Time to Break Out of the Lutheran Bubble

I try to avoid creating debates on Facebook, but I inadvertently started one last week.  I shared a report from Pew Research on racial diversity among various church bodies in the United States.  In reality, it probably should be stated “lack of diversity among religious groups because that is what exist.  In a sad statement the denomination that I am affiliated with, The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, was near the bottom.  The LCMS is 95% white, with Blacks (2%) and Hispanics (2%) making up most of the balance.  One of the two religious groups to fall below the LCMS was the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) which is 96% Angelo.

When it came to be being racially diverse, The Seventh Day Adventists led the way; 37% Angelo, 32% Black and 15% Hispanic.  Surprisingly, Muslims are more diverse than they appear.  Whites make up the largest percentage of Muslims (38%), with an equal percentage of Asians and Blacks (28%).   There is a strong Hispanic presence in the Catholic Church (34%), compared to 59% of Whites.  The United Methodist Church was rank just a little about Lutherans, being 94% White.

None of this surprised me.  If I walked into any Lutheran Church in the country I would expect to be greeted by a congregation of white people.  It has always been that way, after all “Bird of a feather, flock together.”   The church where I grew up in Detroit was that way.  For many years I could go back and even see the same familiar face.  It felt very comfortable, but is also very unlike the rest of our country.

We live in Texas, perhaps one of the most racially diverse states in the country.  Hispanics make up 38% of our population.  Whites are still the majority 44%, but the prediction is that within fifteen to twenty years we will be the minority.  Blacks make up 12.4% of the Texas population, with 4.3% being Asian.  If you visit the Rio Grande Valley, you will discover that it feels like Mexico.  Spanish is the dominant language and that culture is pretty ingrained.

 

On another note, the church I currently attend worships in the fine arts building at Dallas Lutheran School.  Ironically, the Buddhist Temple of Dallas is located right next store.  Because their parking is limited, we have to share a parking lot.  Observation: they have better attendance than we do (probably more than any Lutheran Church in the Dallas area) and they are very racially diverse.  Our pastor is constantly reminding us that we need to be good neighbors.

Jesus’ command was to “make disciples of all nations.”  It was not to “gather behind locked door with people who are like us.”  I am not worried about the church surviving, but I am worried about our future growth.  I am also concerned about our image.  How does the rest of the world view us? 

We are called to be the Christ representative in the world, and the reality is that world is becoming more diverse.    In some ways the millennials are a step ahead of us one this one.  Most of them have gone to school with people from a variety of cultures.  If they attend, or have attended, a major university there is a good chance they have experienced a “global community” without leaving campus.  Maybe, in this case we can learn something from millennials.  We need to think and live globally.