Most Protestant senior pastors say their church is open to hearing about racial reconciliation, according to a study by LifeWay Research. But few have been urged by church leaders to discuss the topic.
The survey of 1,000 Protestant senior pastors found little pushback against or demand for sermons on racial reconciliation in their churches, said Scott McConnell, executive director of the research firm.
“Most pastors appear to be taking a leadership role in encouraging racial reconciliation,” McConnell said. “Nine in 10 pastors say they recently have done something to encourage racial reconciliation. A majority has been socializing with other races and ethnicities and have led prayer on racial reconciliation, but less than a third have addressed economic inequity or publicly lamented injustice.”
Researchers found 90% of pastors say their church would welcome a sermon on racial reconciliation, and only 5% said they’d received negative feedback for addressing it from the pulpit in the last two years.
Yet few churches seem enthusiastic about discussing issues of race, according to their pastors. About three-quarters (73%) say they have not been urged by church leaders to preach about reconciliation.
Among different denominations, Baptist and Pentecostal pastors are more likely to say their church would welcome a sermon on reconciliation. However, they’re less likely to have been asked by church leaders to preach on the topic. Only 17% of Baptist pastors and 20% of Pentecostal pastors have been urged to address reconciliation, compared to 37% of Presbyterian/Reformed pastors.
Overall, mainline pastors are more likely to have been urged to preach on racial reconciliation than evangelical pastors (38% vs. 22%).
