There are currently 300,000 to 350,000 congregations in the U.S., according to Michael Emerson, a sociology professor and co-director of Rice University’s Kinder Institute for Urban Research in Houston, Texas. Ninety-two percent are homogeneous, meaning at least 80 percent of the congregation comprises a single racial group.
When [Michael] Catt became pastor of Sherwood Baptist in 1989, he noticed his predominantly white congregation was a stark contrast to the small city of Albany, whose population is about 65 percent black and where few concessions were achieved from the city government after King visited there during the civil rights movement.
“You can’t pastor a church in a community that’s predominantly African-American and look out on a lily white crowd, because you’re not being honest,” Catt recently told The Associated Press.
Should read, “Multiethnic [i]Protestant[/i] churches still rare in 21st century”. Or was that supposed to be understood? ;o
1. Good point! I’ve abserved that Roman Catholic Churches tend to better reflect the ethnic mix of the parish.
Colorado Springs, Colorado, has more than its share of military and retired military. Because the military is probably the most integrated entity in the US, Colo Spgs churches tend to have fairly good ethnic mixes. Church attendance/membership is still voluntary and people will go where they enjoy a degree of comfort. Those who are most comfortable with in a multiethnic congregation will find one…those who are not will find a homogeneuous church. I suspect that God is quite comfortable with that.