[hinckley buzzard]

Second, we need a greater emphasis on ethnic diversity. We've been so Southern and so white for so long that the annual meetings look like a loaf of Wonder Bread.

Don't get sucked in to this tar baby. Mainline protestant churches, which have been declining for a lot longer than the Baptists, have all pounced on this idea, only to come up absolutely empty.

Churches are a cultural phenomenon, accept it. Blacks will go to black churches no matter what you try to do to entice them into yours. Better to form local ecumenical alliances and joint social missions etc.

[driftdiver]

Our baptist church has plenty of diversity. They make people of all races welcome and people of all races attend.

[Coldwater Creek]

I live in the heart of the Bible Belt, Memphis, Tn.

We even have billboards stating that the most segregated place in town in the Churches on Sunday Morning.

My church is mixed and so are the other large Baptist churches in town, but the Black's still mostly prefer their own brand of worship.

[Arlis]

As a former pastor in an SBC church with many of my best friends being former SBC pastors, it’s sad to see our brethren continuing to miss the point.

If we as God’s people are walking in close relationship with Him, reflecting His character and nature in all that we do, both individually and collectively - others will be drawn to join us as they see and are attracted to Jesus.

But if we just change our programs, shift our focus, continue our emphasis on missions while failing to live the life of a missionary (kind of like liberals always declaring their purpose being to help the poor, but never helping the poor themselves as individuals), we will continue to die as a group.

All the proposed solutions are barking up the wrong tree and missing the real problem......

[PastorBooks]

It is the Hispanics they want to court.

[robowombat]

Interesting you should mention joint social missions. About 20 years ago when I lived in Northern Virginia the deacons and men's club of a black Baptist church in south Arlington decided to try and roust the crack dealers who were appearing in fair numbers in their community. They would do this by conducting citizen patrols and ‘peacefully confronting’ the street dealers by asking them to move on and by keeping a constant presence on the streets at night. Arlington PD contributed a car phone that was drop wired to the ops center. I called the church to ask if paleface Baptists were welcome. They were and I did some liaison and then approached my and my parent's church and presented the opportunity to help some fellow Baptists deal with a problem in their community. The results were the same as when about three years later when both my parents came down with dementia I asked our deacon what sort of elder outreach the church ad. In both cases the deacons and pastor after a couple platitudes said in effect ‘our members and deacons are too busy to be bothered this being DC where everyone has a career not a job.’
These two experiences ended by connection with that church and so far Baptists of any stripe. I did patrol with the black Baptists for the four months the patrol lasted. They were good guys, more politically liberal than me but culturally it was like being back in 1956 again. I also got several very good dinners from the experience. If my experiences are typical it is not surprising the SBC is stagnant.

[Cronos]

that’s not particularly true. It may be true for baptists, but not otherwise and in other countries.