It seems about twice a year I end up blogging on the subject of Walmart because it just seems so prevalent in my thinking about the confluence of church, ethnic groups, and culture. Let me explain …
Last night I made a late night Walmart run to pick up some cough medicine for Grant who’s been pretty ill. Of course its always helpful to have a 24-hour Walmarrt handy and so I was there at about 10:30 PM. As we transition to Vancouver we’re staying at my Mom’s in SE Missouri for a few more weeks before we move. It’s a fun little town with 50-60,000 in the metro area. It’s mostly White with about 10% African American. But at Walmart? It’s all different.
Last night I felt like I was in a large urban center and if you were to judge based upon who was at Walmart you’d probably guess the same. I saw a handful of Chinese students/young adults, several different Indian (south Asian) families, Hispanics, others from various Asian countries, and from what I could tell eastern Europeans as well. I was shocked because everywhere else I go throughout the area I don’t see that at all. Depending on the part of town you’re in you’ll mostly see White or Black, but at Walmart … everyone shows up.
As I’ve been doing my research looking at 7 cities out west and the landscape of church planting I’ve been pretty shocked, especially in cities where it’s very ethnically diverse. I’ve spent countless hours scouring websites, looking at all of their photo galleries and Flickr streams and from what I gather here’s what I see … White people worship with White people, Blacks worship with blacks, Chinese worship with Chinese, Koreans worship with Koreans, Hispanics worship with Hispanics … but yet you can find them all equally at Walmart. I’ve seen all-White churches planted in Asian neighborhoods with 95% Whites worshipping at the church and there’s 200 people there.
Why can’t the church look more like Walmart as far as who’s connected to it? Sure, if we combine all of the churches across a metro area it would be very diverse but what’s holding us back from connecting together weekly? If Walmart can do it and all they’re offering is lower prices then why can’t we since we’re proclaiming the reality that God is among us? I’ve seen churches planted in city center cores where its some of the most ethnically diverse places on the continent but everyone in all of the church photos whether staff, small groups, or their worship gatherings are White. Why?
I don’t know why but it is always exciting to make a late night run to Walmart.
October 18, 2009 at 8:00 am |
Does Walmart not reach at one level the more universal needs of humanity (Maslow). They may be in the same building but it does not mean they are talking to each other. A spuer market is not relational. Walmart like any other firm are making a profit by supplying products for a diverse population that is being globalised. They are not achieving anymore than a church other than they are making a profit!! The church is so much more.
October 19, 2009 at 5:43 am |
Thanks Alister. I agree about the relational connectivity, or lack thereof at Walmart. I agree that the church is so much more, but since it is shouldn’t we not be so parochial in who comes? What can we learn from Walmart? Obviously we’re not in the profit business so when I say “what can we learn” I’m not talking about providing services for consumers but to show that Walmart, among many other places in society, are great magnets for people that transcends socio-economic as well as racial and ethnic lines. Since the church is so much more then my dream is to see them as diverse as places like Walmart.
October 19, 2009 at 10:21 am |
Hey Sean,
I haven’t read through this entire article, but it definitely speaks to some of the same issues you are asking about.
http://www.newgeography.com/content/001110-the-white-city
Colby
October 19, 2009 at 6:45 pm |
Excellent article Colby!!!! It was knowing those things of different cities in the Pacific NW which for us tipped the scale of why we chose Vancouver rather than Seattle or Portland. Most of the areas where we’ll be planting in is where Whites are a mere 20-40%. Wherever me and my son went in the areas where we are wanting to plant we were clearly in the minority.
It is unfortunate that hip and trendy means mostly White and hardly any blacks. Even in cities in the Midwest and North with large numbers of blacks wherever neighborhoods are being gentrified usually means blacks are moving out and trendy Whites are moving in.