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{"id":1784,"date":"2010-04-11T09:26:35","date_gmt":"2010-04-11T15:26:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/?p=1784"},"modified":"2015-03-13T17:02:03","modified_gmt":"2015-03-13T22:02:03","slug":"emergents-white-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/2010\/04\/11\/emergents-white-problem\/","title":{"rendered":"Emergent's White Problem"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

For those who are just joining the conversation, here\u2019s a brief:<\/p>\n

Soong-Chan Rah wrote about the emergent church in his book \u2014 a characterization to which I and others objected.<\/li>\n
He has now written an article on the subject for Sojourners Magazine<\/a>.<\/li>\n
I said I didn\u2019t like the cover image and title<\/a> \u2014 I still don\u2019t.<\/li>\n
I made some assumptions in the original post<\/a> about Rah\u2019s article which I have since amended and have apologized to Rah<\/a>.<\/li>\n
Some commenters have made suggestions as to how the EC can battle its diversity problem.<\/li>\n
I responded that those suggestions don\u2019t really fit what the EC is<\/a>.\u00a0 I was afraid that my second post would come off as defensive, and I\u2019ve been told I was right.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
So, I write this post both chastened and wanting to make a constructive contribution to this problem.\u00a0 Surely it\u2019s true that the EC is too white \u2014 as are so many collections of people in our culture.\u00a0 We need to combat this, and I both have tried to in the past and will try in the future.\u00a0 To that end, I offer these suggestions:<\/p>\n
To Emerging <\/span>Church Leaders<\/span><\/p>\n
Diversify the leadership of the movement:<\/strong> I think this is being done.\u00a0 For instance, when founders of the movement like Pagitt, McLaren, Seay, Cecil, Conder, and Jones stepped off the leadership team of Emergent Village, we were replaced by a more diverse group, including Shroyer, Bray, Smith, and Rosario-Cruz.\u00a0 (Unfortunately, that group is introduced<\/a> but not listed on the EV website.)\u00a0 While I hold no sway over EV or any other group in the EC, I hope this trend continues.<\/p>\n
Invite diverse speakers to events:<\/strong> Doug and I have tried to do this with our new event company<\/a>, and I believe that EV is planning to do this in 2010 with their annual Theological Conversation.\u00a0 I encourage other events to follow suit.<\/p>\n
Let <\/strong>The Wild Goose Festival be a standard of diversity:<\/strong> A come-one-come-all event is being planned for June, 2011, and it has the opportunity to be uniquely attuned to matters of diversity.\u00a0 (In fact, I happen to know the planners, and I\u2019m convinced that it will be\u2026)<\/p>\n
To White EC Leaders: Examine \u2018white privilege\u2019: <\/strong>It seems to me that the issue at the root of the EC\u2019s \u201cwhitness problem\u201d \u2014 if not in Rah\u2019s article \u2014 is the issue of white privilege, real or perceived.\u00a0 Most of us cannot get through graduate school without being forced to confront our own privilege, as I know I did.\u00a0 While we don\u2019t have the structure to undertake the coordinated assessment that Lisa Sharon Harper suggested in earlier comments, each of us needs to take it on ourselves to look in the mirror and confront our own blindnesses.<\/p>\n
To Persons of Color in EC Leadership: Let your voice be heard:<\/strong> Clearly, the EC isn\u2019t a bastion of whitness, or you wouldn\u2019t be here, so tell us why you\u2019re here.\u00a0 What about the issues that concern the EC overlap with with your own experiences of God and church?\u00a0 Bring these issues to the fore of the conversation.<\/p>\n
To Non-White Leaders in the Church<\/span><\/p>\n
Give the EC the benefit of the doubt:<\/strong> Trust us, we\u2019re on your side, and moreso than most.\u00a0 We\u2019ve been heavily influenced by theologians of color, and we\u2019ve tried hard to diversify the conversation (not that we\u2019ve always succeeded).\u00a0 Work with us.<\/p>\n
Recognize the limits of the EC: <\/strong>Unlike most of the ecclesial orgs with which you work, be they denominations or non-profits or NGOs, we aren\u2019t structured like that, so you cannot expect us to act like those orgs.\u00a0 There\u2019s no headquarters and no discrete group of leaders and no one who can decide to give you a place at the table.\u00a0 Instead, there are lots of autonomous groupings who are relationally connected to one another.\u00a0 Become a part of one of these, and join the conversation.<\/p>\n
Look for moments of intersection: <\/strong>Those of us who are white are often told that the issues that concern us in the EC are exclusively the problems of white, middle class Christians, and that tends to sap our motivation for cross-cultural communication.\u00a0 So if you see issues of import to you in the EC, let us know what those are so that we can talk about them.<\/p>\n
Stop stereotyping us:<\/strong> It is clearly unacceptable for me to write about the hairstyle of an African-American church leader or the eyes of an Asian-American person (indeed, Soong-Chan recently took the lead in protesting<\/a> a Christian product that played on such stereotypes).\u00a0 And yet it seems acceptable to write about EC practitioners:<\/p>\n
From Rah\u2019s article:<\/p>\n