The Bullard Journal for May 24, 2019

“A Call to Action”: Casey Williams, senior pastor, North Trenholm Baptist Church in Columbia presented some of the research this week from his doctoral on multi-ethnic mega churches in the USA South. His research shows that 86 percent of churches in the USA are mono-ethnic, and only 14 percent are multi-ethnic.

“If your dinner table is not multi-ethnic, then your church will not likely be multi-ethnic.” –Casey Williams

Richland County, the primary county of CMBA, is already a majority minority. Too few of our congregations are characterized by the benchmark that at least 20 percent of their congregation is of a different ethnicity than most of the congregation. The opportunities and challenges are great in our context. We must help existing congregations to transition to be more like their context. We must start new congregations in various locations which are multi-ethnic from their first worship gathering forward.

Paul Gordon Hiebert, an American missiologist until his death in 2007 suggested this definition of a multi-ethnic church. It is “one in which there is an attitude and practice of accepting people of all ethnic, class and national origins as equal and fully participating members and ministers in the fellowship of the church.” Is that your congregation? Should it be given your context?

About the author 

Kyndra Bremer