Does it bother you that churches aren't more racially diverse? (beliefs, Bible)
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My family and friends are racially diverse. Very. I'm very comfortable in churches that are diverse. In fact I prefer a congregation that has a wide mix and variety of people.
My family and friends are racially diverse. Very. I'm very comfortable in churches that are diverse. In fact I prefer a congregation that has a wide mix and variety of people.
I will echo that--diversity is actually a good thing. We moved from the city to the country awhile back. In the city, my daughter was friends with girls that were black, and a few hispanic. It was the hoity-toity white girls that bullied her. When we moved to this little town we're in she was somewhat troubled because in her experience, white girls were mean.
There are pretty much ONLY white folks around here. I wish there were different shades of people so my kids would grow up recognizing that people are people--regardless of skin color.
I live in a very racially diverse area and it's odd how rare it is to find a multi-cultural church around here. It seems like most church are predominantly black, white, asian or hispanic. It bothers me because if the church is teaching the straight up unadulterated gospel or if you have believers that are looking for the unadulterated gospel, then shouldn't those churches be attracting people of different backgrounds? Why is it that so many church seem to attract only people of a certain background? Thoughts.
Down here in south Florida they are very diverse. Our church is more, or less 30/30/30 black/white/hispanic
If you want a more diverse church, go find one that is predominantly of a different race than you and attend it. Have you tried that? If not....why not?
I have found that a lot of churches -- especially smaller ones -- tend to have people all related to each other. Or 2-3 big families that are intermarried, with a few more sprinkled in that are not related. Now...since white women tend to have white babies (and black women tend to have black babies)....it makes sense that they are all about the same color.
Who said I was looking for a church? I was just making a general statement. I have a church and it is diverse, but I was just making an observation of churches in my region. Please don't add to what I have said. I have said nothing about me struggling to find such a church for myself.
Well, that's just a bunch of captious nonsense. It also represents a false set of choices.
Let's put it another way. If you liked the general message, theology, community, and clergy of two different congregations, yet you prefer the music of one over the other, should I criticize you for choosing one over the other? Of course not.
What's more, you also make a highly dubious assumption that all Christian music possesses equal content. For example, I prefer high church hymnody because the words tend to be full of Christian doctrine. People such as Wesley and Isaac Watts did not demur from advancing abstract concepts in their words, which is why church hymns were considered to be theology set to music. Meanwhile praise music strikes me as vapid beyond belief, little more than shallow cheerleading for Christ, the entertainment disease running rampant. But person who might come from a different tradition might find the content of the hymns I enjoy to be tedious and an actual barrier to them actually receiving the aforementioned messages.
In other words, different strokes for different folks. I'm trying to figure out what grounds you have to argue otherwise.
Now you are just being facetious. What you stated is much different than what I am stating. You said something key, if the theology and the general message is what you personally consider to be accurate, then of course it doesn't matter what church you choose. You are going to a church that is giving you sound doctrine. Isn't that the only thing that should matter? Whether you choose, one or the other for whatever reason the point is you are getting SOUND DOCTRINE.
What I have stated is people going to church that basically promote heresy. With that, my point is, why go to a church that does that? Just because you like the sound of the music? You can be singing the kind of music you love, but if you are singing your way to hell than what's the point?
What I am talking about is people choosing other things than doctrine as the primary reason for choosing a church. It's this type of decision making that allows people to be lead astray. I can tell you for instance about black churches and how people like Eddie Long get a free pass for not only preaching heresy but also getting a free pass for committing sinful acts. People at his church began to justify his actions when he was being accused of abusing/taking advantage of teenage boys. Clearly people aren't there for the word of God because if they were, they wouldn't ignore their leader doing things like that and making excuses for it. This happens all across the country (and the world) in different cultures and races. If I am not there for the word, then to me, I am opening myself to be lead astray.
Down here in south Florida they are very diverse. Our church is more, or less 30/30/30 black/white/hispanic
Very interesting. I live in the DC region. In some ways this is a very segregated region. I guess that same culture manifest itself in the churches. I have also lived in North Carolina for a while and it was very similar there to. Maybe the areas that these churches are in dictate how church handles diversity.
Now you are just being facetious. What you stated is much different than what I am stating. You said something key, if the theology and the general message is what you personally consider to be accurate, then of course it doesn't matter what church you choose. You are going to a church that is giving you sound doctrine. Isn't that the only thing that should matter? Whether you choose, one or the other for whatever reason the point is you are getting SOUND DOCTRINE.
What I have stated is people going to church that basically promote heresy. With that, my point is, why go to a church that does that? Just because you like the sound of the music? You can be singing the kind of music you love, but if you are singing your way to hell than what's the point?
What I am talking about is people choosing other things than doctrine as the primary reason for choosing a church. It's this type of decision making that allows people to be lead astray. I can tell you for instance about black churches and how people like Eddie Long get a free pass for not only preaching heresy but also getting a free pass for committing sinful acts. People at his church began to justify his actions when he was being accused of abusing/taking advantage of teenage boys. Clearly people aren't there for the word of God because if they were, they wouldn't ignore their leader doing things like that and making excuses for it. This happens all across the country (and the world) in different cultures and races. If I am not there for the word, then to me, I am opening myself to be lead astray.
Hardly. Wow. I cannot imagine how much more obtuse you can get. What's more, you're now trying to change the conversation. Now because we've pretty much answered your question on why people might actually be comfortable in one kind of religious experience, you now have to change the conversation. Suddenly it's about doctrine, not diversity, in your eyes. Excuse me if I'm not really willing to play while you toss up one red herring after another. After all, which church is preaching the pure unadulterated gospel? Does it have a purity rating from God?
Hardly. Wow. I cannot imagine how much more obtuse you can get. What's more, you're now trying to change the conversation. Now because we've pretty much answered your question on why people might actually be comfortable in one kind of religious experience, you now have to change the conversation. Suddenly it's about doctrine, not diversity, in your eyes. Excuse me if I'm not really willing to play while you toss up one red herring after another. After all, which church is preaching the pure unadulterated gospel? Does it have a purity rating from God?
I am not changing the conversation, I know exactly what I was trying to say. I never stated that I disagreed with your assessment. I am speaking of what should happen as opposed to what actually happens. What you stated in this thread is reality and again I have agreed with most of what you have had to say. All I am saying is that it shouldn't be that way. I wasn't even speaking about music when I started this thread, it was brought up as a reason. The reality is there are a number of reasons people chooses the churches they do. The only point that I was trying to make there after, how do people justify going to churches that do not teach accurate doctrine. Is that not a valid point to bring up?
You are asking what church teaches an pure unadulterated gospel? I understand that no church is perfect, there is a difference between someone making a mistake, misleading people because of a lack of information and purposely leading people astray. If you know the word of God, then you should be able to distinguish the difference, should you not? This is what the Bible talks about with having a lukewarm church.
I know this is the internet, and I know some things aren't clear for people to understand, but there is way too much inference going on here. I haven't suggested many of the things you are accusing me of suggesting.
I think there are several reasons.
When I look around at my own city people prefer living grouped on cultural background.
When you put a church in a Hispanic neighborhood, it's not surprising mainly, or even only, Hispanics attend to service. Especially is the sermon is in Spanish.
Likely I overgeneralize now but when I see a church with black people there is often a lot of cheerful singing and even dance.
When I see a church with white people most hardly dare to breathe because it might disturb the dead silence.
Likely those people are unable to appreciate the other style of worship so don't attend.
Likely certain sub-denominations are more common in certain groups.
While I think discriminations certainly is a factor I think it's not the main reason.
It is simple really. It is self imposed segregation. People choose which group to associate with based on similar beliefs, practices and cultural similarities. It's that simple. Not sure why most have to make a big deal out of this. It's not like these churches are not accepting people of different races. If a white person were to choose to join a traditionally black church, I'm sure they would be welcomed with open arms. And vise versa.
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