Diversity – Making Community

Diana Butler Bass writes about one of my favorite topics in the realm of Healthy Liberal or Progressive churches: Diversity. She argues eloquently about the value of diversity in community and that liberal theology (going back at least to Jesus) expresses the belief in a God of diversity, one who has created a diverse world, and who called it “good.” Her writing resonates with me and reminds me of a perspective on diversity that I heard a few years ago on a Seattle radio station: “In Seattle, we don’t just tolerate diversity, we celebrate it.” For me, that expresses a deep Christian sentiment that is completely in keeping with the gospel of Jesus.

Dr. Bass does not address a very significant issue, however. It’s one thing to be open to diversity in a local congregation (that is to say, not to exclude certain kinds of people), but it’s another thing to know how to bring it about. This is not an easy question because it requires us to look at local congregations in the context of broader community issues. Demographics and systemic community dysfunctions affect the specific approaches that a particular congregation might take.

Let’s look at Elmira, for example. Given this community’s history as one of the stops on the Underground Railroad, and given The Park Church’s beginnings as an abolitionist congregation, you would think that diversity would be easy to bring about. Still, the membership of The Park Church is surprisingly white (though not exclusively). Furthermore, deserved or not, it has a reputation of being open only to relatively well-off and educated people. To its credit, the church has always valued the contributions and leadership of women as well as men, and it has made great strides by becoming an “Open and Affirming” congregation.

Though some healthy changes have taken place, Elmira has a reputation of being a very segregated community. East and West are separated by a major traffic artery and, then, North and South are divided by a major river. Natural and manmade barriers can both intensify segregation, but if we are to follow Jesus, we must find ways to transcend these barriers. I recognize that barriers such as these aren’t going to vanish, so human being-to-human being bridges must be built. (Several bridges span our river. We must use them for our attitudes as well as our cars.)

Diversity develops when people from various walks of life have enough opportunities to have their stories heard and when they have enough opportunities to hear the stories of others. A common mistake made by well meaning congregations is to restrict their outreach to opening the doors. “You are welcome here. Come on in and tell your story.” As important as welcoming is, being willing to go out to where the stories are being lived is essential, too. It is not fair only to require others to cross the barriers in order to provide diversity for us. Instead, we must respond to the hospitality of others and become the source of diversity in their world.

Obviously, this is not an either/or situation. Mutuality requires that we do both: be inviting and be willing to respond to the invitations of others. Finally, we must remember that promoting diversity is one of the foundations for our Christian Gospel. So let’s be bridge builders. And let’s make healthy use of the bridges others have built for us.

How are you at bridgework?

Wayne Gustafson
“No matter who you are, or where you are in life’s journey, you’re welcome here.”
The United Church__of Christ