Customer Reviews

Living in Color: Embracing God's Passion for Ethnic Diversity

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This is one of those books that is life changing and eye opening. Woodley does not pull punches, but he offers great hope for what the church can and should look like in a diverse world.

Simply an excellent book for understanding not only the differences in ethnic diversity but in many of the differences that cause division in churches and across cultures. It is an honest book, a soul-searching book, yet a book of hope, as Randy Woodley offers discussions to lead the church away from uniformity and division to unity through diversity. He offers valid suggestions on why the famed revival that began on Azusa Street in the early 1900's was short-lived. If you desire to see healing across cultures and within the church, this book will be a beneficial read. As one who has already been concerned about these issues, this book has energized me in untold ways.

The book arrived just days after I purchased it which is extremely wonderful. Packaged very well and I appreciate the vendors personal touch in relating to patrons. I look forward to reading this book for class.

I just finished a seminary class on multicultural ministry and this is by far my least favorite of the books we read. Woodley's perspective is too narrowly dictated by his Native American heritage and his writings feel like they are attacking the reader if you happen to go to a mono-cultural church. Additionally, at various points in the book Woodley discusses concepts of receiving wisdom from birds, seeking blessings from the natives of the land, and providing restitution for sins committed hundreds of years ago by the white man using only Biblical support from the Old Testament which is pre-cross and pre-atoning work of Christ. Overall, I felt like the book was too narrow to benefit the average Christian looking to gain a broader perspective on ethnic diversity in the Church. I would suggest that you instead check out The Multicultural Leader by Dan Sheffield.

I have to say that this was a very hard book to read as a white man. But I must say that the author said what needs to be said. I had a rush of emotions while reading. I was joyous when stories of deep-rooted Christlike multiculturalism were given. I was angry when I perceived that he might be calling me a racist. I was also saddened when convicted by the fact that I have at times done...dare I say it...racist things. The author is a person of mixed-blood, who mostly aligns his culture to that of the Cherokee Indians. As a result, throughout the book I could sense a very deep longing, sadness, and anger when it came to racism in America. But I also saw truth in what he was saying.

Perhaps the most touching part of book is in chapter 14 during the section on repentance. He puts himself out there and shows us a speech he made asking for forgiveness from our African-American brothers and sisters for the racism and prejudice that his ancestors committed and for his own tendencies toward discrimination. I could not help but feel shame for feeling some of the same things he confessed to feeling.

This is worth the read whether you are black, white, hispanic, asian, native american, or any other people group. God loves diversity. We love God. We should also love diversity.

Kindle Note: Formatting is good, though the chapter numbers seem a bit faded. Still, it does not hamper the reading whatsoever.