Like a lot of large governing boards, the Westmont Board of Trustees is broken into committees. A new trustee can attend these committee meetings and get a feel for what they are all about. Then decide which to join.

At my first meeting I sat in on the Diversity Committee meeting. And I found myself fascinated with the conversations. Not that I was an expert in the field — I’m far from that. But I was amazed at the challenges the institution was dealing with. And I just kept thinking, “but this is fixable.” So I joined that committee and a few years later was asked to chair it.

Good progress was made (though more still needs to be done). I met some fascinating people who enlarged my heart and mind for diversity.

Then a few months ago my church asked me to lead a team of people and explore how the church could become more diverse. A traditionally white church, it will face challenges attracting people of color. Nevertheless, the leadership wisely understood that a church needs to reflect the the richness of God’s Kingdom, so they asked that we delve into the topic.

Just about the time I started that process with the Diversity Team, my friend Steve Yamaguchi suggested I read Churches, Culture and Leadership, by Mark Lau Branson and Juan F. Martinez. What a great recommendation for the task at hand! This is the best book I’ve found for church leaders who want to create a multi-cultural place of worship that reaches the whole community.

Having said that, let’s be clear. This is not a fun “let’s hold hands together” kind of rah rah book. It’s a serious look at a serious topic, and it is very much an academic book written by people who have walked down this path before. Most folks will find the book boring — but then most folks are not pastors who desire to see their church become ever more welcoming to people from different cultural and racial backgrounds.

If you fall into that later group, you definitely want to read this book. In fact, I bought eight copies of it … one copy for each member of our church leadership team. I hope they read it!