White Privilege?

[ohio jones]

At least in Pennsylvania, if you go from a conservative Anabaptist church to a liberal church in the same town, the liberal church will typically have much more diversity.

Ken, where do you get "Lancaster" or "diverse urban area" from this statement? And even if he had said Lancaster, there are still parts of Lancaster County, though not as many as a generation ago, that are homogeneous rural areas.

[Ken]

At least in Pennsylvania, if you go from a conservative Anabaptist church to a liberal church in the same town, the liberal church will typically have much more diversity.

Ken, where do you get "Lancaster" or "diverse urban area" from this statement? And even if he had said Lancaster, there are still parts of Lancaster County, though not as many as a generation ago, that are homogeneous rural areas.

I'm just using it as a for-instance. Pick any other town then. He said town not "homogeneous rural area" But I suppose he can come back here and clarify if Lancaster is a bad example of the phenomenon.

[Robert]

I'm just pointing out that churches whose members are largely or entirely born into the congregation and from one narrow ethnic group are not exactly meeting the command of the Great Commission.

Does that mean the AME churches in the inner city are not meeting the command of the Great Commission?

[Ken]

I'm just pointing out that churches whose members are largely or entirely born into the congregation and from one narrow ethnic group are not exactly meeting the command of the Great Commission.

Does that mean the AME churches in the inner city are not meeting the command of the Great Commission?

Well, I visited one in Washington DC once. It was vastly more diverse, open, and welcoming to outsiders than the typical conservative Menno church. And they had a huge number of outreach programs in the local community.

[Robert]

Well, I visited one in Washington DC once. It was vastly more diverse, open, and welcoming to outsiders than the typical conservative Menno church. And they had a huge number of outreach programs in the local community.

I have seen many that are not. I can remember taking our youth to one in South Little Rock during a MDS trip. Not diverse at all. It was a very interesting experience.

Many inner city churches are very ethnically homogenous because it reflects the community they are in. Many rural churches are the same. The church we are attending now is not. That is good because we are in a blended small city.

[Ken]

Well, I visited one in Washington DC once. It was vastly more diverse, open, and welcoming to outsiders than the typical conservative Menno church. And they had a huge number of outreach programs in the local community.

I have seen many that are not. I can remember taking our youth to one in South Little Rock during a MDS trip. Not diverse at all. It was a very interesting experience.

Many inner city churches are very ethnically homogenous because it reflects the community they are in. Many rural churches are the same. The church we are attending now is not. That is good because we are in a blended small city.

I would argue that any church that is overly insular and inward-looking is not meeting the command of the Great Commission. How much you weight that versus the other commandments for Christians depends on your own theology I suppose. The Bible doesn't provide some master rubric telling us we should devote x% of our effort towards peacemaking, Y% of our efforts towards helping the poor, and Z% of our efforts towards evangelism and so forth. We have to figure it out for ourselves.

[Josh]

Well, I visited one in Washington DC once. It was vastly more diverse, open, and welcoming to outsiders than the typical conservative Menno church. And they had a huge number of outreach programs in the local community.

I have seen many that are not. I can remember taking our youth to one in South Little Rock during a MDS trip. Not diverse at all. It was a very interesting experience.

Many inner city churches are very ethnically homogenous because it reflects the community they are in. Many rural churches are the same. The church we are attending now is not. That is good because we are in a blended small city.

I would argue that any church that is overly insular and inward-looking is not meeting the command of the Great Commission. How much you weight that versus the other commandments for Christians depends on your own theology I suppose. The Bible doesn't provide some master rubric telling us we should devote x% of our effort towards peacemaking, Y% of our efforts towards helping the poor, and Z% of our efforts towards evangelism and so forth. We have to figure it out for ourselves.

So which is it? Should we try to impose our culture and expectations on random people groups, or just be a quiet witness?

[Ken]

I have seen many that are not. I can remember taking our youth to one in South Little Rock during a MDS trip. Not diverse at all. It was a very interesting experience.

Many inner city churches are very ethnically homogenous because it reflects the community they are in. Many rural churches are the same. The church we are attending now is not. That is good because we are in a blended small city.

I would argue that any church that is overly insular and inward-looking is not meeting the command of the Great Commission. How much you weight that versus the other commandments for Christians depends on your own theology I suppose. The Bible doesn't provide some master rubric telling us we should devote x% of our effort towards peacemaking, Y% of our efforts towards helping the poor, and Z% of our efforts towards evangelism and so forth. We have to figure it out for ourselves.

So which is it? Should we try to impose our culture and expectations on random people groups, or just be a quiet witness?

That is a false dichotomy. If you can't be open, welcoming, and respectful of others without "imposing your culture and expectations" (to use your words) then you are doing it wrong.

[Laudatefan]

Well, I visited one in Washington DC once. It was vastly more diverse, open, and welcoming to outsiders than the typical conservative Menno church. And they had a huge number of outreach programs in the local community.

I don't have a great way to express myself on this topic--I'm hoping somebody on this forum does. But this comment here is correct. There is something about the diversity and openness of certain churches that feels different from most CA ones.

At least in PA, the more urban / liberal churches do have more diversity and you find less blood inter-relatedness. In CA churches, we usually play the "who are you related to?" game to figure out who someone is. In more urban churches, it's more of a "Tell me your testimony" way of figuring out who someone is. That latter seems healthier to me somehow.

I do realize that the urban / liberal churches can go off the rails too. Even in PA, some of the "Mennonite" churches here are more interested in the LGBT agenda than in the gospel. Very sad.

So it feels like there are two ditches and I'm looking for insights on how to keep doctrinal conservativism and add more welcomeness. I don't think most people appreciate how hard it is from someone truly from the outside (from Africa, Asia, etc.) to repeatedly overhear conversations about "Your cousin is ____!" (Fill in the Miller, Yoder, Eby, Martin, Horning, etc. blank.) If you hear that week after week, you're going to feel like an outsider. And let's face it, a lot of our church functions bleed over into family events. If you're not part of the family, it's real hard to feel at home.

[Laudatefan]

I should also add that here in PA, I've even see some Mennonite churches do the pronoun (he/him) thing. That signals an extreme form of liberal whiteness that we need to drop. I think people from other cultures think that is pretty weird.