Eventually she began leading HUG meetings. As she grew stronger, Foster became more involved at Joy, helping with youth activities, women's retreats and the volunteer advisory board. But getting involved helped me heal and find out who I was in the body of Christ. Embracing diversity For many churches, flawed ideas of who we are together can get in the way of developing true Christian community. For example, one common misconception is that we never disagree, and we are a nice, happy family.
Christian community strives for civility and win-win resolutions when disagreements occur.
Another misconception is that church community is limited to people who are like us. If a variety of people and cultures exist, and if God is in charge, then diversity is good. The 2000 census reveals that non-white Americans are expected to outnumber whites nationally in the next 50 years. This gives ELCA congregations even more opportunities to reach out to diverse groups of people, church leaders say. But reaching out to diverse populations takes hard work, says Kenneth Inskeep, director of the Department for Research and Evaluation.