You should not expect to integrate your leadership team through random prayer or wishful thinking. Diverse individuals of godly character, theological agreement, and shared vision do not just arrive on waves of whim. Rather, they must be intentionally sought. Like the best of college coaches, multi-ethnic church planters and reformers must continually be on the lookout for potential recruits. When we find them, we should establish a dialogue, mindful that there may be an opportunity for formal partnership together at some point in the future.
In doing this, you should always keep in mind the whole. In other words, while quotas should in no way dictate the diversity of your staff, potential hires must be considered in light of both the current and future composition of your team. In fact, each decision you make concerning additions or replacements to your staff will have an impact down the road. Practically speaking, this means that in saying yes to someone of a particular ethnicity or other valued descriptive (one who is Deaf or Blind, for example), you may have to say no to someone else like him or her later on, in order to maintain the general balance of the team. In so doing, you will safeguard the diversity of your staff and therefore the credibility of your church, mindful that no one people group should become so dominant in number as to undermine the vision.
Excerpt from the book, Building a Healthy Multi-ethnic Church by Mark DeYmaz (Jossey-Bass/Leadership Network, 2007).
Comments