c. 2007 Religion News Service
(UNDATED) One hundred years ago, the Northern Baptist Convention was incorporated, after dividing with Southern Baptists who wanted to permit their missionaries to be slaveowners.
A century later, the group now called American Baptist Churches USA has become one of the most multicultural denominations in the country.
“Today in our denomination there is no one racial-ethnic group that is a majority,” said the Rev. Roy Medley, general secretary of the Valley Forge, Pa.-based denomination.
He estimates that African-Americans and whites each comprise about 45 percent of the church, with Hispanics, Asian-Americans, and Haitians making up the next largest groups.
“That’s a new thing and for us it’s a joyous thing,” Medley said. “It reflects our concern to be racially, culturally, ethnically inclusive as a sign of the reign of God, the kingdom of God, breaking into our midst.”
The 1.5 million-member denomination has about 5,200 congregations in the United States.
The denomination opened its biennial meeting _ and its 100th anniversary celebrations _ June 29 with a joint worship service with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship that featured music from Hispanic and Haitian choirs. About 2,400 people attended the biennial, which concluded Monday (July 2).
“I think in the DNA of Baptists is this sense of diversity,” said the Rev. Leo Thorne, an associate general secretary of the denomination who is originally from Trinidad and Tobago.
“And we try to reflect that diversity in our music, in the way we elect our top officers, and in the way we do our lives by being more than just words but by actions, so that was a serious reflection of how we want to move ahead.”
Both Baptist leaders said addressing diversity is a continuing process, with some white churches choosing black pastors and other congregations remaining fairly segregated.
“We still have churches which are largely white and we still have churches that are mostly African-American,” Thorne said. “But, more and more churches, are coming … to understand that we need to celebrate our diversity within the congregations.”
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See mainbar, RNS-OTHER-BAPTISTS, transmitted July 3.
A photo of Medley is available via https://religionnews.com.