How the Multiethnic Church Can Help Solve the Social Divide
by Corey Widmer (V3 Church Planting Movement — December 2014)
... in light of the recent events in Ferguson, New York, and Cleveland, our youth pastor decided to have some open conversations with our youth to help them process all that was happening.
Though our church is multiethnic, the majority of our youth are African American. Many of the youth shared common themes that black youth are voicing all over America right now: feelings of disappointment, discouragement, fear, and disillusionment. But there was also a surprising theme that emerged: hope.
One young woman stated that until she came to our church she had no relationships with white people. She went on, “Now when people say to me that white people only want to kill us, I am able to say, ‘No, I know some white people who really care about me.’” The unique social arrangement of our multi-ethnic congregation has fostered a surprising hope.
... A recent Pew Research Center poll found while 80 percent of black Americans agree that the Ferguson incident “raises important issues about race that need to be discussed,” only 37 percent of whites affirm the same. Even within the Christian community, the national conversation among whites on the one hand and among people of color on the other has often been toxic at worst and non-existent at best.
Full article at http://thev3movement.org/2014/12/how-the-multiethnic-church-can-help-solve-the-social-divide/