Ohio Independent Baptist, June/July 1938

5. Ha your church made an effort to reach the non– white in the area of your church' outreach? Ye · - 29 % No - 71 % 6. Doe ' your church have a poliicy regarding the ad– mi ion to member hip of pfritually qualified non– wihite applicant ? Ye - 20% , No - 80% 7. Are there any Bible-1believing non..swthile churches 111 your city? Ye - 50% , No - 50% 8. Would you upport the admis ion of doctDinally and pir~tually qualified non-white churche which seek member hip into the Regular Baiptti t A ociations? local a sociation, Yes - 92% , No - 8% s,tate association, Yes - 94% , No - 6% national as ociation, Yes - 95% , No - 5 % 9. Do you believe that discussion of ,thi ~ sue should be aired in our sliate and national organs? Yes - 71 % ,No - 29% ANALYSIS Based on the results of ,the quesrtionnaire, the follow~ng geneml izations seem po ,s,iible: 1. Mosit of the areas erved by tihe churches urveyed are not highly populated by non-whlte . Thirty-one peroent aid that they had no non-,whi>tes ,in their area. An additional 51 % ranged ,between O and 10% , almost all being below 5 % . Thus, over 80% of the churches indicated they are not in ra geographic ~ocaliity conducive to reaching many non-whites. 2. Eighty-<Six percent of llhe churche are in areas whose population i below 100,000. Non-wihites tend to be located primarily in urban areas exceeding this populattion. 3. A total of 57 non-whites hav,e been "reached" w.ithin the churches themselves, 11 member and 46 at- , tenders, an ,average of less than one per churcih. Five churches i3'CCounted rfor all of the attender and 9 accounted for ,the members. 4 . Of the ohurches Wlhere there was a potential out– reach among the non-white, 37% have made efforts which would involve irutegration ,in some form, e.g., canvas ing, inviting to church, per onal work , DVBS, etc. Sixty-three percent have either not made an effort, giving such reasons ,as " a fundamental colored work exists in the area," or have made ef– fort s which es entially invo.lve no irutegration, "we support a mis ionary to the colored . . ." or "we helped start a non-white work..." 5. onsid eriable variety appeared in the r,eports of effort presently being undertaken ito reach llhe non– white, including the following: providing fin 1 ancial suppor t to mi s ionaries to the non-whuite, giv,ing assis t– ance in es labli hing non-white churches, a iding in 1 the eslablishment of Bible club and Bible cla es un non-white areas, in viting non-white to pre nt pec.i al m u~ica l or special programs, v isiting non-whiite chu rches, do ing per onal work wi tJh non~ hit , ex– te nd ing bona fid e invi tali ons t,o per n of all iiaces lo DVBS, und ay choo l, hurch, spec ial meeting , and offeri ng membership Lo a ll spiri tu all y-qu alified persons regardl ess of race. 6. The majorit y o f the chu rches h ave no slated policy concerni ng the ad mission o f piritu all y-qu a,lifi <l non– white cand id ,Ltes for membersh ip. Mo t of th e who hav\! a policy favor equ ali ty. H owever, some who HE OHIO INDEPENDENT BAPTIST have suoh a policy have no non-whiite members or attender . 7· M~ny. pa rtor feel that sound , segregated ohurohes exist 111 ,their communiliies. 8. Pa tor ovePWihelmingly favo r adm~ ion of doctrin– ally .and spiritually-quial,ified non-w'h~~e churches ,to Regul,ar Baptist associations at all ,levels .local staJte and national. ' ' ' 9. Seventy-one percent of the pastors favored di cu s,ion of t~e race. i _ue 1in our taite and national Regu~ar Baptist penod1cals. The 29% opposing argued as follows: dis en ;ion might re ult, dri cus ion of ~he issue would nO!t be consi tent with the purposes o f the periodical , this ·is a local issue only, and mbble– rousers mig:ht ,take advantage of tlhe ~ruaition. Sever,aJ in favor of discussion felt strongly that the i ue mu~ be faced ,soon and illhait perhap a vote should be taken , especially concerning the adrni sion of non– white churches to the as ociiaJt~on at ,all levels. l n general , practices and attitudes toward reach~ng the non-whlte Va!I'ied greatly as exempli.£ied by the followa:ng rnnge of ·sampl,e responses . "I don't thrunk :iJt nece sairy." "Kind seeks it own kind." "We have never feLt it was part of our re ponsilbility." "We tarted a church. We have had theiit· children (over 100) for years in OU![ DVB ." "We attempt to make all individuals welcome wwthout ex– cepitiJon . . . we attempt in every way possible to make them feel -at home. We have and shall oontinue to t reaJt all professing Chri tians as one in Chri t." One pas1tor aptly stlated , "I think the Ameriicain Negro has for yea;rs been a mi ,ion field for it.he Fundamemibalisrts and I fear JiJttle hras been done along this line. I am tharukful fior what ,Hittle has been done, however. Let us reach and teach t!hem." SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATJON It appears ithait effonts to reach .!ihe American Negro in the majority of churches surveyed Me m.1nimal. Some ohmches, however, are actively involved ii n ignificant effonts to ·reach the non-white egment of our ociety. In addition to continuing and i111ten ifying the pre.semrt: efforts, the follrowimg recommendations ,are offered for your consideration. (Mo t of the e were ugge ted by the urvey re ponde111ts.) 1. Fmither tudies of ,rhe problem could be performed in otfher localities. 2. Information may be obta ined f rom Bapti t Mid– Missions aind FBHM concerning wh at you can do to aid in evangeli21ing the Americarn Negro aind o ther n01n-wh~tes. 3. Scholar hip fund s may bee t abli bed to · t promis- ing non~hite young men to attend our approved chools. 4. "Don't run to 'white' ubu rba n area t,o cape the problem." Perh ap o me churche hould be tra- tegica ll y I cated t r ach the non-wh it . 5. "Openl y di cus the probl m and h at the chur h a a whol e h uld d in the local area." 6. " Invite them ( qu a li fied non-whi t chur h s) irnto ur a ociation ." h is urvey a nd it fi nd ing are m rel by n means comp I te. T make progres · in r a hing the America n egro wi ll r quir a I e that tran end cultur– al patterns. Je us' concorn for the woman f amaria (with whom the J h a<l n dealing ) , remind ' u th at Hi commis ion include not nl J ru alem, Jud aea, and the uttermo t part ( the earth , but Samar ia a ' \.\ell (Act 1:8). JUNE-JULY, 1968 15