I have been dreading this particular post for a while for I
know it will offend more of my friends than any post thus far. Let’s have the
conversation of multi-ethnic churches and pastoral staff…
I have been researching for quite some time and interviewing
many of my ethnic friends. The question I have been asking is two fold.
1. Can you name an Evangelical multi-ethnic church?
2. How many of the few that you can name only have
a “white” teaching pastor? (preacher)
“I can think of
about 4 truly multi-ethnic, by the 70% rule”-anonymous
“I can’t name a single church that only has a white teaching
pastor.” – anonymous
What is up with this small survey? Is it true that evangelical multi-ethnic churches predominately have an ethnic pastor? Simple of the long
answer is … Yes.
My personal opinion on the research and survey:
When I took a church planting class in New Orleans Baptist
Theological Seminary with Dr. Ed Stetzer he said a quote that has stuck with
me. “What the people see is what the people will be.” Why is the preacher the
most important position to ethnic minorities? – Because the preacher is the
“power office,” the “rule maker.” Often times an ethnic person will view a
“white pastor, brown associate pastor” church as “white domineering.” I
personally do not hold this view because I am reformed in my church polity. I believe a plurality of elders
some being white some being ethnic, will rid of power struggles. For my friends
in traditional Baptist churches, I believe it will be much harder to convey a
picture of equality. So as the research says, the preaching pastor of
Evangelical ethnic churches is almost always brown, unless it is an elder lead church.
Here are some more points on Plurality of Elders from a Biblical view.
Here are some more points on Plurality of Elders from a Biblical view.
What about the Associate pastor and Music pastor positions?
I believe it is of the utmost importance to have a minister on staff that can relate
to the cultural needs of the represented ethnicities within the church. If your
church can only facilitate a music or associate pastor position at the time,
then take advantage of that! We’ll look more into the music minister role in a
later post.
How does the “liberal” church build an effectively
multi-ethnic ministry with a white teaching pastor? The answer is simple, I’ll
let the Apostle Paul speak.
2 Timothy 4:3 For the time is coming when
people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will
accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and
will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
