An interesting question. I'm not sure I completely agree with the premise. I'm quessing it varies from city to city and congregation. Where we worship has much to do with where we live. That may be where it starts. Keith your point that we ought to be the leader is spot on. How do we do a better job?

Jim, it is so much easier for me to pose questions than it is to offer solutions. However, I suppose that finding a solution begins with acknowledging the problem. Don't we have a problem? Doesn't it make sense that the local church should reflect the make-up of the community? Why is it so rare to find a church that actually parallels the community population? For example, I visit churches whose membership is mostly white that have a few black members, as I have visited churches with mostly black members who have only a few white members. It is rare to find a very diverse congregation that proportionally mirrors the very diverse community in which it ministers.

Right after I got to Montgomery, we as a staff prayed for more color in our church. Well, a few months later, Katrina made landfall and we became a shelter for the Red Cross. Since then, I'd say a quarter to a third of our new members have not been white. We've just recently added a Spanish translator with an assisted listening system.

Montgomery is still extremely segregated. I'm glad that the Lord has chosen to bless us out of the mold, and I'm excited to see what He will do with us in the future.

I hope that we will all ask ourselves the hard questions regarding race on Sunday mornings. However, I believe that the lines in most cities are drawn because of style and not color. It's just a coincidence that color is one of the most obvious characteristics.

IHMO