Thursday, March 23, 2023

Major Milestone

I originally wrote this on 26 April, 2010. I stumbled upon it today under "Drafts":

"I could see the day coming, years ago. Yesterday we passed a great milestone in our Church -- although I doubt that anyone noticed it but me. For the first time in our Church's history, our congregation was majority Black. OBSERVATION: I hesitate to use terms such as 'Black' and 'White', which is a theme in itself. What worries me is the kind of ethnic drift which takes one into a homogeneous culture. But personally, I think that our present policy will maintain a dynamic 'synthesis' in our Church -- a synthesis which is really precious."

POSTSCRIPT: This is in fact how the story continued. Congregations varied between majority Black and majority White, depending on the Sunday. One sees it in the photographs, too. Things changed after my departure -- most keenly felt by Black congregants who said that they were no longer polled or consulted as executive members. 

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