United By Faith
The Multiracial Congregation as an Answer to the Problem of Race

United By Faith provides a powerful argument for the racial integration of Christian congregations and ministries. It is a unique book because of the effective way that it combines biblical exegesis, social history, and empirical analysis of existing multiracial churches in making this claim. The result is the most convincing rationale I have ever read for multiracial congregations.

The authors begin by looking at the inclusive message and ministry of Jesus which radically contradicted the cultural and religious separatism of the Jewish people. They then examine the shockingly multicultural nature of the early church, as recorded in Acts. This section provides a strong biblical rationale for united worship among believers of all ethnicities, as well as interesting insights into how Jesus and the early Church dealt practically with ethnic and cultural conflicts among their followers.

The authors then take an unflinching and well-supported look at how the racism of white Christian churches throughout American history has led to our current state of racial separation. This section is important because it exposes the bloody and painful underpinnings of racial segregation among Christians in America that must be understood in order for this separation to be overcome. The section ends by documenting the emergence of a small number of multiracial congregations since 1940, and by giving a hopeful description of four currently existing multiracial congregations and how they became integrated.

Perhaps the most valuable section of the book is the last, where the authors take seriously and respond to the arguments against racially integrated congregations. In particular, the authors acknowledge that the racial integration of Christian organizations in the past has led to the subjugation of minority groups and their assimilation into a supposedly more "Christian" Euro-American culture. They also acknowledge the need for refuge among people of color who constantly have to adapt to a white-dominated society. This section shows that the authors understand the reasons for the current resistance to integration with whites among many non-white Christians. The authors also take seriously arguments against integration from the "church growth" perspective.

Still, the authors argue without apology that racial integration among the body of Christ is essential to fulfill God's purpose for His church, with the caveat that it has to be done in a way that equally values the perspectives and practices of believers from each racial and cultural group. They end by giving practical suggestions for structuring a multiracial church that does just that.

In my own research on multiracial congregations my colleagues and I have found that most multiracial congregations have a dominant ethnic or racial group (not always, but usually white) that ends up, unintentionally, relationally excluding and devaluing the perspectives and practices of the numerical minority group members. This book gives solid biblical reasons why, in spite of this, we should not give up trying to worship together, and gives practical advice on how to do it in a way that equally values and embraces each group within the congregation. I think this book should be required reading for all Christian leaders.

Editor's Note: Michael Emerson, one of the authors of United By Faith, will be leading three seminars at the National Faculty Leadership Conference.

Publisher: Oxford University Press; (June 2003)
ISBN: 0195152158

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