Our Daily Bread recently and I was struck by how the author started up his devotional. He wrote,
“During the 1920s and 30s, photographer August Sander set out to portray a cross-section of German society. Through his lens he saw factory workers and financiers, actresses and housewives, Nazis and Jews. Even though his published collection contains only people in and around his hometown of Cologne, he captured what David Propson, writing in The Wall Street Journal, called “a universe of humanity in his restricted sphere.’”
August Sander wanted to portray a cross-section of German society and he found it in his hometown. Even though it was his “restricted sphere”, it resembled many different types of people – financiers, housewives, factory workers, etc. This is a wide range of backgrounds. I believe the Church as a whole does a pretty good job of attracting a wide range of backgrounds to the Church. But, as I thought about my youth program, I was not so sure that I was attracting an accurate universe of humanity in my restricted sphere. This reminded me of a motto Young Life has. Young Life has a motto that says, “Every Kid.” When they say that, they mean that their goal is to reach every student for Christ in every school in every region in every state in the nation. What “Every Kid” doesn’t mean is:- They want only the cool kids
- They want only the rich kids
- They want only the kids that look and act most like them
- They want only the white kids
- They want only the athletic kids
- Reach out and recruit a more diverse team of youth leaders.
- Get out to the schools more so I can be meeting up with my students and seeing their friends
- Examine your youth program’s demographic. What is the break down of students? Does it accurately reflect your area or are you attracting just a certain type of student?
- What can you do this week (short term goal) and beyond this week (long term goal) to make sure you are reaching every kid?
This is an issue I have been wrestling with since I arrived at my current church. The job posting stated that "we are a diverse congregation" and called for someone who could work well all sorts of individuals. Yet when I mentioned during my first ministry review that it seemed all leadership positions were held by white professionals I was met with looks of amazement. We have an African American vestry member. We have women in lots of leadership positions (white, profesisonals or retired professionals). These were reasons to refute my rude observation.
It is true that the more "diverse" members of the congregation have been invited to lead, and are almost to a person always declining because of time issues. However, I wonder if the place to start is not with recruiting but with the disconnect between how we see ourselves, and the face we actually present. In our hearts we are a diverse and welcoming congregation. Yet we do not look like that in a leadership photo line-up. We don't see it because we see ourselves every day, and look from the inside out.
I think it all comes down to comfort zones, and whether we see church as a place to go be accepted and comforted, or whether we see church as a place to be pushed into seeing the reality in front of our noses.
Today life is so hard and so challenging that we need church to be a respite, a comfort-community. How do we teach people that it is more challenging to resist change than to relax and let it happen?
Jeanie, that is a great comment. I think what you are experiencing and seeing really exposes this as more than a black and white issue. It is something that each church must dwell on and address according to their focus. I think you are on to something and may God bless you as process with your leadership.