Are Churches Still Racially Segregated Today? (What Has Changed Since the 1960s)

At Armstrong Valley Bible Baptist Church we're rural. We do have a young black lady attend Sunday service about twice a month from one of the surrounding small towns. When she comes, she rides with one of our older ladies who also lives near her, she doesn't drive, have a car, or whatever.

VBS is a different story, we get kids from several races attending, half a dozen maybe, but the only other times you see them is at Christmas and Easter. They're always welcome, they just don't come, I doubt the parents are willing to come.

Most communities are racially segregated … should we start a program to bus Christians to churches in another community?

It is just human nature to be more comfortable with people like us. Race is only one factor. Churches full of “families with children” tend to attract more families with children and churches with older congregations tend to attract more older people (and are off-putting to teens and young adults). Churches also tend to self-segregate by economic status with the poor feeling more comfortable in some churches over others and the wealthy congregating together.

This is neither deliberate nor sinister in most cases, and where there is a reason for the community to be diverse, the church typically reflects the diversity of the community. Why are we on a “Baptist” forum rather than a Catholic Forum or a Presbyterian forum? Are we deliberately segregating because of prejudice, or are we just more comfortable chatting with like-minded Christians?

YES, IN MY COUNTRY INDIA. So many churches are running on caste, groups, tribes.. very sad to see this. I saw practically this face in churches. Religions are also with the ranks. Big religion, small religion.. Cast system made people divisions of groups.. People and preacher are blinded with religious and caste groups ,.. I think they are not born again christians..

I go to Mass on Sunday it looks like the United Nations. Every race and nationality is represented it seems. Despite the incredible diversity, there is the all encompassing and overarching Catholic culture that unites everyone. We are all on the same wavelength.

Catholics are universal Christianity, it’s been like that for a very long time.

I have visited Presbyterian, Baptist and Brethren Churches and they all were very mono cultural.

We have the Parish dinners on certain feast days and everyone brings a dish, you cannot try everything, there are so many different cultural foods it’s staggering.

On the feast of Saint Francis and the blessing of the pets, we had British ( beef spit ) and Irish foods ( seafood chowder ), 4 different Slavic foods ( every kind of sausage it seemed ) , 7 European foods ( Portuguese split chickens, unbelievable ), 8 Asian foods ( Malaysian rendang is my favourite, unbelievable, and homemade the old way ) , Indian and Sri Lankan foods which I put in different spice class, Korean cabbage, Japanese, Phillipines and PNG foods ( Taro I grew up on ), South American food ( Pupusas with bean,chicken or beef filler ). Middle eastern food ( Turkish beef bread bun )
Dinka type soup from Sudan in Africa. We have Dinka people in our Church.

There are more I haven’t mentioned, but it gives you an idea.

Actually the Dinka guy in our parish told me a sad story that happened to him, about his favourite dog. Somehow a leopard snuck through the window of his hut and snuck past everyone sleeping on the floor and took the dog from under his arm and he woke just as the leopard jumped out the window with his dog.
He hated leopards after this, and I know how he feels. I was bitten by a pig when I was young and it’s been war ever since.

He does security at centrelink ( welfare centre ) because he looks tall and imposing, but really he is a gentle soul and a sack of potatoes, one punch to his guts and it’s all over.
I tried to train him up, but he just hasn’t got it, which is a worry if he faces real hostility. You need to be up tight spring steel and alert in apprehension, not look super relaxed and casual. I can see why the dog was taken, the leopard must have seen an easy mark.

In the beginning, it was not so. There were difficulties merging Jewish and Gentiles into one church, but that was how it was meant to be. Indeed, I will repeat the mantra that we are to be one church in one town. Granted cults and major issues like Catholicism and Pentecostalism are going to stay divided, but Baptists of the same stripe are not to meet in tiny churches they can barely afford. If we cannot sit in the same pews with the same doctrine we may well be lacking the leading of the Spirit and indeed resisting Him. Same with the Charismatics. One Spirit, one doctrine and they are as divided as any Baptist group. Small church pastors should be seeking to merge and large churches should reach out to the struggling churches and offering merger. We are not in a time where pride and prejudice can be tolerated. We are wasting God's manpower and resources for vain things.

Our city has 11,000 population - of which 90% are white.
At the moment, our church has only white members.
All are welcome, but based on the stats-......

OLD SARGE said:

In the beginning, it was not so. There were difficulties merging Jewish and Gentiles into one church, but that was how it was meant to be. Indeed, I will repeat the mantra that we are to be one church in one town. Granted cults and major issues like Catholicism and Pentecostalism are going to stay divided, but Baptists of the same stripe are not to meet in tiny churches they can barely afford. If we cannot sit in the same pews with the same doctrine we may well be lacking the leading of the Spirit and indeed resisting Him. Same with the Charismatics. One Spirit, one doctrine and they are as divided as any Baptist group. Small church pastors should be seeking to merge and large churches should reach out to the struggling churches and offering merger. We are not in a time where pride and prejudice can be tolerated. We are wasting God's manpower and resources for vain things.

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I don’t have an opinion either way but I have heard others saying that we should be splitting up more often. The reason cited is that when you don’t all fit in one house anymore, you are probably traveling further than you should be to meet.
I know people who don’t go to their local Baptist church and drive 30 minutes to over an hour in different situations, because the churches that they are passing by on the way are not the like minded Baptists. I left one myself because they were unable to discern correctly how to deal with sin in the church. If a church cannot figure out not to condone sin, it’s time to go. If my church ever decided to merge with one like that, I would feel the necessity to start a new church that follows Scripture in regard to sin, at the very least.