Thursday, June 05, 2008

Intentional Diversity or Quotas?

A few weeks back I had a brief but good conversation on the Strong Coffee blog with longtime Texas Baptist leader Ken Coffee about the approach churches or Christian orgs should/could take in hiring diverse leaders. The basic discussion centered around the phrase "hiring the best person for the job" regarding of ethnic or cultural background. I tried to articulate that sometimes this phrase doesn't work, in particular on the basis of generational training up of minority leaders. I basically said that it was unjust of us to not allow minority leaders (and by minority I am thinking of ethnic, socio-economic, and more, not just country of origin) to have access to proper training and then overlook them for ministry leadership roles because they weren't the best for the job.

Here's an article from CT about a church in Little Rock of all places, not far from where the "Little Rock Nine" were denied access to school in 1957. This church takes intentional diversity as a biblical mandate. What do you think?

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