individualism, materialism and racism in the church

I just got done reading The Next Evangelicalism by Soong-Chan Rah. Rah unpacks the changing landscape of the global and American evangelical church. His main point seems to be that current evangelicalism is captive to Western, white culture and that the hope of the evangelical church can be found in the emerging minority churches around the country and around the world.

There was a lot in the book that exposed my own racist tendencies and challenged me to be cautious of allowing my faith in Jesus to wed my culture of individualism, materialism and racism. I especially appreciated the challenge to carefully consider who you think of when coming up with a ‘successful’ church and/or Christian leader. I can’t help but think of Willow Creek, North Point, Mars Hill and Saddleback. All of these communities are relatively wealthy, large in numbers and primarily led by white leadership. Why are they successful my mind? Without being aware of it, I have defined success as wealth, numbers and influence or which the first two make the last one more probable.

But what really is success in the kingdom of God? Who are the leaders and communities we should learn from? What can we learn from American minority churches that are quickly becoming the global majority? And should I really care who the majority is? Race is rarely part of my conversations about faith.

I see an immergence of teachers and leaders moving away from individualistic language towards a more corporate view of the church. I see an increasing reaction to consumerism and a longing to be part of a multi-ethnic community. However a missing piece is that I am still unaware of much increase in the diversity of church leadership.

I wish that Rah would have offered more stories of hope in his book for even his examples of good things happening often came across as critiques but I am thankful for his challenges and work to continue this important conversation.