Diversity in the Church

As you may know, Mission Year gives us a couple of weeks off during the holidays. I'm now in my second week back in Philly since then. With the busy-ness of the season, I didn’t have much time to write, but I’ve found a moment at last to share some of my thoughts about my break.

One element of my break that ties into what I’m learning in Mission Year was the diversity of the Church I was able to enjoy over the past month. I attended four different churches in December, all of different flavors and varieties. I have written before that encountering God through different cultures is a hobby of mine. And by different, I don’t just mean different from my own. I suppose a better way to phrase it would be, “Encountering God through a variety of cultures is a hobby of mine.” Here is some the variety I enjoyed in December:

My church in Philadelphia, which I have written about before, is Grace Christian Fellowship. Of course, I attended there for the first couple of weeks in December before my break began. It is a vibrant, young, growing, black church that honors both traditions of the Church and African American heritage. It is loosely liturgical, but congregants are always responsive and interactive to whoever is leading the service, vocalizing their affirmation of the prayer, exhortation, or testimony. Songs are repetitive and passionate, allowing worshippers to dig deeply into the lyrics they profess with each successive proclamation of them. Congregants consider each other family and refer to each other as such. Hugs and kisses abound.

For the first weekend of my break, I visited a dear friend in New Jersey and attended church with him one Sunday while I was there. He is Japanese, and he attends a Japanese church. The band of the small congregation fills the front of a fairly ornate Lutheran sanctuary that hosts them. They use the space in a way that is less formal than the building itself. The service is reverent and reflective, congregants respectfully quiet and thoughtful unless instructed to participate, for instance through song. The service is conducted fully in Japanese, save the lyrics of a couple of hymns sung in both Japanese and English. After it’s over, there is a snack-lunch where the close-knit community catches up with one another, lingering as long as conversation flows.

By Christmas Eve I was home, and I joined my brother, sister, and brother-in-law at their church in Charleston, a young satellite campus of a mega-church committed to reaching the state of South Carolina. The stage is raised high above the large audience, highlighting the feeling that the congregants gathered for an experience, a divine encounter. Every element of the service is technically excellent and perfectly timed, including vocals, music, multi-media, and concert-style lighting. The sermon is displayed on a large screen, a broadcast of the live speaker in another city. Short videos are sprinkled throughout the service. Those gathered follow directions closely as to how and when they should engage as they are guided through a journey. At the conclusion, they are starkly challenged to consider Jesus as savior. Many do, and leave the auditorium for follow-up conversations.

I was home for one Sunday, and I spent it at my parents’ church, a small country church just outside of Charleston. The casual service matches the simple sanctuary of white cinder blocks where it takes place. Members pop up from seated positions in the audience to fulfill various roles as musicians, vocalists, ushers, and preacher. It’s a team effort to bring worship to God. The music is sometimes played live and sometimes played over speakers, but usually has a country twang, and participants often close their eyes while singing and bouncing back and forth to the song. After the sermon, a few congregants use the open space at the front of the church for prayer alone or in pairs while everyone else sings a hymn.

I take the time to detail my experiences (can you tell I was a religion major?) to demonstrate the diversity of my church involvement in December. I take such joy in observing how different communities interact with God and joining in with them in their own style. My appreciation for difference has grown so deep that I don’t know any more what is a normal way for me to interact with God. And I like it that way.  

I’m grateful for this season of my life, being fully immersed in another culture’s way of encountering God. African American church traditions are rich and hearty, and I have much to learn about God through the way my brothers and sisters encounter Him. I’m grateful, too, for connections to brothers and sisters from many different cultural, denominational, linguistic, regional, etc. backgrounds who are willing to share with me their encounters with God.

I’m grateful for the diversity I was able to enjoy over break. I want my life’s pursuit of God to be defined by such diversity and more.