Why the Multi-ethnic Church Matters

The following is guest post written by Edith Michmerhuizen, a friend and co-worker in mission at New Community in Bronzeville.  I found myself saying “Yes!” repeatedly while reading these paragraphs and I hope you’ll consider carefully the points Edith is making.  As always, your charitable thoughts, questions, and ideas in response to this post are welcomed.

I have heard that Sunday morning is the most segregated hour in America. People congregate in churches with other people that look like them, think like them, speak like them and together join in singing familiar songs that they have heard a thousand times. I certainly do not think this is the way God intended it to be, but I cannot say that I find it surprising. We humans, tend to gravitate towards the familiar, what we know, the places and people that make us feel comfortable.

Perhaps during the week we live a life of diversity, working and playing with people of other colors and persuasions but we worship with whomever we want and however it pleases us. It so happens that we want to worship with those who are like us and diversity goes out the window. I doubt that this happens on purpose, as one distinctive choice, but it is rather the sum of many small choices. Choices that have to do more with pleasing ourselves and finding a church that is the “right fit” for us, than trying to exclude a certain group of people. And how could it be any different when we perceive our relationship with God as a “personal” matter, where only He and I are significant?

There is tremendous value in having a personal relationship with God. Although, it seems that we have come to think of God as a personal God only. It is as if He only exists in relation to me, and not to the rest of creation, including other human beings. I see this most clearly in what seems to be the interminable quest for the “right church.” We do not want anything that might interrupt or disturb our “worship” experience. We go and look for a church that caters to our personal needs. We pick apart the sermon, the music, the programs offered. In that search, we end up finding a church of like minded people and perhaps people with our same skin tone. This is far from what God intends for us. The church is meant to be diverse, we are meant to be together as one, regardless of our differences, regardless of the color of our skins.

This of course, is easier said than done. For minorities, our congregation might become a source of comfort, a refuge from the harshness of the “outside world.” The church becomes a place where we can be ourselves and where we come to be together in fellowship with others who have the same experiences and struggles. I lived in a small town in Michigan for two years; I attended a church that was 95% Caucasian. I felt uncomfortable. I felt that I could not breathe. I longed to see a brown face. When my husband and I moved to Chicago, it would have been easy to join a Hispanic church. I would have felt at home right away. We rather looked for a church that was intentionally diverse. We have tried to do what we believe is right, rather than what is easy.

Being part of a diverse church is not easy, it requires willingness to step outside of our comfort zone and to take risks. For us, as people of color, it means that we need to learn to trust others, specifically our white brothers and sisters. We need to put aside for a moment our history and experiences. It is not an easy thing to do, it is not always pretty. It is more than just having people of different races and ethnicities in the same space, singing songs together. It means that we are willing to have conversations about our differences, about our misconceptions, about our preconceived ideas and past hurts.

In the end, the coming of God´s Kingdom will not be complete until “the wolf dwells with the lamb” and it is up to us whether we contribute to the building of the kingdom, or remain in the comfort of a monolithic church.

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Edith is a Mexican immigrant living in Chicago, working on her MA in Community Development at Loyola University and working for Greater West Town Community Development Project.