Jacksonville Church Merger

[finehoe]

Two Fla. churches — one black, one white — merge in ‘racial reconciliation’ effort

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The topic of the public lecture at the seminary was “The Bible and Race,” and the discussion had turned to “racial reconciliation,” buzzwords used for new efforts to heal old rifts.

What would it look like, one pastor wanted to know, for a church to actually become “racially reconciled”? Was it even possible?

Cynthia Latham had been sitting silently in the back. Now she stood up.

“I am a member of Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church,” she said slowly and proudly. “And we are a reconciled congregation.”

In 2015, the church that Latham boasted of was two congregations, not one. There was the booming black church in the heart of the inner city, led by a charismatic preacher in the staunch tradition of black Baptists. And there was the quiet white church, nestled in the suburbs half an hour to the south, holding onto a tightknit community of Southern Baptist believers.

And then the black church and the white church merged. The resulting congregation at Shiloh — black and white, urban and suburban — appears to be the only intentional joint church of its kind in the United States.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/two-fla-churches--one-black-one-white--merge-in-racial-reconciliation-effort/2017/02/07/a95dde72-e287-11e6-a547-5fb9411d332c_story.html

[thelakelander]

Cool. Hopefully, it works out for them. One thing that has always bothered about most churches here is the racial divide.

[spuwho]

As long as they can complete their mission, more power to them.

In the 1980's during white flight to the suburbs, it became common for these churches to "dump" their original property in favor of a new suburban build out that was closer to their parishioners.

In the late 1990's there was a major push back in several evangelical denominations to ban this practice as counter to their mission statement.  Since then many of these churches have been facilitating transitions to ministries that are more attuned to their surroundings with the same facilities.

The US urban centers are littered with hundreds of abandoned church facilities because the regional leadership was too focused on people just like them instead of trying to understand how the sprititual needs were changing locally.

When many of the urban centers were industrial in the late 1800's, they attracted many Catholic parishiners from Europe, so many older city centers contain massive cathedrals built on the tithes of the factory workers.

When succeeding generations dispersed and factories moved out, so did the tithes. Many churches failed to adapt and closed. Being off the tax roles, their was no political impetus to do anything about the declining properties.

Today, many seminaries have materials that address cross cultural ministries so that leadership is much better equipped to work with settings. As those new graduates become engaged and experienced and most important, gain seniority, they will begin to push out the 1950's approach to church ministry leadership.

[Ocklawaha]

For a number of years back in the early 80's we attended First Baptist downtown. At that time FBC and BETHEL BAPTIST (Which carries the name of the original combined church) held several joint events and services during the years. It was always a fun event and the congregations mixed perfectly causing many to regret that they were ever split in the first place.

As far as our Radical Christian Theology:

rad·i·cal
ˈradək(ə)l/
adjective
1.
(especially of change or action) relating to or affecting the fundamental nature of something; far-reaching or thorough.
"a radical overhaul of the existing regulatory framework"
synonyms:   thoroughgoing, thorough, complete, total, comprehensive, exhaustive, sweeping, far-reaching, wide-ranging, extensive, across the board, profound, major, stringent, rigorous
"radical reform"
2.
advocating or based on thorough or complete political or social change; representing or supporting an extreme or progressive section of a political party.
"a radical American activist"
synonyms:   revolutionary, progressive, reformist, revisionist, progressivist; More
noun
1.
a person who advocates thorough or complete political or social reform; a member of a political party or part of a party pursuing such aims.

A religion be it Christian, Jewish, Moslem, Hindu or anything else that remain's true to it's foundations and refuses to bend with new social changes and progressive agenda's is hardly radical... Indifferent, even Stoic perhaps but Radical? Not! 

[finehoe]

A religion be it Christian, Jewish, Moslem, Hindu or anything else that remain's true to it's foundations and refuses to bend with new social changes and progressive agenda's is hardly radical... Indifferent, even Stoic perhaps but Radical? Not!

One only has to look at the Middle East to see how well refusing to join the modern world works out.

[BenderRodriguez]

Cool. Hopefully, it works out for them. One thing that has always bothered about most churches here is the racial divide.

I worked for Shiloh during the merger and was involved in the merger process itself. The two churches have been acting as one for about a year and a half now. Everything looks to be going swimmingly thus far, but not without its fair share of ups and downs.

[remc86007]

This strikes me as a really, really big deal for Jacksonville. I can't believe I hadn't heard about it until seeing this thread.

[spuwho]

This strikes me as a really, really big deal for Jacksonville. I can't believe I hadn't heard about it until seeing this thread.

Because ministers having affairs or being involved in child porn makes better press than a story of reconciliation.

[thelakelander]

^I agree with remc86007. It really is an inspirational story and surprising it hasn't been covered locally.

[BenderRodriguez]

^I agree with remc86007. It really is an inspirational story and surprising it hasn't been covered locally.

It was, when the churches first merged by two of the big three here. The Post is actually very late on the coverage. It was also covered on Huffington post back then.

[thelakelander]

Wow, I guess I just missed it.

[Redbaron616]

In a lot of cases, it is simply that the type of worship service is just too different to bridge the gap and not necessarily racial animosity.

For example, my Anglican Orthodox Church would welcome anyone who attended regardless of race, color, or creed. But because we are a liturgical church, this type of worship rarely attracts those different groups. I believe it is because liturgical is almost the polar opposite of what typical black churches in the South have for their services.

[Redbaron616]

Good for them.  Screw Baptists in general and their radical Christian theology.

Could you clarify? No, I am not Baptist, just curious.