The New York Times has a story about a Baptist church in Georgia adapting to a multicultural world. Having fallen from 600 to 100 members as the demographics of their town changed, the former Clarkston Baptist Church is now the Clarkston International Bible Church and is back up to 300 members.
Mr. Perrin said the impact of the church on his life hit him when he and his wife were traveling through the Midwest. They stopped to worship at whatever Baptist church they could find.
“Every church that we walked into was pure white Caucasian,†he said. “My wife and I really felt uncomfortable, because, we realized, here in Clarkston is what the world is all about.â€
They did it because a close reading of the Bible indicated that Jesus had envisioned a multicultural Church. They lost some old members, of course, but I think it’s great that as a community they were able to decide to change—and then to implement it. Now if only more churches would realize LGBT people are meant to be welcomed as members as well.