Cross Cultural Celebration reflects on the household of God.

Lancaster (Pa.) Church of the Brethren hosted the denomination's annual Cross Cultural Consultation and Celebration May 4-7. The surrounding countryside, with its plain people and rich farmland, offered vivid reminders of the Pennsylvania Dutch heritage as more than 140 Brethren met to offer a new, intercultural model of church.

"Built Together: The Household of God," from Ephesians 2:17-22, provided the theme for the event. "This is the way church should happen," commented James Washington Sr., pastor of Faith Center Fellowship Church of the Brethren, who attended from Whitehouse, Texas. "I pray that we learn...that the world is beautiful because it has color."

Brethren from African-American, Hispanic, Dominican, Mexican, Indian, Haitian, Puerto Rican, Jamaican, Anglo, and other heritages attended from across the US and Puerto Rico. Worship featured scripture reading, prayer, and singing in many languages including English, Spanish, Haitian Creole, French, German, Russian, Portuguese, and Gujarati--a language of India. Praise music got the congregation to its feet, and contemplative hymns called on the Spirit's presence, led by bands, musicians, and choirs from many different congregations. A new music group of African-American and Anglo Brethren made its debut at the consultation, led by Washington.

A message about the importance of taking personal responsibility for racism was given by keynote speaker Ken Quick, chair of the Pastoral Theology Department at Capital Bible Seminary in Lanham, Md., and John Gordon, a medical professional and seminary student. Quick and Gordon spoke at a worship service focused on confession. Telling his family's history of slave ownership, Quick said, "I have to first of all apologize for the horrors that my family perpetrated. I owe debt." Gordon followed with a confession of his own from the African-American perspective, the story of how he awoke to his own racism when his daughter began to date a white man. Gordon's reading of a pledge to live an anti-racist life was followed by an invitation for the congregation to receive communion.

Larry Brumfield, a licensed minister and member of Westminster (Md.) Church of the Brethren, spoke for the closing worship. He called the church to an "honest moment" to "acknowledge that some of our behaviors and some of our biases do not reflect the behavior that God would have...in the body of Christ." Issuing a challenge to pastors to preach against racism from the pulpit, Brumfield said, "We have to place the issues of importance in front of our people. The church is responsible for giving light, and we are responsible for taking action on what that light exposes." He added, "Do you know how successful we would be if we attacked this problem as a unified church of God? God will bless us for our courage and honor us for our obedience to the scripture."

The meeting also included an intercultural youth event--a first for the Church of the Brethren, organizers said. Some 20 youth from several different congregations held an overnight at the Lancaster church, and then led a morning worship service followed by times for discussion of issues. A youth panel presented two topics for open discussion during the worship: the pros and cons of tradition in the church, and alternative lifestyles including homosexuality. The panel elicited numerous responses from the adults present, who expressed a wide variety of points of view. The youth closed the discussion with their own statements about unity. "We need to accept everyone no matter what issues they come to the church with, we need to be loving," said Serenity, of Harrisburg (Pa.) First Church of the Brethren. "I think we can have unity and press on with Christ at our center," said Laina, of Cocalico Church of the Brethren in Denver, Pa.

The consultation also received a presentation on the disaster work of the denomination, a report from the Intercultural Study Committee of Annual Conference, and a report from a January event in Baltimore, Md., that gathered church leaders to talk about how to deal with racism. The Intercultural Study Committee reviewed the interim report that it will bring to Annual Conference this year (www.brethren.org/ac/desmoines/business_old.pdf, pp 215-234).

Discussion and testimony throughout the consultation reflected the ups and downs of cross cultural ministries. Participants spent much time reflecting on the barriers to inclusion and the continued existence of racism in the Church of the Brethren, pointing to several particular issues including lack of diversity on denominational and district staff, rigid structure of Annual Conference, lack of interest in intercultural issues from Anglo pastors, lack of Brethren resources in Spanish, difficulty of ministry training for ethnic minority pastors, and lack of relationship between Brethren congregations of different ethnic or cultural backgrounds.

"Anti-racism work needs to be a commitment of the Annual Conference agencies at the top level," said one participant who had been at the Baltimore meeting. "Without that commitment, there will not be funding, and there will not be follow through."

Inclusion of all people in the church "was important enough for Jesus to pray about it," said pastor Rodney D. Smalls of First Church of the Brethren, Baltimore. He said that after the January meeting, his congregation expressed disappointment because they had heard enough talk, and not seen enough action, he said.

Participants also expressed enthusiasm and love for the denomination. "This is the best year in our denomination of the Church of the Brethren. We are going to be used to ignite the earth!" said Joseph Craddock of Germantown Church of the Brethren in Philadelphia. "Don't be discouraged, the barriers are coming down," said Rene Quintanilla, a pastor from Fresno, Calif. "The Spirit is leading."

The Steering Committee for Cross Cultural Ministries planned the event including Barbara Date, Thomas Dowdy, Renel Exceus, Sonja Griffith, Robert Jackson, Alice Martin-Adkins, Marisel Olivencia, Gilbert Romero, Dennis Webb, with Duane Grady as staff support from the General Board's Congregational Life Teams. Area congregations hosted many participants in their homes, and also provided meals for the consultation.

The next Cross Cultural Consultation and Celebration is planned for April 19-22, 2007, at the Brethren Service Center in New Windsor, Md. For more about cross cultural ministries go to www.brethren.org/genbd/clm/clt/CrossCultural.html. For photos from the event, go to www.brethren.org, click on "Photo Journal."

Source: 5/22/2006 Newsline
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