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 Ethnic Blends?How do you develop a racially diverse leadership team? Are quotas the right recipe?
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With that in mind, we currently have a vacancy to fill in our pulpit and we are intentionally looking for an African American replacement. This decision is affected to some degree by the fact that we are located in the South. Because we desire at least three individuals to share the pulpit, we are also informed by the fact that my partner, Harry Li, is Chinese American and I am white. At this time as well, a white woman and another white family are raising support to join our staff team. Once they do, our staff will consist of five whites (one who is deaf), three blacks, two Latinos, one Chinese American, and a woman from Antigua—a pretty healthy mix. Another white man has also recently shown interest in joining our team. The balance of diversity can quickly shift if leaders are not intentional. While quotas should in no way dictate the diversity of your staff, potential hires must be considered in light of both the current and future composition of the team. Saying yes to someone of a particular ethnicity or other valued descriptive (one who is deaf or blind, for example), may mean saying no to someone else like him or her later on. Intentionality will safeguard the diversity of your staff, and therefore the credibility of your church, by ensuring that no one people group becomes so dominant in number as to undermine the vision. Break the cycle of samenessOf the 7 percent of churches that can be currently classified as multi-ethnic, a significant number are led by mono-ethnic staff teams. Although the diversity of these congregations is commendable, the challenge for such churches going forward is to recognize that more work needs to be done. In one church I know, over 100 people were hired, over the course of eight years, to fill positions of leadership. But only two minorities were hired in ministry positions, and one in an administrative role. Yet this was a town that was nearly 40 percent black! Each time a new pastor was hired, the leaders would say, "We are pleased to announce that we have found the best man for the job." He was always white and in many other ways reflective of core leadership. When a position becomes available in most churches, leaders tend to contact those they know and trust for names of those they'd recommend for the job. The people we contact and those they recommend are, more often than not, people just like us in ethnic, economic, and educational background. |             |
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