How Are Churches Responding to the Treyvon Martin Case?

The killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin has opened a deep wound in the national consciousness, once again bringing the thorny issue of race to the forefront.

You may be surprised to learn that New Hope Adventist Church, located in Fulton, Maryland (Howard County)  falls in the top 3 percent of all U.S. congregations for being multiracial and multicultural. 

Attending a diverse congregation can be a tricky decision. It may require tempering some of your preferences, as well as your ideology and comfort level, in exchange for a diverse community. We have found, anecdotally, that many people who begin attending New Hope have made a conscious decision to do so because they want their family to experience worship in a diverse setting.

Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “It is appalling that the most segregated hour of Christian America is 11 o'clock on Sunday morning.” Not much has changed since he made those comments more than 50 years ago. 

In his 2006 book, People of the Dream, sociologist Michael Emerson defines a multiracial congregation as one where no one racial group represents more than 80 percent of the congregation. Using that standard, Emerson has found that only 8 percent of all Christian congregations in the United States are racially mixed to a significant degree: 2-3 percent of mainline Protestant congregations, 8 percent of other Protestant congregations and 20 percent of Catholic parishes.

Does New Hope Church have something to share in this climate of racial tension in America? 

On Saturday, April 14 at 10:30am, the congregation will begin a new series called,  I AM — focusing on what the Bible teaches about race and equality. We hope this will be a starting point to discuss some of the challenges we are facing in Howard County and the greater Washington, D.C., area.

I will update periodically on how this is taking shape.  Let me know what you think.