Megachurches desegregate worship

S

Santana Feb 21, 2007

Here's an interesting article published today about how America is recognizing megachurches as breaking down culture barriers.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070220/ap_on_re_us/megachurches_race

Researchers have found that whites and nonwhites join megachurches for the same reasons: great guitar-and-drum worship bands, strong programs for kids and a message of Bible-based self-betterment. For anyone who feels isolated in a sea of white faces, the small communal groups that megachurches form for their members provide support.

I can't say anything about Megachurches because Times Square Church is a megachurch. But this is definitely a growing trend. Almost like Walmart wiping out the little stores.

P

preacherafla Feb 21, 2007

Even David Wilkerson preached negatively about the megachurch...however, it was more against their lack of standing for holiness and not preaching the word of God. It is hard to imagine a church that stands solely on the Word of God and absolute truth of the Bible having a big constituency but it must happen somewhere.

I mostly hear the about the fluff and seeker sensitive things. It would be nice to hear the "good report"

__ Steve

sermonindex Feb 21, 2007

great guitar-and-drum worship bands, strong programs for kids and a message of Bible-based self-betterment.

Great reason to join a church. Whatever happened to self sacrifice, and serving others? This is describing a selfish church designed to attract selfish people.

Krispy

sermonindex Feb 21, 2007

there were some interesting quotes in the article:

For black and white Christians, pre-Civil War church support for slavery and the general absence of white evangelicals from the civil rights movement continue to drive the two groups apart.

That is the quote that struck me, why is that?

How did we allow that to happen?

How could a portion of the church support slavery? How can a follower of Jesus ignore racial injustice, vis-a-vis the civil rights movement?

if this heads into a social vs salvation Gospel thing, I say there are no two Gospels, only one, indivisible.

Paul Bodet, a native of Haiti who grew up in Miami, said he and his family used to attend a predominantly African-American church. But they switched to Grace Chapel for its preaching and its network for home-schoolers when his wife was teaching their two oldest children at home.
Paul Bodet, a native of Haiti who grew up in Miami, said he and his family used to attend a predominantly African-American church. But they switched to Grace Chapel for its preaching and its network for home-schoolers when his wife was teaching their two oldest children at home.
"We felt welcomed, but we did feel like we were one of the few minority faces," said Bodet, who works in the financial services industry and is now a church elder, or lay leader. "It's changed quite a bit since a couple of years ago."

"we felt welcomed".

speaks volumnes.

Anderson's megachurch is unique in that he started it specifically to be multicultural. He estimates that Bridgeview, more than a decade old, is now 55 percent African-American and about one-quarter white, with Asians, Hispanics and others making up the rest.
He also stands out because he is African-American. Most integrating megachurches are led by whites, and white Christians generally don't stay at black-led congregations, Emerson says.

why is that?

here's the quote from the article, where I say "amen".

Anderson believes that could change if prominent white evangelical and black Christian leaders called on their communities to create multiethnic churches.

Clergy who agree say the biblical imperative is clear — in Acts, which describes a wide variety of national groups in the early church, and the many verses that call for justice, mercy and reconciliation

amen.

racial reconciliation in America can only come by way of Jesus and His Church.