The Multi-Cultural Church

Recently I attended an African American, Baptist congregation for their Sunday worship service. I regularly attend a predominantly Caucasian church in the same town which is non-denominational. There were many things which I witnessed which differed from what I was used to and some which were the same. These varied from the practices of scripture reading, to music and worship and even into theology and Jesus.

Congressional scripture reading is done in many churches and is even done in my own church from time to time. This church opened service with scripture, by memory. Scripture reading continued both congressionally and independently, throughout the service and even throughout the sermon. I think it is their way of allowing the congregation to partake in the proclamation of scripture, so as not to lose focus on the message.

There were many ‘cosmetic’ differences that I recognized. All of the media had a very plain appearance. This differs from my congregation. We have a lot of artists and so our congregation has come to expect an artistic approach in many things including media. One of the greatest differences was in the music. The music was far more colorful, blending nuances of jazz and blues in and about the exaltation and opening prayer. Powerful drums backed by the church organ dominated the upbeat tunes and brought flavor to the docile ones. The music was a crucial part of the entire service up until the pastor began to preach. The music begun again as the pastor began to conclude his message. This differs from my home church where music is reserved for worship time and special presentations.

Worship was far more than just music and singing. It was the calling of the Spirit upon the congregation. It began with a challenge to ready yourself before Lord. I appreciated this practice as oft worship is dry, consisting of empty words while we ponder over shopping lists, rather than call on our Lord and Savior to praise Him. Those who led worship were captivated and filled with the Spirit as they presented their praise to God. Their vulnerability before the congregation allowed the congregation, and even myself, to become vulnerable in worship where we may otherwise not have been.

One of the striking elements of prayer, worship, and the sermon was the focus on Jesus. Never would I challenge my congregations focus on Christ, but this church made Jesus the center of all things in a way I have never seen. It was a reminder that we don’t need to focus our lives around the deep theological things in the word, but simply to recognize the simple message of the One whom we have placed our faith in and to lead others to do the same. Even the pastor, after an intriguing sermon packed with edifying challenges, tied in the most primitive of choices, to follow our Lord or to follow Satan.

I think that theology is actually a similarity. Not that we have the same theology in every sense, but that the approach is similar. Our congregation, even among leadership, varies in view on non-salvific issues. Some are staunch Calvinists, where others are staunch Armenianists. What I really appreciated about the Pastor is that he did not find it necessary to create a doctrine in order to proclaim the meaning of the text. He quoted, “…if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Romans 10.9 KJV). He then said that you can only confess by the power of the Spirit in calling you. So, it is both by the sovereignty of God and by man’s own will to act that man is saved. He led from this into a challenge to proclaim Christ as Lord and did not bother in the laborious and often misleading task of explaining the theological correlation between election and man’s will.

I think this was a great experience as it allowed me to see our Lord working in a different setting, with different people. It really brings light to God’s plan. It is easy for a church, especially a growing one, to begin to act as if they are the only church that exists. Truly, that is not the case. Christ is working in many ways here in my own town same as He is as all over the world.