Part 1
I'd like to know, how many African Americans and Latino's are on the General board of the United Pentecostal Church. (names and churches they pastor please) Or for that matter, how many hold high ranks within the United Pentecostal Church Intl. Why I ask? Well, for one, all of my friends that are outside the organization tell me that there are almost NONE. With that in mind, I'd like to see if they are correct in their assumtions. If it is true, I'd like to know what are plans does the United Pentecostal Church have to make the organization more racially diverse here in the United States (besides having black evangelism AND spanish daughter works).
Part 2
Below is a sample article that I just read about this issue. What are your thoughts please.
A significant migration of Black Christians from the traditional Black-led Pentecostal churches to White-led Pentecostal churches has been occurring, leading to some of those becoming Black-majority churches. The reasons for this have not been properly researched as yet, but from conversations between this writer and some individuals who have made the switch it is clear that many of these are Black professionals and socio-economic climbers who whilst embracing the Pentecostal impulse, desire a more structured church and worship life than is the case in some Black-led Pentecostal churches. Indeed, there is now a sharp divide between sophisticated and professionally run, as against working class and orally inclined, Black Pentecostal churches in Britain.
Such migrations do not easily lend themselves to good relationships between Pentecostal members, leaders, and organisations. Particularly as it can easily be argued that the class difference that may have, at least in part, occasioned the divide between Black and White Pentecostals in the past, is now at work dividing Black Pentecostals between themselves and siphoning off the Black professional who now feel more at home in a White Pentecostal environment. Interestingly, these Black professionals are rarely given in White Pentecostal churches the leadership prominence they would generally receive in Black Pentecostal ones, yet they appear willing to migrate in growing numbers and pay the price of simply being followers. The need for Black and White Pentecostal leaders to engage is greater than ever, before followership overwhelms leadership with migration patterns that do not foster the unity of the spirit. Jesus’ prayer that his church be ‘one, that the world may believe’ (John 17) requires that the Church in all its diversity actively plays its part in bringing about a true oikoumene i.e. reconciling the whole inhabited earth in becoming the living household (oikos) of God. In this task the church, excluded and beaten down by the world, finds its rightful place as the world’s salt and light. This working together of those called out by God, yet rejected by the world, is for the good of the inhabitants of the earth and the glory of God. However, it cannot be done without the reconciliation of the body of Christ to itself in love and respect. Sharing an understanding of the Holy Spirit that powers and empowers the church is a good starting point.
Source:
http://www.blacknet.co.uk/UK/UK/A_Ca...le_church.html
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