Good News in Memphis

[Memporganist]

Originally Posted by Godzchild

sad to hear Memphis still thinks there is more than ONE race REGARDLESS of skin tones we are all of ONE race....HUMAN RACE! and yet the reason why my family left TPC and that city!

I respect you: but.......(I have an opinion on that)... Here's where the word "race" enters in my vocabulary (plain and simple). When a predominately white church (white in not just color, but culture...music style etc) moves into a neighborhood that evolves over the years into a predominately black neighborhood (83% in the zip code as of the 2010 census, to be exact) and yet continues to have a predominance of white people in its congregation, with a "white style" of music and proclaim they're having revival........something is wrong. The mission field is not being affected nor touched as the majority of the constituents jump in their cars and leave church after service heading away from the neighborhood. In fact, the very fact that all the churches have moved farther FROM the city they CLAIM they're reaching says something in itself. Putting it simply: if a green man builds a church in a neighborhood where most people are purple, and yet the church grows full of green men and the green men comprise all leadership roles....yet the MISSION field is comprised of purple people it almost goes without saying that there is a blatant disregard and "no care" about the purple folks.

That "one race" thing sounds good on paper and how GREAT it would be if we didn't see black/white. But in the reality of things we ARE all different because of our cultures. Sometimes, what is deemed as racial hatred is more (in actuality) racial insensitivity. And....we call it "race", but it's often merely differences in culture. Not better. Different.

These are generalities, so PLEASE don't blast me out the water (lol): Black people, for example, listen to a different type of music (in general) than white people. We cook differently. We worship differently. A 'black church' is (in general) more vibrant and demonstrative than a 'white church' all the way down to the choir. Not good. Not bad. Different.

We expect some things in the "world". It IS the world, after all. The problem is when a church that is predominated by one race: white, black, yellow, purple or green attracts those of a different skin color/race/ethnicity (or whatever you choose to call it) and yet expects the other ethnicity/culture/race to assimilate "and become like us" to "fit in".

If you have never been the minority in a situation, you can't understand. And when one speaks out and voices their opinion, here come the criticizers who (once again) cannot say they have experienced the issue first hand. It's not just a black/white thing either. If I was sent to minister in an area that is majority Asian I can't expect them to come worship and "be just like me". I have to respect their culture.

One thing is certain: I sat in a church that had a multiplicity of white, black and yellow folks walk through the door over the past 20 years. It boasted of a "multicultural" status. Just having "bodies" present doesn't make you multicultural or prove you "look at all races the same". When we are TRULY blind to race, you see a "rainbow" in the pulpit, choir, music department leadership, board of directors...At THAT time, the church will have arrived at a place where race/culture/economic status/sex/ethnicity doesn't matter.

The problem is NOT that we are different in many ways. God MADE us different, and our cultural upbringing aided in that, too. The problem is when grown folks...black, white, yellow, cannot sit around a table and TALK about the differences and try to understand each other and learn to appreciate our differences because we're individuals and because our cultures have ingrained something within us that make all of us unique (as individuals and groups of people).

Memphis is very vocal about 'race'. However, I'm not from Memphis. I went to school in South Bend, Indiana. I was born and spent my first 13 years in New Jersey. Newsflash: racism is NOT absent in those places either. We kid ourselves to think that simply not talking about it or addressing it means it is not a problem. Be the minority in ANY situation. You will soon find out that you ARE the minority.