our church, and our leadership reflects that. I'd say that's a good principle. The church should reflect the community.
That said, it's irresponsible to appoint less qualified candidates based on skin color, white, or otherwise--regardless of good intentions or racist intentions.
My town is 99% white. Our church, and our leadership reflects that. I'd say that's a good principle. The church should reflect the community.
That said, it's irresponsible to appoint less qualified candidates based on skin color, white, or otherwise--regardless of good intentions or racist intentions.
I agree. Eliminating white male candidates just because they are white and male, and only reincluding them if there aren't enough minority and female candidates to fill all the positions, is both racist and sexist. That has no place in a church. Or in society either, in my opinion.
No, our church doesn't operate that way; but if we did, we'd likely have a lot of old white people elected because younger folks, parents, working folks with demanding jobs don't have the time to commit to church obligations. I volunteer at my church, but even that is a huge time suck that some in my family find annoying.
I think any group that provides guidance and direction should reflect their current population/needs as well as what is needed to sustain/grow it. For example, SO many churches are dying out and closing because the old folks in charge are doing the same things they have done for the last 50 years. If you want a church to thrive, you need to talk to your population. Younger folks to take up the responsibilities of the older ones. If the economic/social/cultural needs of your community have changed, your church needs to as well. So that means picking someone who can represent diverse needs well, which may/may not be the same thing as a diverse leadership group.
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Yes!
