Tag: racial diversity

In the past, local religious leaders attempted to deal with church segregation.
“For a season, it was a fad where folks became excited,” said Rodney McAuley, director of community and church engagement for Spokane Youth for Christ. “We did events and projects where we began the process of tearing down those walls, but when it got tough or when we bumped up against the real life difficulties and challenges around our differences, we, in my estimation, did not maintain the intentionality to see the breakthrough.”

Statistically, church segregation is common as 93 percent of churches are uniracial, meaning their membership is at least 80 percent of one racial group. Going beyond numbers, Rodney McAuley, director of community and church engagement for Spokane Youth for Christ, and Russ Davis, pastor of leadership development, teaching, and administration at New Community Church, offer seven reasons why people should want to do something about church segregation.