minority-majority

Minority-Majority
It’s not coming, it’s here.

Does the idea of your city becoming mostly a population of Hispanics, Asians and African-Americans stir fear, excitement, apathy, or hope?

With the recent election of a Third Culture President and the continuing ethnic shift of many urban centers, what is the church doing to address one of the greatest cultural shifts of this century?

What shift you may ask?

When Barack Obama was elected President in November, it was historic for many reasons. One key reason was because of the rise of minority voters who voted for him. They changed the landscape of American politics with their activism and votes. Politically, the minority is becoming the majority.

The same is true as one observes the demographic composition in our states and cities. A recent article in the New York Times citing stats from the US Census Bureau affirms the minority-majority shift is upon us. Check it out at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/14/washington/14census.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
The article points out how already Texas and California have a Minority-Majority. A census projects that ethnic and racial minorities will actually comprise more than a majority of the nation’s population in a little more than a generation. This is happening faster than originally thought. While it has already affected our national political landscape, has it affected the leadership of our denominations, businesses, churches and non-profits? How does our leadership reflect the change of people moving into our neighborhoods?

While answers will be different in each of our neighborhoods, the shift raises some questions:
Will there be a white flight? Look at many of the cities on the east coast where Europeans built these beautiful edifices that are now occupied by more recent immigrants. Is this what the builders and founders had in mind when they built these over 100 years ago?
Will we continue a gentrification of neighborhoods that will further ghettoize ethnic minorities, push them further away from the center?
As we move into the city, will we live with the poor or have cloistered enclaves in the midst of the poor?
How firmly will we commit to not just color being represented in leadership but actually cultures? So who really leads our churches? It’s interesting to see how western conferences and leadership venues still have one primary color represented?
How do we see this as energizing and positive to the church not just something we do as the new strategic initiative of the year?
How do our churches demonstrate Minority-Majority values and best practices that truly reflect the diversity of our neighborhoods?
How do we empower and intentionally develop leaders among the future Minority-Majority people groups?
Are the boundaries being redrawn between what is the city and what is the suburb?

Suburbs are not outside of this shift. In my hometown of Irvine, California, we’ve seen a dramatic shift of Asians and Persians moving into this city. While we will always have ethnic churches, how will we prepare our churches for this Minority-Majority future? What do transition churches and hybrids look like?

Some of the systemic yet practical initiatives we’ve undertaken in our alliance of communities located around the world to address the Minority-Majority shift are:
1. Develop a “theology of discomfort” that is normative for misfits and liminal people groups. We have defined who the “neighbor” is as someone primarily “not like you.”
2. Get rid of either/or models. In the new world it’s about both/and. It’s interesting to me how we dialogue about trends, cultural shifts and focus mostly on forms. The key issue with form usually has to do with the context which includes the indigenous people, the calling of the community and the capacity of the leader. Also, what are important are the systemic issues that deal with belief, values, mindsets, processes, language and fringe people.
3. Create new nomenclature that matches where we are and where we are going. New movements require new languages. For example, we utilize an older term, “third culture” and have reframed and redefined it to fit who we are. Everything we do is about being “third culture.” Third culture is the mindset and will to love, learn and serve in any culture. We have a short on it at http://3culture.tv.
4. Innovate processes that are adaptive to different people. We’ve been working hard on a leadership development process that isn’t cookie cutter but adaptive to each person who wants to make a difference. This one is challenging but we’ve been trying to incorporate a rabbinical process, with Asian community nuances, Jesus’ focus on the small and his focus on blessing, and some of our consulting best practices. We think we have a piece that’s been missing in most western processes of leadership development.
5. Be intentional about creative collaboration with different denominations, with our own global multi-sites, and many different flavors of churches. Recently, we’re committed to partnering with a community of churches that are all over the world, diverse but with a heart for the gospel and mission. Also, in one of our sites, we’re working on partnership with one of the oldest churches in Europe. And with another large denomination in Canada, we’ve partnered with our multi-site in Bangkok. (http://community.newsong.net and http://global.newsong.net )
6. Create common platforms to come together especially related to cause. An example of this is something we call “YangDang”. The last two years we’ve had some expert technology guys from companies that are the leaders in their sectors as well as creative non-profit individuals help us to produce a new web portal to connect us to causes. It’s a tool to enable churches to connect resources to each other and to the world. It’s beta release is this spring. (http://yangdang.com). We’re hoping this can enable all of us to play.
7. Space that reflect our values of third culture and adaptation. For example, our sanctuary has a movement, circular feel to it that focuses not just on the speaker but our community.

I’d love to know what you are doing or thinking. Like the rest of you, we’re exploring and having fun trying to flow with this move of God. I was asked to share some of these ideas, know I’m not trying to influence you to do the same. I’m a firm believer that the issue really isn’t the answers but the questions that will lead us to the right answers especially when it comes to cultural adaptation. Each of our settings is different but like you, I’m looking for some commonalities when it comes to addressing multiple cultures, principles, sets of questions that will clarify a path. A lot of the learnings we’ve had emerged from our own pain and dysfunctions. . . So take it with a large grain of salt or with an anti-oxidant cup of green tea!