The Post-Black and Post-White Church: Becoming the Beloved Community in a Multi-Ethnic World

Featured Guest Review: Q&A with Efrem Smith, author of The Post-Black and Post-White Church

Q. What is the big idea of your book?
A. Because in North America, we are in an ever-increasing multi-ethnic, multicultural, and urbanization reality, in most cases the Christian Church must become multi-ethnic and missional. To do this, we must recognizing the race matrix of Black and White that has held the Church captive and break free.

Q. What prompted you to write your book?
A. My experiences over the years serving in urban and multi-ethnic ministry and realizing that this is no longer a niche area, but central to the context of New Testament Scripture and the current social realities. My past role as a founding pastor of a multi-ethnic and missional church as well as my current role as a regional denominational leader played a major part as well.

Q. What is the most challenging concept in your book?
A. Being willing to accept that race is still an issue in the United States of America and that the Christian Church plays a central role by remaining a mostly segregated institution from a broad perspective.

Q. How does your book improve leaders' lives?
A. By providing a theology, principles, and ministry models for leading in today’s realities as well as living into the biblical mandate for the multi-ethnic and missional church.

Q. What's your favorite sentence/quote from your book?
A. “The biblical mandate upon the church is to make disciples within this multicultural reality. This ought to be the first reason for the development of the Post-Black, Post-White church.”

Q. If leaders only have time to read one chapter of your book right now, which one would you recommend and why?
A. This might be cheating, but I would recommend the Introduction and the First Chapter. This is because you get a feel for my heart in reading about The Sanctuary Covenant Church and my head by reading about my initial case for the multi-ethnic and missional church.

Q. How do you personally decide what books to read?
A. Well, I like books that take me deeper spiritually and theologically and one’s that take me deeper into today’s cultural realities.

Q. Step out of your role as author -- if you were recommending your book to a friend, what would you tell them?
A. The church continues to be in decline in North America, specifically in the United States. We need resources that will point to revival, vitality, and missional passion. I believe this is one of those resources.