Race still a touchy issue when it comes to church

NASHVILLE (BP) – Pastors seem more reluctant to address issues of race in their congregations today than four years ago, according to the findings of a new Lifeway Research study.

A total of 74% of the surveyed pastors agreed their congregations would welcome a sermon on racial reconciliation, with 32% strongly agreeing. A 2016 survey showed 90% of the pastors queried at that time believed their congregation would be open to a sermon on the topic, with 57% strongly agreeing.

In the latest survey, 17% of pastors said their church would not want to hear about racial reconciliation, up from seven percent in 2016.

“While most pastors’ teaching is not limited to things their congregation wants to hear, it is helpful to know the reaction pastors anticipate from their congregation,” said Scott McConnell, executive director of LifeWay Research, a division of Southern Baptists’ LifeWay Christian Resources in Nashville.

“Instead of a majority strongly agreeing, now only a third of pastors have no hesitation that their congregation would welcome a sermon on racial reconciliation,” he said.

African American pastors in the latest survey were more likely (93%) than white pastors (73%) or pastors of other ethnicities (74%) to say their church would be open to a sermon on racial reconciliation.

Pastors of churches with 250 or more in attendance were the most likely church size to say their congregation would welcome such a sermon (83%).

Denominationally, Methodists (83%), Presbyterian/Reformed (79%), Pentecostals (78%) and Baptists (74%) were more likely than pastors of Lutheran churches (59%) to believe their congregation would like to hear a sermon on the topic.

Sermon feedback
More than eight in 10 pastors said they’ve preached on racial reconciliation in the past two years. Seventy percent said they have not received any negative feedback because of those sermons; 12% said they have received criticism. In a study four years ago, five percent said they were criticized for a sermon on racial reconciliation, compared to 12% today.

One in 10 pastors in the earlier survey said they had not preached on the topic in the last two years, while 16% in the latest study said that is the case now.

“The typical pastor is addressing racial reconciliation from the pulpit and without pushback from their congregation,” McConnell said. “However, the noticeable increase in pastors avoiding the topic and receiving criticism could signal there are new dynamics emerging.”

White pastors (17%) in the latest study and pastors of other ethnicities (18%) were more than twice as likely as African American pastors (six percent) to say they have not addressed racial reconciliation from the pulpit in the past two years.

White pastors (14%) were also more likely than pastors of other ethnicities (three percent) to say they have received negative feedback from sermons on the topic.

Pastors age 65 and older (20%) were more likely than pastors ages 45-54 (13%) to say they’ve not talked about the topic from the pulpit in the past two years. Younger pastors (ages 18-44) were the most likely to say they’ve had negative feedback from preaching a sermon related to race (21%).

Lutheran pastors (27%) were twice as likely as Baptist (13%), Presbyterian/Reformed (13%) and Pentecostal pastors (12%) to say they have not addressed the issue in a sermon in the past two years.

Sermon requests
About 10% of pastors said leaders in their church have directly urged them to preach on racial reconciliation, while 77% have not heard such requests. In 2016, a quarter of pastors said they had been asked for sermons on the topic, while 73% said they had not.

“There are many possible reasons fewer churchgoers are asking for sermons on racial reconciliation,” said McConnell. “However, you cannot say that fewer Americans are talking and thinking about race today compared to four years ago.”

In the latest survey, White pastors (79%) and pastors of other ethnicities (77%) were more likely than African American pastors (56%) to say they have not heard such requests.

Evangelical pastors (81%) were more likely than their mainline counterparts (63%) to say no leaders in their church have asked them to preach on racial reconciliation. Pastors in the South (79%) were more likely than pastors in the West (70%) to say they haven’t heard such congregational urging.

Lutheran (90%) and Baptist pastors (86%) were more likely than Pentecostal (77%), Restoration movement (70%), Presbyterian/Reformed (68%) and Methodist pastors (63%) to say they have not had leaders ask for a sermon on that topic.

To learn about LifeWay Research and view more survey topics, visit https://lifewayresearch.com/. For resources on racial reconciliation, visit the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission at https://erlc.com/?s=Race.