By Zach Roberts
According to PEW Research, Adventists are among the most racially and ethnically diverse American religious groups. The Adventist church in America is 37% white, 32% black, 15% Hispanic, 8% Asian, and 8% are another race or mixed race. That is strong diversity. However, this doesn’t mean you can just walk into an Adventist church and see this diversity first-hand.
This is affected regionally. Forty percent of Adventists live in the South and 31% live in the West. According to Statistical Atlas, 58% of people living in the South are white. That number drops to 51.2% in the West. So, the majority of people in the largest Adventist population locations are white.
This notion of the Adventist church being the most diverse gets put more into perspective when you consider the fact that the Adventist church has a membership of over 21 million people and only 1.2 million of those come from America. It’s true that the Adventist church is extremely diverse. Having 19 million non-American members makes that a true statement.
However, I am studying the American church, which is significantly less diverse and that even depends on the region in which you are located. Diversity will vary. If you go into a Southern Adventist church, it might be less diverse than one in the Midwest or the North.
That’s an important distinction to consider when looking at the diversity of the church and how that plays into views on race, or just racism in the church in general.