The Post-Black and Post-White Church E-Book

Efrem Smith

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Serie: J-B Leadership Network Series
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 368

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2012

Beschreibung

A blueprint for missional, multi-ethnic Christian community Efrem Smith, an internationally recognized and innovative African-American leader, offers a workable plan for connecting theology, practical ministry models, and real stories of people in multi-ethnic Christian communities. Using the example of Jesus, Smith develops a theology of multi-ethnic and missional leadership. Embracing urban and ethnic subcultures such as hip-hop, this book provides a rich mix of multi-ethnic church development, reconciliation theology, missional church thinking, and Christian community. * Provides a common-sense approach to creating a multi-ethnic Christian community * Includes practical ministry models and real stories of people who are members of thriving multi-ethnic congregations * Author is acclaimed African-American thought leader who planted and led a multi-ethnic churches of close to 1,000 and now leads a regional division of a denominational committed to ethnic, multi-ethnic, and missional churches This book is written for anyone wrestling with what it means to be a Christian in an increasingly multi-ethnic world polarized by class, politics, and race.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Leadership Network Titles

Dedication

About the Jossey-Bass Leadership Network Series

Foreword

Introduction: Enter the Sanctuary

Chapter 1: Reconciling, Multi-Ethnic, and Missional

The Racial Divide

The Beloved Community

The Church's Struggle with Race

What This Book Is About

Chapter 2: Moving the Church Beyond Crisis, Captivity, and Comfort

How My Vision Became Aligned with God's Vision

How to Move the Church Forward

The Three Cs and the Future

Chapter 3: Compassion, Mercy, and Justice

A Holistic Approach to Ministry

A Mind-Set and a Mind Challenge

Biblical Foundations for Compassion, Mercy, and Justice

Revitalizing the Church Through Evangelism and Justice

Missional Church Planting

Chapter 4: Race

Using Stories of Race for Understanding

How to Address Issues of Race

A Deeper Understanding of Race

The Multi-Ethnicity of Jesus

Ethnicity and Tribes

Raising Cross-Cultural Awareness and Racial Understanding

Conclusion

Chapter 5: The Gift of the Black Church

The Development of the Black Church

About the Gifts

Black Power or Beloved Community?

Gifts for the Multi-Ethnic and Missional Church

Conclusion

Chapter 6: Creating a Post-White Church

The Challenge

The Evangelical Covenant Church in Brief

An Immigrant Identity and Heritage

Domestic Missional Roots

Providing the Space to Deal with Race and Justice

Intentional Ethnic and Multi-Ethnic Church Planting

Intentional Decisions and Relational Pathways

Conclusion

Chapter 7: Leadership

The Need for Spiritual Health and Leadership Development

The Struggles I Face

Facing the Problem

Chapter 8: The Beloved Life and Leadership Project

Digging Deeper into My Personality: Insights Discovery Profile

Understanding the Dark Side

Servant Leadership Development: Network Servant Profile

Crossing Cultures: Intercultural Development Inventory

Conclusion

Chapter 9: Starting, Shifting, and Sustaining

The Significance of Life Experiences

Starting with Purpose

How to Use the Core Values

Let's Go

About the Author

Index

Copyright © 2012 by Efrem Smith. All rights reserved.

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Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Smith, Efrem (Efrem D.), date

The post-black and post-white church : becoming the beloved community in a multi-ethnic world / Efrem Smith. — 1st ed.

p. cm. — (Jossey-Bass leadership network series ; 59)

Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-118-03658-7 (hardback); 978-1-118-26088-3 (ebk); 978-1-118-23606-2 (ebk); 978-1-118-22232-4 ( ebk)

1. Church and minorities. 2. Social integration—Religious aspects—Christianity. 3. Reconciliation—

Religious aspects—Christianity. 4. Multiculturalism—Religious aspects—Christianity I. Title.

BV639.M56S65 2012

277.3'083089--dc23

2012012452

Leadership Network Titles

The Blogging Church: Sharing the Story of Your Church Through Blogs, Brian Bailey and Terry Storch

Church Turned Inside Out: A Guide for Designers, Refiners, and Re-Aligners, Linda Bergquist and Allan Karr

Leading from the Second Chair: Serving Your Church, Fulfilling Your Role, and Realizing Your Dreams, Mike Bonem and Roger Patterson

In Pursuit of Great AND Godly Leadership: Tapping the Wisdom of the World for the Kingdom of God, Mike Bonem

Hybrid Church: The Fusion of Intimacy and Impact, Dave Browning

The Way of Jesus: A Journey of Freedom for Pilgrims and Wanderers, Jonathan S. Campbell with Jennifer Campbell

Cracking Your Church's Culture Code: Seven Keys to Unleashing Vision and Inspiration, Samuel R. Chand

Leading the Team-Based Church: How Pastors and Church Staffs Can Grow Together into a Powerful Fellowship of Leaders, George Cladis

Organic Church: Growing Faith Where Life Happens, Neil Cole

Church 3.0: Upgrades for the Future of the Church, Neil Cole

Journeys to Significance: Charting a Leadership Course from the Life of Paul, Neil Cole

Church Transfusion: Changing Your Church Organically from the Inside Out, Neil Cole and Phil Helfer

Off-Road Disciplines: Spiritual Adventures of Missional Leaders, Earl Creps

Reverse Mentoring: How Young Leaders Can Transform the Church and Why We Should Let Them, Earl Creps

Building a Healthy Multi-Ethnic Church: Mandate, Commitments, and Practices of a Diverse Congregation, Mark DeYmaz

Leading Congregational Change Workbook, James H. Furr, Mike Bonem, and Jim Herrington

The Tangible Kingdom: Creating Incarnational Community, Hugh Halter and Matt Smay

Baby Boomers and Beyond: Tapping the Ministry Talents and Passions of Adults over Fifty, Amy Hanson

Leading Congregational Change: A Practical Guide for the Transformational Journey, Jim Herrington, Mike Bonem, and James H. Furr

The Leader's Journey: Accepting the Call to Personal and Congregational Transformation, Jim Herrington, Robert Creech, and Trisha Taylor

The Permanent Revolution: Apostolic Imagination and Practice for the 21st Century, Alan Hirsch and Tim Catchim

Whole Church: Leading from Fragmentation to Engagement, Mel Lawrenz

Culture Shift: Transforming Your Church from the Inside Out, Robert Lewis and Wayne Cordeiro, with Warren Bird

Church Unique: How Missional Leaders Cast Vision, Capture Culture, and Create Movement, Will Mancini

A New Kind of Christian: A Tale of Two Friends on a Spiritual Journey, Brian D. McLaren

The Story We Find Ourselves In: Further Adventures of a New Kind of Christian, Brian D. McLaren

Missional Communities: The Rise of the Post-Congregational Church, Reggie McNeal

Missional Renaissance: Changing the Scorecard for the Church, Reggie McNeal

Practicing Greatness: 7 Disciplines of Extraordinary Spiritual Leaders, Reggie McNeal

The Present Future: Six Tough Questions for the Church, Reggie McNeal

A Work of Heart: Understanding How God Shapes Spiritual Leaders, Reggie McNeal

The Millennium Matrix: Reclaiming the Past, Reframing the Future of the Church, M. Rex Miller

Your Church in Rhythm: The Forgotten Dimensions of Seasons and Cycles, Bruce B. Miller

Shaped by God's Heart: The Passion and Practices of Missional Churches, Milfred Minatrea

The Missional Leader: Equipping Your Church to Reach a Changing World, Alan J. Roxburgh and Fred Romanuk

Missional Map-Making: Skills for Leading in Times of Transition, Alan J. Roxburgh

Relational Intelligence: How Leaders Can Expand Their Influence Through a New Way of Being Smart, Steve Saccone

The Post-Black and Post-White Church: Becoming the Beloved Community in a Multi-Ethnic World, Efrem Smith

Viral Churches: Helping Church Planters Become Movement Makers, Ed Stetzer and Warren Bird

The Externally Focused Quest: Becoming the Best Church for the Community, Eric Swanson and Rick Rusaw

The Ascent of a Leader: How Ordinary Relationships Develop Extraordinary Character and Influence, Bill Thrall, Bruce McNicol, and Ken McElrath

Beyond Megachurch Myths: What We Can Learn from America's Largest Churches, Scott Thumma and Dave Travis

The Other 80 Percent: Turning Your Church's Spectators into Active Participants, Scott Thumma and Warren Bird

Better Together: Making Church Mergers Work, Jim Tomberlin and Warren Bird

The Elephant in the Boardroom: Speaking the Unspoken About Pastoral Transitions, Carolyn Weese and J. Russell Crabtree

To the pastors who raised me: Art Erickson, Edward Berry Sr., Keith Johnson, Bart Campolo, and Gerald Joiner

About the Jossey-Bass Leadership Network Series

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To learn more about Leadership Network, go to www.leadnet.org.

Foreword

The demographic changes occurring as we draw closer to the midpoint of the twenty-first century are prompting a mixture of reactions and responses. If the projections are accurate, by the early 2040s the United States will be a nation without a demographic majority. Whites will drop below 50 percent of the population. In the next ten to fifteen years this will happen for those under the age of eighteen years. It is already true for births in the United States. The 2008 election of Barack Obama as the nation's first Black president, after forty-three consecutive White male presidents, demonstrated that attitudes about race were shifting among a new generation of voters. Some declared that we had entered a post-racial era. Many of us had a growing optimism about the possibility for increasing the numbers of congregations that crossed the dividing lines of race, culture, class, gender, and the like. We even called for a movement of such congregations to serve as models of reconciliation for the broader society.

Yet we have discovered that racial divisions still loom large in the nation's life together. The euphoria of the Obama election and the apparent moment of national reconciliation have faded, now replaced for some by anxiety, fear, and anger as the racial demographics in the United States continue to become more and more diverse. I often wonder if our highly charged political discourse is the result of simmering discontent, just below the surface, about what it means to live in a nation where Whites are no longer in the majority. As I write, the outcry at the killing of a hoodie-wearing African-American teen has launched a national conversation about the continued reality of racial profiling in the lives of citizens of color. Also, this season of national discontent has caused some of us to reflect on the state of our movement for diverse congregations that model reconciliation. Have our attempts at developing reconciled congregations produced demographically diverse Sunday celebrations but offered limited attention to racialized lives and institutional structures?

The Post-Black and Post-White Church arrives at a time when the United States is rediscovering that the effects of its history of racial division are still deeply embedded in the psyches of its people and in the systems that sustain and maintain the country's institutions. Efrem Smith's urgent call for a beloved community rings forth as so many multi-ethnic congregations are struggling to live out the demands of an authentic biblically reconciled fellowship. So this book is very timely!

Efrem Smith is uniquely qualified to write this book. I have known Efrem for nearly twenty-five years. He has lived his life in both African-American and White contexts. He is deeply rooted in his own African-American historical and cultural context yet he easily interacts in White communities. Crossing racial and cultural divides in ways that celebrate difference and promote unity has been his life work. This book shares what he has learned from many years of reconciliation work and, in particular, as the founding pastor of Sanctuary Covenant Church—a multi-ethnic congregation I have observed closely since its beginning. Efrem Smith embodies his vision of the church moving toward a post-Black and post-White ethic.

I must admit I was at first a bit troubled by the terms “post-Black” and “post-White” as applied to the church. The idea of leaving a part of our identity behind did not resonate with me. But as I read this book I discovered that this is not what was meant by Smith. In fact, I found much to be encouraged by. First, the book calls for the formation of multi-ethnic congregations. These congregations should be post-Black and post-White in the sense that they are representative of the next step beyond our long history of racially divided churches in the United States. Therefore, post-Black means that multiethnic congregations must hold on to the most important elements and gifts of the African-American church. To be post-White means that multi-ethnic congregations must let go of the socially constructed Whiteness that so permeates the dominant culture of the United States and reclaim remnants of European cultures that were discarded in the U.S. melting pot project. When this process occurs, Smith argues, congregations will become reconciled, multi-ethnic, and missional. Echoing Martin Luther King Jr., his subtitle envisions the role of these churches—Becoming the Beloved Community in a Multi-Ethnic World.

I deeply appreciate the honesty and transparency with which Efrem Smith shares his insights and stories. He writes as a fellow traveler on the journey. He notes his weaknesses and shortcomings as opportunities for all of us to learn how to become stronger leaders. I congratulate Efrem Smith on this fine work that inspires us to envision a more reconciled future and compels us to do the hard work to get closer to becoming the beloved community.

Curtiss Paul DeYoung

Professor of Reconciliation Studies

Bethel University, St. Paul, MN

Introduction: Enter the Sanctuary

Let me take you to church for a moment. This is not a typical church in the United States. Rather, the Sanctuary Covenant Church is a multi-ethnic and missional church located in North Minneapolis, Minnesota.

It's the beginning of spring in Minnesota (which means there could still be a chance for a blizzard to come on the scene at any time), and on this particular Sunday morning, an experience of corporate worship is about to begin that has been focused for the past seven weeks on racial reconciliation and unity. The series is called “Community.”

This series is tied to a broader campaign that the church has been focused on all year: Vision for the City. The goal of the campaign was to break down the purpose statement of the church—“To change the face of the church in America by reconciling the people of the city to God and one another”—in a way that would provide applications for increasing its engagement in the community of North Minneapolis and strengthen the church as a multi-ethnic congregation.