Identifying leaders who are culturally different than you
Yesterday I spoke at my church’s bi-monthly leadership meeting on identifying leaders who are culturally different. Like many other fairly diverse churches, my church struggles to attract and maintain a leadership team that reflects the diversity of the congregation. We tend to recruit and mentor leaders who are culturally similar, and thus maintain a homogenous [...]
Searching for Pentecost
Not too long ago I taught a seminary class on racial reconciliation and the Church. At the end of the semester, one of my most endearing and engaged students approached me and told me that while he had greatly enjoyed the class and thought that this “racial reconciliation stuff” was interesting, he didn’t believe that [...]
![“We have a better version of the Gospel” [Diversity Repellent]](http://i0.wp.com/www.christenacleveland.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/blacks-need-not-apply-44029839847.jpeg?resize=150%2C150)
“We have a better version of the Gospel” [Diversity Repellent]
In this series called Diversity Repellent I’m sharing brief observations on the subtle but powerful things that we do and say that make diverse people think twice about building community with us. These are just observations, so I encourage you to share your own thoughts, questions and suggestions. Also, if you have a “diversity repellent” [...]
Listening Well as a Person of Privilege – the complete series
I did a short series on listening well as a person of privilege because I often encounter privileged people who sincerely desire to stand in solidarity with oppressed people but don’t really know how to go about it in an honoring way. As a result, their well-intentioned attempts to listen well often result in clumsy [...]
What’s a white male pastor to do?
Note: Today’s post comes from my friend and pastor, Jeff Heidkamp. About 18 months ago, we formed a multiethnic preaching team that gave voice to diverse people while drastically cutting the number of Sundays that Jeff occupied the pulpit. In this post, Jeff talks about what he’s learned in the process and offers some advice [...]
Jesus, Unity and Fenway Park
Note: In honor of MLB Opening Day, I’m taking a short break from my series on Listening Well as a Person of Privilege. I’ll continue it next week About halfway through my grad school program, I decided that I wanted a career in Major League Baseball. As a lifelong baseball fan – it’s such a [...]
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