Multiethnic Church Leadership Communities
Is the American church ready and willing to reach an increasingly multiethnic, multi cultural, diverse population for the Kingdom?
Consider these research findings:
- 92.5% of American churches are racially segregated.*
- 80%+ of individual membership in American churches is comprised of a single, homogenous people group.*
- American churches are ten times more segregated than the neighborhoods where they are located.**
- American churches are 20 times more segregated than the public schools in their neighborhoods.**
- Between 1990 and 2007, church attendance in America increased by 446,540 though the population in general increased by 56,819,471.***
- For the past few years, Leadership Network has quietly tracked the rising interest in multiethnic churches in various locations throughout the U.S. From establishing new multiethnic church plants to transitioning traditional and contemporary churches to multi ethnic churches, we continue to observe evidence that this new movement of churches is gaining momentum. We’ve been patiently waiting for the right moment to convene the inaugural group of multiethnic churches for our leadership community group experience. The right moment has arrived. We began the multiethnic church leadership community experience in December 2011.
* Michael O. Emerson and Christian Smith, Divided by Faith, Oxford University Press, 2001
** ibid, from the same updated study, 2007
*** Dave T. Olson, The American Church in Crisis, Zondervan, 2008
