Congregations Struggle to Keep Racially Diverse Members

One of the Rev. Martin Luther King’s famous statements was that 11 a.m. Sunday morning was “the most segregated hour of Christian America.” More than half a century later — despite myriad task forces, initiatives and informal efforts by church leaders and congregations to increase racial diversity in the pews — nine in 10 congregations have a single racial group that accounts for more than 80 percent of their membership, said Dr. Kevin Dougherty, assistant professor of sociology at Baylor University. Equally significant is that congregations that manage to attract worshippers of other