the power of diverse communities of faith

Sometime ago I read a book called "Divided By Faith". It is a very good book that helped define so many things for me. The gist of the book is that though Evangelicals have really responded in the last 15 years to the racial crisis in the U.S. it has not been effective because our tendency is to see everything through the lens of "individual" and rarely "systems". So we as Evangelicals have sought to be personally reconciled across races but it has done very little to change the landscape because the systemic issues are still there undermining all of our best efforts.

Toward the end of the book the authors are making the argument that we need diverse communities of faith. One reason they give is that in a society like ours where the wealth (power) is largely controlled by one race, having separate communities of faith hinders the movement toward equality. The reason is that (generalizing here) the majority of jobs are controlled by people of one race and if two people with the same qualifications apply for the job but one applicant knows the person doing the hiring and the other doesn't, the one who knows the employer will almost always get the job. This isn't racism per se, it's just the normal way of things. Well, because communities of faith are so likely to be where many of our social relationships are, if we are in homogeneous communities of faith then the jobs we control or have access to will continue to go to the people like us. Again, this is not malicious or intentional but just because their is a connection there.

Well, tonight I got to participate in something like this, but better. I have a friend (who happens to be Black) who is looking for a job in Gainesville for a year while she takes a break from school before going to Law School at Northwestern in Chicago. She is one of the smartest people I know. But there are not many jobs in Gainesville (maybe anywhere these days) and it has been hard to find one. While talking to a different friend (who happens to be White) I asked a random question and he replied that his department was looking to hire someone for a certain job. Because I am in community with both of them I was able to bridge the gap and possibly help my other friend get a job. She does not have the job yet but now when she turns in her resume she will have an insider to put in a good word for her. I thought this was such a beautiful application of "Divided By Faith" that I wanted to share it with you all. Let's go out and develop diverse (in every way) communities of faith that will be used in big ways and small to make this a more beautiful and equitable nation then it already is.