Practical Theology for Church Diversity

A Guide for Clergy and Congregations

Walden

• Publisher: Cascade Books
• Year: 2015
• eBook ISBN: 9781498269988
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

Cross-racial pastoral ministry and multicultural ministry are wonderfully complex endeavors. Practical Theology for Church Diversity suggests that they include a substantial amount of conversation, preparation, and prayer if they are to be done faithfully. Sacred spaces within Christian churches can have a meaningful witness through diversity in their particular locations.This book skillfully informs, gently challenges, and respectfully questions some widespread components of church life along demographic lines. Most importantly, it focuses on pragmatic approaches to cross-cultural pastoral ministry and multicultural ministry for readers to utilize. All persons of faith, religious institutions, professors, seminarians, and others interested in church diversity on any level will find this book a valuable resource.

1

The Big Picture

Getting a big picture of the challenge of diversity for congregations and their leaders often involves questions about the many shapes, forms, and sizes of diverse communities. A practical theology examination helps faith communities encounter their challenges in a candid yet curative manner—meaning, this book not only highlights some problems but also spends a substantial amount of time on possible solutions. A mentor of mine once told me, “Most people are too close to the frame of their lives to see the big picture.” I have tried to pass the same words of wisdom on to other people, especially church folk. What is the big picture for your life? What do you currently see? What is the big picture for your church community? Again, what do you currently see? Without a big picture that includes aspects of difference, united in harmonious ways, church communities can become distracted, get lost, or lose sight of what is most important. With respect to church diversity, too often people forget the following:

1. Their church is not the only faith community in their geographical region.

2. They are not the only members of their church.

3. They are not the only members capable of a leadership position.

4. Their personal actions often have public consequences within their church community.

5. Their church community’s actions often have repercussions within their local community.

6. The local community pays attention to the church community.

7. The Christian community is much bigger than any one church community.

Your big picture of church diversity for your faith community should facilitate ways of being that involve intentional steps of change that can be accessed through practical theology. Aspects of practical theology that help distinguish it from other theologies or disciplines include the following: it is contextual and situationally related, sociopolitically aware and committed, experiential, and analytical and constructive.1

How wide is your congregation’s vision? Church leaders must realize the magnitude of their influence in order to be most productive. It is no coincidence that people are drawn to congregations that have solid leadership, whether it be pastoral or lay leadership. It is important for church folks to provide stable leadership in order to equip God’s people in an often chaotic world. There are millions of people whose lives are characterized by instability. The chapters in their lives consist of people disappointing them through such unfortunate actions as absences, insults, and other aggravations. They do not have anyone to depend on in meaningful ways. Congregations should offer a different model of leadership—a better model, a present model, a dependable model, a supportive model, a model that does not take anything or anyone for granted, because it recognizes that “we cannot assume that equality will be present in a multicultural Christian setting. . . . Operating on the basis or supposition of equality does not make it a reality.”2

Tradition, Scripture, experience, and reason can help confirm for us that God operates in the world. People may accept or reject God’s presence through God’s prophet, which is often the pastor of their local church. Church diversity in the form of cross-racial pastoral ministry and multicultural ministry is a sign of people’s spiritual commitment to God. Church diversity in any form is much bigger than a specific location. Parishioners’ acceptance or rejection of cross-racial pastoral ministry should not be looked upon as merely dynamics between two individuals who may be clergy and church member.

It is the responsibility of clergy to realize their role in relating to all of God’s children regardless of ethnicity, nationality, race, etc. Unfortunately, in the United States, as in many other nations, church leadership has not always guided faith communities toward racial cooperation or cultural inclusiveness. In truth, many African-American Christian denominations were created primarily as a response to racial discrimination. As James Cone observes, “If white Protestant churches failed to be a beacon of leadership in America’s racial crisis, part of the responsibility for the failure was due to the way its leading religious spokespersons ignored race in their interpretation of the Christian faith.”3

As they have been historically, church leaders remain (and will continue to be) a major contributing factor to the progress of church diversity. Clergy and church leaders from all ethnicities have equal responsibility to help their faith communities’ progress in diversity rather than regress. Let’s be honest: churches of color can be just as prejudicial as white churches. What’s more, church members who consider themselves conservative, moderate, or liberal can often criticize, demean, and ostracize the “others” in their faith communities.

It is nearly impossible to enumerate all the reasons certain people do not support church diversity. Too many excuses are generated on a daily basis for what churches cannot do or what churches cannot become. Such excuses are often based upon narrow interpretations of yesteryear and numerous blind spots of the present, rather than hopeful visions or expectations for tomorrow. Most people have an inclination to seek out those who mirror their own thoughts, actions, and images. To look at the big picture means to focus less on what makes one feel comfortable or secure and more on what Jesus called his disciples to become. The Bible repeatedly highlights Jesus commanding his followers to look beyond themselves.

Congregations should consider the following questions regarding church diversity:

8. What does our congregation expect to be doing in the next twenty-five years?

9. How has our congregation been distracted or derailed from our plans through the years?

10. In what ways can we improve in obeying Jesus’ commands, especially as regards diversity?

11. What are some reasonable steps of progress our congregation can take in the next six to nine months to enhance church diversity?

Congregations ought to expect disagreements, battles, and tension over competing interests in relation to the big picture. Many Christians have explored or expanded their approach beyond one faith tradition or congregation. Churches can no longer rely solely on their tradition to automatically sustain, increase, or help bring meaning to their membership. In fact, denominational affiliation is a decreasing factor in why people choose to invest themselves in congregational life. Average laypersons may not articulate it theologically, but most of them are demanding a practical theology approach from their church community. According to Marcel Viau, practical theology is “a discipline whose main function is to produce discourses which convey occurrences of Christian faith practice, which itself is incorporated in human experience.”4 It is best for clergy and church leaders to realize that their individual actions, rather than what are often perceived as antiquated customs, are the major contributing factors within the life of a faith community. Growing numbers of people are seeking or demanding an increasing degree of practicality from their faith community. These same people believe that practicality is the single purpose of the Christian faith community. Their desire is to see a faith in action.

Most Christians are not expecting their church community to be perfect, but they desire a sense of realness, an authentic and genuine outlook concerning their flaws while they work to become better followers of Jesus Christ. If church perfection were a requirement from potential members, then churches everywhere would have hung a “Closed” sign on their doors a long time ago. Imperfection is a natural part of the human experience; chronic low expectations are not. Too many of our church communities are plagued by chronic low expectations in relation to church diversity, which is evident by their lack of spiritual fruit. Too often, one reason for congregations’ low expectations is the inability of members to speak in a candid, courageous manner to one another. This inability to communicate well may be a consequence of our in ability to love well. As Howard Clinebell observes, “Because we had human, limited parents who had human, limited parents, all of us are limited, to some degree, in our ability to love fully. Many people are severely crippled in their ability to love in growth-nurturing ways. This is the heart of their problem. To say to such a person, ‘You need to love God and neighbor more,’ is like shouting to a person floating on a log in mid-ocean, ‘What you need is dry land!’ Nothing could be truer or less helpful.”5

Looking at church diversity’s big picture entails realizing Christians’ flaws and shortcomings and still accepting all persons. Most people learn how to talk with a particular accent based on what they hear in their community, to embrace a specific belief system based on what they are taught, and to mimic certain behaviors based on what they observe. People try, people fail, and people are deficient (as well as damaged) beings, due to a combination of their inheritance, environment, and experience. Nonetheless, in the face of all their natural frustrations and innate faults, Christians have the responsibility to improve.

Seeing the big picture requires working toward greater understandings of diversity—a critical assessment through a combination of participation, explanation, evaluation, and exploration of cross-racial pastoral and multicultural church experiences, on both the individual and corporate level, in order to gain insights, offer strategies, and apply new meanings to new ways of doing and being for congregational life. “Common sense is not so common,” as the saying goes, for a variety of reasons related to culture, education, upbringing, assumptions, presumptions, and religion. Although many Christians and Christian churches claim to practice a philosophy, theology, and way of life that is non-prejudicial and non-racist, too often there is a huge disconnect between theory and practice pertaining to diversity issues. Younger generations especially are in need of congregations that take church diversity within religious life seriously. Church worship services and other essential events of church life are usually more segregated than football games, soccer games, and other events. That is one reason why more peop...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Introduction
• Foreword
• Chapter 1: The Big Picture
• Chapter 2: The Preparation
• Chapter 3: The Welcome Introduction
• Chapter 4: Collaborations
• Chapter 5: Some Possible Challenges
• Chapter 6: Possible Solutions and Extra Miles
• Bibliography