If you missed part I, click here.  Otherwise, this list won’t make sense. 

Alright, let’s continue onward regarding some specific steps you can take to begin the process of diversifying your church.

4. GENERAL IDEA: Diverse Leadership and Staff

Okay, this might step on a few toes, but please stick with me here.  

There have been anointed men and women of all colors, nations, and languages for as long as the world has been in existence.  God has always been concerned with the heart of mankind, not with their skin color, education level, official training, spoken language, etc.  If He has someone’s obedience and allegiance, He is more likely to use them and the natural gifts He put in them over all other things.  

Therefore, there are quality people for any role you seek to fill.  As such, if diversity is not represented within your leadership staff, then it may be time to evaluate your heart to see if that was intentional, whether subconsciously or not. 

Now, perhaps you know it wasn’t intentional.  In fact, you tried to look for more diverse candidates, but qualified, diverse candidates don’t currently live where you are located.  I definitely recognize the struggle there!  It can be so tough if you’re living somewhere where diversity is not widespread.  

However, don’t allow that to completely stop you! Many people are willing to move if they feel led by the Spirit.  Not only that, many times people will be more willing to apply at a church if they know that church is seeking to be a place of diversity, even if it is not quite diverse yet.  Additionally, you may simply need to be more intentional on where you are seeking candidates. Have you made any community partnerships in areas that are of differing ethnicities? Start informally advertising in these spaces that you are seeking diverse candidates. 

SPECIFICS:

 If you are seeking to diversify staff, then as I mentioned back in point one, start with prayer.  Ask God to help make your staff look closer to what the council of leaders in heaven will look like:  diverse, ranging in color, background, country of origin, etc. 

Whether you realize it or not, your staff is being evaluated before people even walk in the door.  Most people in 2020 will check out a church’s website long before they walk in the door. Who do they see when they scroll the pictures of church staff? Is it mostly homogenous? Can they scroll through all departments and see diversity?

I will be frank: this is especially critical in upper level leadership. If I can go to a church’s website, and I see all one type of person in upper level leadership, and very minimal diversity (or none at all) even in lower levels, then something very specific is being communicated before I even walk in the door.  

Ask yourself: 

-Do we have diverse elders?

– Do we have diverse deacons? 

-Is there diversity in the executive leadership staff?

-Are some of our department directors of differing ethnicity?

-Have we created an environment where people of differing backgrounds and skin colors feel their ideas will be accepted and considered?  Or are we set in our ways?

Now, you might be thinking to yourself, “Well, we tried to diversify a while ago, but our diverse elders and/or staff members left within the year.”  If you are noticing high turnaround among diverse leadership, then you need to start asking yourself some hard-hitting questions.  Were you simply expecting them to assimilate to your way of being, or were you open to their ways of doing ‘church’?  Were you willing to incorporate new ideas or did you expect them to always conform to your church’s norms?  Did you listen with open ears to their perspectives? Or did you try to cram them into the box of how you were used to doing church? Did you label them as ‘difficult’ and ‘unwilling to get along with others’ when they pushed back on some of your current church’s rituals?

We cannot forget that Jesus was not an American White man. Likewise, he wasn’t an affluent Black man from the best part of town. We have to understand that at times, our comprehension of the Gospel is not the only accurate interpretation. Despite all of our best efforts, it can sometimes be difficult to interpret Scripture apart from our own experiences. We must be aware of this about ourselves. We cannot dismiss different expressions of worship and connection with God and ‘ways of doing church’ just because they differ from how we’ve always done it.

Many people in recent years have pointed this out, but perhaps you are not yet aware: the average Christ-follower is a poor woman from the southern hemisphere, not an affluent White man from America.  How would a poor, single-mother from Nigeria worship? Think about the average Christian believer in China.  Most have never stepped inside a traditional, four-walled church, yet their faith is burning like white-hot coals. Think of those in Saudi Arabia, who are fighting hard to cling to their faith in the midst of persecution. How would they do ‘church’? 

We need to listen and learn from voices in the church from all walks of life. There are hundreds of ways to ‘do church’, and if we don’t allow our methods to be malleable, we may very well be destined to stay stagnant in homogenous church communities. Unless someone’s idea is anti-Biblical, then it needs to be considered. It is up to us all to be open to slightly changing protocols and ways of doing things so that people of varying cultures do not have to change who they are at a fundamental level in order to attend.  

Let’s be honest: one of the best parts of diversity is that it stretches all of us.  We all learn new ways of being and doing, that perhaps are often even better than the way we were doing them before!

We are called the BODY of Christ for a reason.  Perhaps you needed a Left Hand this whole time, who would be better at opening certain doors than the Ear you’ve been trying to force into that position for a while.  

Each culture will have its strengths and weaknesses.  When we come together, we balance each other out.  When we force people out because they didn’t conform to our ways of doing things, then we are stuck using an Ear to try to open doors. 

One important note:  Please don’t hire someone or appoint someone to a position simply due to their skin color.  It is an insult to their gifts–and the plan that God has for their lives–to simply appoint someone based upon some melanin. Their melanin is not a good qualification for a position. No one wishes to be demeaned in this way, so please don’t do it. Pray hard that God will help you diversify with people who have the right gifting to be in that position. 

5. GENERAL IDEA:  Website

Is it clear from the moment you land on the church’s website page that diversity is a value to you all? I mentioned that people will be searching staff, but they will also be searching church values, church beliefs, and pictures of church activities. What will they see when they search these things?

SPECIFICS:  

Even if you are just in the beginning stages of diversifying, it is easy to put a mission statement right on the front page that makes it abundantly clear that diverse membership is something you are yearning towards.  You can be honest if it’s only a goal right now, not yet a reality.  Or, you can simply say something to the effect of: “Becoming a church that represents every tribe, tongue and nation is of utmost importance to us as a congregation because it is on the Father’s heart.  As such, we are praying for further diversification of our church body.  We are actively seeking to be a multi-ethnic, multi-generational, and multinational church who walks in unity.  We wish to demonstrate to the world what it looks like when the Love of Christ is actively moving among His people.  When it is, there is unshakeable peace as we follow the Holy Spirit’s guidance in our actions towards one another.”

This will actually play into what comes up in google searches as well.  Many people will specifically search for “diverse churches” in their city.  When they do so, if you have nothing on your website about being a diverse church, it will likely not pop up for them.  

The people who are searching for diversity are likely those who are themselves diverse.  Multi-ethnic families in particular will often search for ‘multi-ethnic’ churches.  They will likely not show up to your church if they can’t tell from your website that diversity is a value of yours.

6.GENERAL IDEA:  Street signage and other communication outside the church.

Generally speaking, most churches have some type of signage on the street.  What does it say?  Can people tell just by driving by what you value as a church?

What about your pamphlets/radio advertisements/billboards/newspaper ads? Do they communicate what you value?

SPECIFICS: 

Signage: This can be as involved as you want it to be. Or you can keep it small.  Something small would look like a tagline on the church’s sign.  Something to the effect of, “[Church’s Name]: A multicultural church seeking to love God and love people.”  A small mention of your church’s multicultural belief system will speak volumes to anyone who drives by the church.  You are communicating your church’s values without anyone ever walking through the door. This will also automatically grab people’s attention.

Outside Advertisements: Meanwhile, whatever other means you utilize to bring people to the church also need to be clear that you are a church who values diversity. If you are leaving flyers on people’s doors, or doing radio advertisements, using billboards, etc., then you need to communicate your church’s multicultural belief system…

…Tune in tomorrow for part III

(In the meantime, come connect with me on twitter and let’s keep the conversation going: https://twitter.com/authorlizhouse )

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