Is Your Church Color Blind?

Generation WE: The Movement Begins... from Generation We on Vimeo.

Both of my sons are color blind. And I confess I love it because they see differently than I do. I am just blind, but at least my vision is becoming more Christ-focused when it comes to color.

They can discern green from red or brown from blue, but when it comes to human beings, they just don’t SEE the way I do.

When I ask them for a physical description of a friend they are speaking of, it invariably begins with a phrase like “they have curly hair” or “they’re taller than I am” or “they wear glasses.’’ To be completely honest, in contrast, when I describe a person, I too often find myself starting with different labels, tagging someone as Asian, Hispanic or Black. My sons Ethan and Spenser, NEVER start a description with those labels.

They tell me they think racism is ridiculous, and when they hear racism coming from the mouths and actions of some of our older family members, it gnaws at their hearts. It gnaws at my heart, too, but it’s the pain of a recovering racist, not the pain of a heart that has never validated racism. But that’s my story for another day.

It’s a sign of progress. A sign of the times. A sign churches need to pay close attention to if you are going to succeed in Young Adult Ministry.

Let me give you some statistics from a newly published book called Generation We, which does an exhaustive study of today’s 18 to 29 year olds. It’s an interesting book, but let me forewarn you the authors of this book don’t look at this generation through a Christian lens, but instead through a political lens, so read it with discernment. You may pick up some of that from the video I have posted above.

The statistics are eye-popping.

This generation is the most diverse in American history. Hispanics make up 18 percent of the population, Blacks are 14 percent of this population and Asians number five percent of this generation.

82 percent of White 18- to 25-year-old Millennials in 2003 disagreed with the idea that they “don’t have much in common with people of other races.”

95 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds said they approve of Blacks and Whites dating,
and 60 percent of this age group said they had dated someone of a different race.

These are some of the secondary reasons Threads Media has just released the Bible study Red Revolution, a message about seeing the world through the lens of Christ. It’s because this view of the world is essential to successful Young Adult Ministry in any church.

The primary reason is because Jesus Christ taught us to love and reach out to all nations without boundaries.

So, let’s be honest for a minute and let me ask some tough questions.

Is your church really ready for complete racial diversity or are you still living in a church culture that maintains Sunday morning as the most racially divided hours of the week?

Do the people at your church have trouble treating people in interracial marriages like every other couple who walks through the doors of your church? Do you really subscribe to 1 Corinthians 6:14-18 as THE litmus test for marriage?

Would it cause a stir if a Black college student began dating the White daughter of a deacon in your church?

Would it cause a problem if an Asian young woman who was adopted by a family in your church many years ago grew up to marry a White young man she had been friends with since they began attending church together in the first grade?

If any of these questions cause sweat to break out on your brow, it’s time you started changing the culture in your church. If you don’t, you won’t get far in reaching today’s Young Adults. They’re color blind and they are searching for the genuine love of Jesus Christ in today’s churches. It’s a love without racial boundaries.

If they don’t find it, they will be gone before you can even begin to describe them.