I don't think there is anything wrong with church body being of all one race... like you said, especially if that is the area it's in. Same with socioeconomic status... I would expect some churches to be comprised of middle class whites, if that is the population. I think it's amazing to be able to worship with others who are different from yoursellf, but, with diversity in ethnicity come diversity in culture. And we tend to go with what we feel comfortable with (no one wants to be uncomfortable in church!). On the other hand, i think the issue is not so much of our unconcious segregation, but, how we welcome those who are of different backgrounds into our church. If you (in general) attend a hispanic church, will an asian person feel comfortable and welcomed? Likewise, are upper/middle class churches welcoming and accepting of lower income families enough to make them feel at home?

I think it is important to embrace the differences, too. Our race and ethnicity influence who we are. If you're asian, i see you as asian, if you're polish, i see you as polish, if you're black, you're black, white, you're white. I don't think the way to go about it is pretending we're all the same, seeing color is a good thing, it is a part of us. We just need not to use it as a means of comparison or steretype.

Ethnic unity is one of the major themes of the New Testament, particularly Acts, which is generally regarded as being at least somewhat normative for church life today.

The only other moral themes that are as prevalent in the New Testament are the church's commitment to nonviolence, to sharing/renouncing personal possessions and the equality of men and women in Christ.

If anyone has anything to add to this list, I'd be game to hear it. 

But by any measure, the American church is doing quite poorly by the standards of New-Testament church life. 

My major problem is that, unlike the other three, I know no particularly practical steps that churches can take on the racial divides.  Intentional multicultural churches like Mosaic are a good step, of course, but generally I despair of a practicable solution coming in the next twenty-five years or so.

-NDSR

I just wanted to clarify this regarding seeing color. I base it on this..one of the "members/body" scriptures..

. Colossians 3:15
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.

We are members (pleural) but make up one body (singular). I don' care about being called "white," an "American," or what have you. I just want to be known as one of HIS, :)

I have attended churches where there was a great deal of talk about the need to attract people of various ethnic origins and diverse economic levels.  I believe that there is a certain feeling of guilt connected with these appeals.  Sure, in heaven there will be diversity.  The Lord created all things to have distinctive individual qualities ( that includes people, obviously.  The Bible clearly states that race is a myth in so far as it is used to discern the value or humanness of others.  We are all of one blood.  But we are convicted of our secret prejudices ( not all of them racial, either ) so we know that it might just be that we would be uncomfortable with people who are different.

One thing I have grown to want to cultivate is the ability to look others in the eye and listen attentively to what they say.  Beneath the obvious exterior appearance or personality traits is another person who has the same problems relating with others who are different.  I am trying to make it easier for them to feel my acceptance of them as a fellow human ( and maybe they are a brother or sister in Christ also ).  It probably never will happen that all people will overlook the differences in others, but I believe it behooves us as Christians to lead the way since we know the One who made us all.

I'm not sure about this issue.  I am comfortable worshipping with alll kindsof ethnicities.  I have ministered in mostly white middle class churches, because that's the area/neighborhood the church is trying to reach.  That is the type of people that will relate best to the congregation's story of salvation.  85 % of people who come to Christ, come to Christ because of the influence of a friend.  We have baptized three people in the last 4 weeks, and all three have come to salvation because of a friend.  It's no wonder we are segregated in churches, if our friends are inviting us, then it's not surprising at all.

I find that a lot of the times, churches are tied in with the people's national cultures if the church is mono-nationalistic.

For example, the bible church I attended for several years composed of mainland chinese and taiwanese people. Because we mostly shared similar cultures, as a church group we celebrated a lot of cultural events and church related events together. The services were in Mandarin. It was like a social/religious group.

As long God is the focus of churches whether they are multi-ethnic or mono-ethnic, then it's all cool.

The church I grew up in,and still attend has for most of my life been predominantly white - many of us are descendants of the Dutch immigrants from 50 some odd years ago.   Never really thought much about it growing up either.  However, in the last 10 years we've become quite diverse.   Now we're not just European descent Canadians, but also African American, Chinese Canadian, and even from Indian culture.  I think it's great!  The vast majority that are joining our churches have been sponsored for immigration from persecuted areas in the world.  It's been great for our kids too.  When I went to (our private christian school) I onlyknew white kids in my school.  Now each of my kids has 1 or 2 other races in their class and it's completely normal to them, which is fabulous.   There is some language divide, but we're overcoming that slowly but surely.   Indeed, God's kingdom is built up of many different races, nationalities and tongues! Won't heaven by grand?

I'd been going to an all-Korean church for a few months; but I stopped going for various reasons.. Something about the atmosphere just wasn't right. I think the uniform ethnicity somehow contributed to this.. gah I can't explain. Totally useless post >_>

i attend a small rural church we have all races of people in our church. we don't exclude anyone who wants to attend, our doors are open to all. being in a small town in texas we are more open to who are in the community. try it you might be surprise who show up at your church. my bible says god so loved the world so that it includes everybody!

I'm only attending my third church in my life--we left the first one when I was four, and I attended the second one until last spring--and all I can ever remember was a predominantly white church for most of my life. And I didn't think anything about it, because that was all I knew. And it wasn't like we were segregated or anything [gasp] because after all there was one black family. And one mixed. But that was literally all. I think way more about this kind of thing now than I used to, and I'm glad that my new church home welcomes everyone with open arms and that people of many ethnicities and colors have made it their church home. We have black, white, Asian, Indian. I just met a Ukrainian girl, she's so cute. :]

So I love it. However I think the main problem with ethnicity in my area is that it's rural Ohio. Mostly white.

i would love to have a church where it was made up of every color..and every disabled person...from turrets to adhd to  ms to wheelchairs to walkers to speech impediments to terminally ill ...every age every possible background...

I have had the opportunity to worship in a setting that had two native american tribes PLUS anglo(white caucassian).  I also had the opportunity to worship in a setting that was very similar to a United Nations.....people from several countries. THOSE types of worship services seem to me more filling, more freeing, more meaningful, more friendlier, more everything. When barriers of ethnic, color, etc, are down, freedom to worship the Lord is more in abundance.