Culturally Diverse Churches Don’t Just Happen

“We want everyone who steps through our doors to see someone like themselves,” said Pastor Scott Eynon. And at Community Christian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, they make sure that happens.

Community Christian’s south Florida congregation represents more than 80 countries and speaks 20+ different languages. While it might be tempting to think that a diverse community naturally leads to diverse churches, Scott insists that is not the case.

“You need to find ways to represent that diversity in your leadership too.”—Scott Eynon

“When I started 24 years ago, Community Christian Church already had some diversity. It was more diverse than a lot of the churches I’d been in,” he said. “But it was still predominantly white.”

And there are still plenty of churches in the county that are almost entirely white.

“My wife recently went to an event with 200 women at a local church,” Scott said.  “There was only one woman who wasn’t white,” he said. “So it’s not just that south Florida is diverse. Diversity is something we’ve intentionally pursued.”

So how did Community Christian Church go from being predominantly white to being the beautiful reflection of God’s Kingdom that they are today?

Intentionally Modeling Diversity

“Diversity is easier for some churches to pull off because of their demographics,” Scott said. “But if churches want that, it needs to be a high value to their leadership. Key leaders need to intentionally develop relationships with people in the demographics they want to reach. It has to start somewhere, and typically that starts with the leaders. You need to find ways to represent that diversity in your leadership too.”

Most people would say their church is a welcoming place. But when someone walks into your church and does not see anybody who looks like them, it can send an unintended message: this is not a place for people like you. Even though that is far from the truth, it is hard to feel comfortable when you stand out. And when the community outside your church doors is more diverse than the one inside, it reinforces that perception.

“We want everyone who believes here to feel like they belong here.”—Scott Eynon

“We want everyone who believes here to feel like they belong here,” Scott said. That goal led Community to make intentional choices about how they publicly presented their church.

Years ago, Community began creating promotional materials that reflected the major demographics they were trying to reach. They also tried to make sure their staff, volunteers, and stage presence reflected that community as well.

“Obviously it’s a little disingenuous if that’s not the community people see when they show up,” Scott said. It’s a balance, and for Community Christian Church, that balance is intentionally ingrained.

“When we schedule our greeters, we don’t want them to all be white, black, old, or young,” Scott said. “Same with our worship teams. We never say no to volunteers, but we might direct them to different locations or days to serve. If somebody wants to serve, we find a place for them. And it always works out.”

It is a strategic approach to diversity, and to Community Christian, it’s important that this happens with every service.

“Every Sunday is somebody’s first Sunday,” Scott said. “So there’s a lot of prayer and thought that goes into making sure this is a welcoming place for everyone.”

Celebrating Cultural Differences

While creating that welcoming environment largely happens behind the scenes, Community Christian has several annual events that give people opportunities to share their heritage and culture with the congregation.

“Every year we have an International Dessert Night,” Scott said. “I call it the World Cup of Desserts. We have probably 35 to 40 nations represented there.”

Breaking bread together takes many forms at Community.

“During Spanish heritage month, we had our annual Spanish Heritage Luncheon,” Scott said. “It was a three-hour event, all in Spanish. I don’t speak Spanish, but I can certainly speak the language of food.”

And while Scott may not speak another language, it does not stop the church from expressing how multilingual the congregation is.

“A few years ago at our Christmas Eve service, we had Luke 2 read in 13 different languages by people in our church. It was so cool,” Scott said. “And then afterward we had people come up and say, ‘Why didn’t you read it in my language?’”

Diversity begets diversity, and Community Christian Church will likely only continue becoming more diverse as they take steps to make people of every nation and tongue feel welcome in God’s Kingdom.

“We translate one of our services from English to Spanish simultaneously, so there are people that listen in on headsets,” Scott said.

It is a lot of work, but it is hard to argue with the numbers. Community is not just becoming more diverse—it is growing at an incredible rate. They have swelled from a congregation of a few hundred to well over 3,000.

“Everything we do reflects the diversity we’re pursuing,” Scott said. “And we’ve done that from the beginning.”

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