I think it’s safe to say that Sunday is the most segregated day of the week for the Christian church. While there are, indeed, a growing number of “multicultural” churches, here in Ourtown, at least, those churches tend to be white churches, founded by whites, led by whites, with white folks in the key power positions. These are ministries led by men and women who, following the conviction of the Holy Spirit, have made strides to reach out to the community at large, no longer satisfied by clear racial and cultural demarcations.
Black churches, on the other hand, do almost no work in reaching out to whites. I’ve observed black churches being fairly hostile to or, best case, indifferent to whites, as we blithely go about our business of hollering and wailing.
And, even the churches that have moved towards cultural pluralism, there are usually safeguards in place to ensure continued white leadership at the center. I was greeted by a Latino pastor at one powerful multicultural church in the Denver area, who warmly greeted me and took me on a tour of the facility. Winding through the office complex, we saw all manner of ethnicities in the staff and leadership. But, the closer we got to the executive wing, the fewer minorities we saw. When finally arriving at the Bishop’s wing, the Bishop’s executive secretary and the top tier leadership offices were all staffed by whites—a clear signal of who was really in charge here.
Multiculturalism, in practical application, is usually lip service. It’s usually surface. It usually has little or no teeth. To my observation, multiculturalism is simply a structure set in place to relieve white folks’ conscience, while protecting their interests. The unwritten rules safeguarding their investment, they open their doors to us, they warmly receive us, perhaps even recruit us to sing and dance and what have you. But the glass steeple is firmly in place. We are welcome there, to be sure, but are welcome much the way a houseguest is welcome: we are extended every gracious thing, but the house clearly belongs to someone else.
The fear of a black church, from many whites’ viewpoint, is likely not even racial so much as it is economic. Many whites become anxious about their property values when they see blacks move into the neighborhood. Having an investor's mindset, many whites view the arrival of blacks at their church in terms of value depreciation; perhaps fearing too many black faces will signal an exodus of their white congregants or, worse, that the black folks will rip and run and tear down the joint.
The very best sense of multiculturalism never needs to be announced. A truly multicultural church never has to actually call itself “multicultural.” A truly multicultural church will be all things to all people, that all visitors might find something of themselves there in your worship, in your smile, in your love. And they’ll know they’ve come home.
