By Kathy Smith
(First appeared in the Spring 2005 issue of the Forum)
Gathering around the throne of God to worship and learn in a way that reflects the Revelation 5 and 7 vision of the kingdom, three hundred people attended a conference entitled “A House of Prayer for All Nations: Building a Multicultural Congregation” at Oakdale Park Christian Reformed Church on March 11-12, 2005. The conference was cosponsored by Calvin Theological Seminary, the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, and the Sustaining Pastoral Excellence program of the Christian Reformed Church.
Oakdale Park CRC in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is an example of a thriving multicultural congregation, which is evident in its people and in its artwork throughout the building that reflects the strong presence of African American members. And their new worship center—completed in 2002 after their old sanctuary was condemned and torn down when trusses broke under the pressure of a heavy snowfall—provided a wonderful worship and fellowship space. The March 2005 weekend also brought a surprising amount of snow, but the warmth of the conference was evident to all. One conferee said, “What a wonderful space for worship and learning! Amazing to see what God can bring out a catastrophe, eh? I loved the art and artifacts all about, and the openness and welcoming spirit throughout.”
The conference was the outgrowth of a peer learning group of four pastors—George Davis, Carl Kammeraad, David Kromminga, and Bill Vanden Bosch—who met together for a year to study multicultural churches. They wanted to share their learning with others, and hoped that a few other churches would want to learn along with them. They were overwhelmed with the response when so many came to the conference to worship and learn together as a multicultural community. Most were from various places in Michigan, but a few came from Chicago; Washington, D.C.; and even Los Angeles! A peer learning group of pastors and spouses from California especially enjoyed the conference since they represent congregations of various ethnic backgrounds joining the CRC, including Anglo, Chinese, Filipino, Hispanic, Korean, and Samoan.
The conference featured keynote speaker George Yancey, professor of sociology at the University of North Texas and author of One Body, One Spirit, and workshop leader Kevin Dougherty, professor of sociology at Calvin College. Both speakers explained the models and features of successful multicultural congregations, and addressed potentially difficult issues in frank and winsome ways. Yancey challenged the conferees to begin with the Bible when addressing issues of racial reconciliation, rather than trying to Christianize secular models. The four pastors mentioned above also led workshops on worshiping and leading in multicultural communities, reflecting on their experiences and their hopes and dreams. The conference was intentionally framed by worship services that represented ways for a congregation to worship that could “speak to the hearts” of people of various cultures.
Bill Vanden Bosch, pastor at Oakdale Park, hopes that those who attended will “grow in their vision of developing a multicultural ministry, that increasing numbers would make a commitment to this ministry, and that they will gain insights and tools that help them take the next steps toward becoming multicultural.”
