Separate, but United? The Conundrum of Race-based Conferences

[joeb]

Due to weather conditions and the close of the church that I normally attend, I visited a small SDA Congregation. This is a small congregation with one pastor, who splits his time with another congregation.

They wanted additional pastoral help, which the Conference was not able to provide. So, the congregation decided that they would hire a 2nd pastor on their own. They hired a Seminary graduate who needed a job and this person ahs been with this congregation for about a year and will get married in June!

I was impressed by this person. I have just sent an e-mail to the Conference telling the Conference that they need to nurture the man and develop him. He belongs in the Conference, as a regular pastor. You see the Congregation is paying his salary and he is a local hire, not a Conference pastor.

During the year that he has been working for the congregation he has increased the congregational attendance in areas that the congregation wanted to go.

By, the way, this student pastor is called an African-American who came into a Caucasion congregation. They hired him and are paying his salary because they believed that he was best qualified to do what they wanted done. HIs racial and ethnic background did not disqualify him from serving them.

Nice story, Gregory.

My experience with minority SDA pastors of multiple ethnicities is exactly the same. Race simply does not matter in any congregation I've ever been a part of, and I've been in quite a few different churches in my lifetime.

Does this mean there are no bigots in the SDA church? Of course not. The fact that SDA membership is made up of human beings almost guarantees that there are some SDA bigots, but they are the exception and not the rule.

I have a bigoted in-law, but he's looked down on for his bigotry, not up to.

[Gregory Matthews]

This is a smaller congregation what has had some struggles. But, they are paying the salary on their own. It is not a full salary that the person would receive if he were officially on the payroll. But, it is substantial amount. They have made that investment because they want to grow and they believe this individual is best qualified for the position.

My wife and I were impressed. We believe that this person is making a contribution.

Do we think he is perfect? No. He is one year out of Seminary. He needs to be nurtured and developed. With proper nuture and development, he has a great future in this Conference. I would like to see that happen. I have told the Conference so.

[lazarus]

It's certainly commendable that a congregation would move beyond cultural lines to employ a Pastor. Conferences and churches are generally willing to employ different cultures as long as the numbers have little impact on the overall demographic. It would be interesting to see what happens if this pastor attracts, in significant numbers, people of color.

Race doesn't seem to matter when the numbers of a new group are small. Things get dicey when the new group or groupings have a significant impact on the culture of the church. This holds true for all churches.

IMHO, the way forward is dialogue, honestly, confession and forgiveness.

[Gregory Matthews]

Quote:

Our country used to be a melting pot . . .

The idea behind the above statement is that cultures merge into the one big melting pot. In a situation where there is one major culture, it is the minor cultures that merge and in doing so give up their cultural background.

A better statement might be that we are a "fruit salad," or a "mince Pie." In this statement no cultures are overwhelmed by the dominant culture and all contribute to the good of the whole.

[Gregory Matthews]

Quote:

I never heard that story nor do I trust it being it came via Spectrum magazine....

It may very well be that you never heard that story. But, it is well documented. Spectrum is not the origin. It has been known to those knowledgeable of SDA history far before Spectrum reported it.

[Gregory Matthews]

Quote:

Race doesn't seem to matter when the numbers of a new group are small. Things get dicey when the new group or groupings have a significant impact on the culture of the church. This holds true for all churches.

True.

[D.A. Wintsmith]

It's a little late, but I must weigh in on this one. I researched the issue of segregation in Adventism while writing my book which begins with Edson White's riverboat mission to Southern black people. Edson's mission began when he found a discarded tract written by his mother on the need to minister to the former slaves. No one had taken her up on this, and it lay around un-acted-upon until Edson found it.

My great-grandmother Pearl was a planter's daughter, and her family and friends were violently against Edson's Morning Star Riverboat mission. They wanted to keep the black people in virtual slavery and in ignorance. My great grandmother Pearl was the most unlikely convert imaginable, but the Adventists won over her proud heart when they saved the life of her daughter through holistic dietary practices. So here she is, racist to the bone, convicted that the church her family despise is the right way to go...

It wasn't until researching for PRECIOUS JEWELS that I looked into EGW's position on the matter. Mrs. White was an intelligent, shrewd woman who understood the times she lived in. She advised the church to be segregated because to have done otherwise in that generation might possibly have de-railed the entire Adventist movement. Read Ron Graybill's MISSION TO BLACK AMERICA, and you will see how much trouble Edson White got into, and he wasn't trying to integrate the entire church, just reach out to a few black people south of the Mason-Dixon Line.

I have lived long enough that I have observed racism, at least against black people, start to breed out of my Southern white people. Each new generation finds it more difficult to understand why skin color is a big deal. The boundaries are already beginning to blur, and I think that if things run their natural course, there may not be separate Adventist churches based on race. Yet I understand why some institutions such as Oakwood with its proud legacy that goes right back to the same Morning Star riverboat that changed my great-grandmother's life might not want to be absorbed into generic Adventism. (I don't know their position on the issue, just saying.)

That is the problem with resolving a focus on differences -- we tend to lean too far the other direction and try to become all the same. A balance is needed so that when the barriers come down,we still retain the diversity that makes the world and its people so fascinating. I think we're getting there, one generation at a time.

[phkrause]

It's a little late, but I must weigh in on this one. I researched the issue of segregation in Adventism while writing my book which begins with Edson White's riverboat mission to Southern black people. Edson's mission began when he found a discarded tract written by his mother on the need to minister to the former slaves. No one had taken her up on this, and it lay around un-acted-upon until Edson found it.

My great-grandmother Pearl was a planter's daughter, and her family and friends were violently against Edson's Morning Star Riverboat mission. They wanted to keep the black people in virtual slavery and in ignorance. My great grandmother Pearl was the most unlikely convert imaginable, but the Adventists won over her proud heart when they saved the life of her daughter through holistic dietary practices. So here she is, racist to the bone, convicted that the church her family despise is the right way to go...

It wasn't until researching for PRECIOUS JEWELS that I looked into EGW's position on the matter. Mrs. White was an intelligent, shrewd woman who understood the times she lived in. She advised the church to be segregated because to have done otherwise in that generation might possibly have de-railed the entire Adventist movement. Read Ron Graybill's MISSION TO BLACK AMERICA, and you will see how much trouble Edson White got into, and he wasn't trying to integrate the entire church, just reach out to a few black people south of the Mason-Dixon Line.

I have lived long enough that I have observed racism, at least against black people, start to breed out of my Southern white people. Each new generation finds it more difficult to understand why skin color is a big deal. The boundaries are already beginning to blur, and I think that if things run their natural course, there may not be separate Adventist churches based on race. Yet I understand why some institutions such as Oakwood with its proud legacy that goes right back to the same Morning Star riverboat that changed my great-grandmother's life might not want to be absorbed into generic Adventism. (I don't know their position on the issue, just saying.)

That is the problem with resolving a focus on differences -- we tend to lean too far the other direction and try to become all the same. A balance is needed so that when the barriers come down,we still retain the diversity that makes the world and its people so fascinating. I think we're getting there, one generation at a time.

excellent post

[Gordon1]

No one had taken her up on this, and it lay around un-acted-upon until Edson found it.

As I recall from reading, Edson was a spiritual wreck until this point in his life, bringing shame to his family.

Then he was suddenly converted and found purpose and mission, going where none other would. A true conversion.

Steadfast I hope until the end.

[Arwen]

So how long are we to keep these present separate conferences? To me this is a black eye on the church's witness to the world.

I agree.

There needs to repentance on both sides and the conferences should come together and be one.

I think that the US is the only place in the world that has separate black and white SDA conferences.

This is a shameful and ungodly situation, which needs to be (immediately) changed.