Diverse Churches in Georgia (Atlanta, Marietta: chapel, neighborhood, living in)

[WilsonPad]

Why is it that churches outside the perimeter of Atlanta still make no effort to diversify their comgregation. In Columbia and Greenville diverse churches are begining to start up. This is unfortunately unheard of in most of the bible belt which is understandable for churches that started out during segregation and beyond but it flusterates me how many new churches and church plants start up in diverse areas of Georgia but are still Caucasian or African American with very little if any diversity as God made us to worship together. I have always struggled with this growing up why do blacks and whites have separate churches and then I visited out west and realized it only in the Bible Belt as churches are more diverse out there. So much for the Bible Belt. But the newly opened all white and all black churches make no since since new churches are supposed to be opening with breaking the mold of tradition to get the church back to the way God intended it to happen. Columbia SC is amazingly becoming diverse in the since of diverse churches and nightlife areas like 5 points and the vista where it's not just blacks in one group and whites in the other but actually talking to one another. I feel Columbia SC will become a model city on this long overdue issue in the next 3 years.

[Saintmarks]

Liberty Church in Marietta has made a conscious effort to be multi-cultural for the last 10 -15 years. It is reflected not only in the congregation but in the staff.

www.libertychurch.org

It is not the only diverse church in the state just the one I am most familiar with. Trinity Chapel Church of God in Powder Springs is another. There are others, Columbia doesn't have a leg up on anywhere in GA as far as this goes.

[atltechdude]

Well it's usually because that's what both groups want. Blacks/whites often like to worship in different ways from what the other group likes.

[belleislerunner]

The purpose of going to church should be to worship God. People tend to choose churches by beliefs (i.e. denomination) or style (e.g. stoic, charismatic). Church isn't a country club so I'm not sure why diversity would be relevant. The entire purpose of choosing a church is because you want it to have a specific belief/style (i.e. not diverse). Unless you're focusing solely on skin color - and I thought we got past that 40 years ago.

[southernassassin]

Originally Posted by WilsonPad

Why is it that churches outside the perimeter of Atlanta still make no effort to diversify their comgregation. In Columbia and Greenville diverse churches are begining to start up. This is unfortunately unheard of in most of the bible belt which is understandable for churches that started out during segregation and beyond but it flusterates me how many new churches and church plants start up in diverse areas of Georgia but are still Caucasian or African American with very little if any diversity as God made us to worship together. I have always struggled with this growing up why do blacks and whites have separate churches and then I visited out west and realized it only in the Bible Belt as churches are more diverse out there. So much for the Bible Belt. But the newly opened all white and all black churches make no since since new churches are supposed to be opening with breaking the mold of tradition to get the church back to the way God intended it to happen. Columbia SC is amazingly becoming diverse in the since of diverse churches and nightlife areas like 5 points and the vista where it's not just blacks in one group and whites in the other but actually talking to one another. I feel Columbia SC will become a model city on this long overdue issue in the next 3 years.

I got news for you but this is not unique to the South. From one of end of this country to the next people self-segregate while attending church and in pretty much most aspects of thier personal life wiht the exception of their place of employment.

[btard]

Originally Posted by southernassassin

I got news for you but this is not unique to the South. From one of end of this country to the next people self-segregate while attending church and in pretty much most aspects of thier personal life wiht the exception of their place of employment.

This....and there's nothing wrong with it!

I think OP has a hidden agenda here. It was pretty obvious given the poll posted.

[Saintmarks]

Originally Posted by btard

This....and there's nothing wrong with it!

I think OP has a hidden agenda here. It was pretty obvious given the poll posted.

Yeah, was wondering, especially knowing Liberty in Marietta and their well known push to be multi-cultural... well at least to anyone with a passion fo this kind of ministry, living in Woodstock, he should know of Liberty Church's stance. It is their main focus.

[WilsonPad]

Originally Posted by Saintmarks

Yeah, was wondering, especially knowing Liberty in Marietta and their well known push to be multi-cultural... well at least to anyone with a passion fo this kind of ministry, living in Woodstock, he should know of Liberty Church's stance. It is their main focus.

There are 100s of churches in the NW Atlanta area alone so there is No WAY I could possibly know about them all even if I tried.

[WilsonPad]

Originally Posted by btard

This....and there's nothing wrong with it!

I think OP has a hidden agenda here. It was pretty obvious given the poll posted.

I have NOTHING hidden. I just think some (not all) churches should focus on being a place of worship for their community. I know of a church one of my roomates attended that were around 1000 in attendance in the 80s and 90s then the neighborhood changed from a mostly white area to a blend of Hispanics and blacks but the church made no effort to reach out to the current demographics and is now around 80 in attendance not even filling their auditourum 10%. I know because he grew up there and he said any time any efforts were made to diversify the congregation by inviting more people from the neighborhood then the main givers would slow down their tithing. They even stopped David Crowder from playing there in the mid 2000's because they considered it sinful because it had drums in the music.

[Saintmarks]

Originally Posted by WilsonPad

I have NOTHING hidden. I just think some (not all) churches should focus on being a place of worship for their community. I know of a church one of my roomates attended that were around 1000 in attendance in the 80s and 90s then the neighborhood changed from a mostly white area to a blend of Hispanics and blacks but the church made no effort to reach out to the current demographics and is now around 80 in attendance not even filling their auditourum 10%. I know because he grew up there and he said any time any efforts were made to diversify the congregation by inviting more people from the neighborhood then the main givers would slow down their tithing. They even stopped David Crowder from playing there in the mid 2000's because they considered it sinful because it had drums in the music.

No wonder the church is down to 80, I know of other examples like that as well. But that is no reason to make a blanket statement that all are like this. This is why new churches pop up, the aren't bound by yesterday and traditions that have changed.

Did you check the Liberty Church link? It is exactly what you are describing and is in Marietta, not ITP.