Nashville Thoughts

Last week I was away in Nashville with all of the Lilly Fellows from around the U.S. The 80-some odd of us represented a range of denominations and backgrounds, and work in a wide variety of Protestant Churches throughout the country. We were gathered together to discuss issues related to diversity in the Church. Our keynote speaker was Dr. Soong Chan Rah who challenged us to think about the declining attendance in mainline churches, and the increasing racial diversity of America. His solution to dying churches is to increase the diversity of churches. And he is not naive about what this might mean, nor does he think that ethnic-specific churches (for example an immigrant Korean Church) need to diversify. He understands the specific ministry those churches provide for ethnic communities. Dr. Rah's work has demonstrated the value of diversity--especially in churches with the neighborhood has changed around the church (for example a former Italian neighborhood becomes a more Latino/a neighborhood and begins a Spanish speaking congregation). 

Here on the corner of Clinton and Montague, I think we would all say we have a pretty diverse church. And by sociological methods, I think this is factually true (80% of one ethnic group, 20% of another). But it is important to think about what it means to be a part of the Episcopal Church which is almost 90% white. I wonder what we could do better to raise up leaders (lay and ordained) of color? And how having a more diverse leadership might lead to a more diverse church. 

So what is our job in all of this? And why is it important?

I believe that our job is to continue to be a diverse church, but to realize that this did not just happen by chance. We are a diverse church because we talk about diversity as a value we think is important. And we think it is important because it mirrors the heavenly kingdom. We live in to the hope of a more just and equitable society by trying to strive for what is not yet. We do not yet live in a society where people are treated equally; but more than treatment, we live in a country with plenty of systemic racisim. So our job is to talk about that, and to continue to talk about what our diversity means.