Exploring Race, Gender, and Unity in the Adventist Church
General discussions on the topic of diversity in the church
By Estefania Sanchez-Mayorquin
With February being Black History Month, I decided it would be appropriate to create a video celebrating a beautiful gift that God has given us — diversity.
We were created to show God’s love to others. We may all look, talk, think and worship differently. However, when we see past our differences and work towards one common goal, miracles can happen.
Kirsten Ley is a Canadian couture designer who recently moved her line to Paris. In just 12 months, she has participated in seven international shows, displaying three collections.
Last week, I had the opportunity to interview Ley at New York Fashion Week, and she talked to me about her latest venture.
“I moved to Paris with my labels three and a half months ago,” she said. “… It’s kind of been this rebirth of my brand, and so I (titled) this collection ‘Naissance,’ which means birth in French.”
When asked about the diversity of models displayed in her line, Ley said:
“I find that my brand has a lot of dichotomy, and I love using a wide color palette. I love using models of every background and ethnicity and race and it just really speaks to me because I love having everyone a part of this.”
By Hannah D’avanzo
My media outlet, HD Access Media, has allowed me to attend international events and meet people of all backgrounds. One thing I noticed at designer shows is that diversity was often limited.
Attending Milan Fashion Week in previous years, for example, I recall not seeing a variety of ethnicities represented among designers, models or even the audience attending the shows.
So, when I recently had the opportunity to attend New York Winter Fashion Week, I decided to investigate as part of our Interactive Journalism class at Southern Adventist University.
Though most people would like to claim that diversity is important to them, how far will diversity go? Will women of ethnic backgrounds be included in this exclusive circle?
After several days of watching shows and talking to designers, my previous perspective changed.
Many designers said diversity was important to them. They not only expressed the belief but acted upon it by including models of different ethnicities to model their clothes.
I spoke with designers from all different parts of the world who came to showcase their designs and beautifully incorporated their culture into their clothes. Present were Middle Eastern designers, Asian designers and European designers.
Those I interviewed included Hakan Akkaya, Christian Cowan, Kirsten Ley, and Marisa P. Clark.
Along with diverse designers, we saw models of all backgrounds proudly showcasing the newest trends and embracing their ethnicities.
To summarize New York Winter Fashion Week: It was a time where we could see, feel, and hear diversity, both on and off the runway.
By Natalia Perez
Living in Tennessee for five years and attending Southern Adventist University for 4.5 of them, I’ve watched my university ebb and flow into different versions of itself, as did the students before me.
In 2017, U.S News & World Report ranked Southern as the most diverse university in the South, tied with Keiser University and the University of North Carolina. This year, Southern is ranked third in the region, with Keiser University in first-place and Marymount University and the University of North Carolina tied for second. Southern trails very close behind with a diversity index of .68, only .1 point lower than its second place counterparts.
I believe, along with many students who attend Southern, that we find ourselves with a very unique opportunity: We are the only institution in the state with as much cultural representation as we have. Therefore, successfully integrating could serve as an example here in the South, showing that different cultures and ethnicities can truly come together as one single tribe.
By successfully integrating, I don’t just mean that we all manage to share the same campus and tolerate each other. But do we celebrate each other? Do we understand, or try to understand, each others’ backgrounds, history, culture, and struggles?
While diversity has been widely discussed in higher-education, are diverse colleges and universities truly proud of that status? Or is it all about the numbers?
In the fall semester of 2018, the ethnic breakdown of Southern students showed that Whites constituted 46 percent of the university’s population, Hispanics constituted 24 percent, Asians constituted 12 percent, African-Americans constituted 11 percent, Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders each constituted less than one percent of students identified with two or more races.
Compared to previous years, there is no longer a dominant ethnic majority, as all ethnicities make up nearly half of the population. While some of us may flaunt this fact, are we as well integrated as we are diverse? The timeline below shows some brief highlights of Southern’s race relations history, and our efforts to culturally integrate over the years.
Celebrating individual cultures: A threat to unity?
Throughout Southern’s race relations progress, many questions have been raised and many still remain. Although our student-body now represents several cultural identities, some may ask if all are being taken into consideration by the ones who create the structure for us to thrive and learn in. Recognizing that there are several ethnicities present is one thing, but searching for ways to provide an environment where people from all backgrounds feel deeply seen and understood is important.
An argument that’s often brought up, especially in our current political climate, is that celebrating our individual cultures is detrimental to our university’s unity. Celebrating cultural differences, by some, is seen as a way to isolate certain people groups from others. Validating one culture while invalidating the rest.
Brandon Beneche, recent Southern alum, thinks that cultural celebrations should be a welcome practice on any campus as long as they are inclusive, educational, and fair.
“If a celebration excludes other peoples, promotes an inaccurate and damaging depiction of an ethnic group, or fails to represent its culture ethically, then I think cultural celebrations can be harmful,” Beneche shared.
“I believe one of the most effective ways our university can have better cultural integration is by developing a more understanding and accepting student body. It’s easy to say that one race needs to be more understanding of another, but that’s a bit shortsighted in my opinion. I’d argue that a student body that can demonstrate Christ’s love and patience while having informative and, occasionally, difficult conversations about race and culture with each other can make real strides towards a healthier level of integration.”
Rhidge Garcia, student association president, believes that celebrating individual cultures allows him to better appreciate the unique narratives they tell. He believes other entities and organizations on campus, other than student association and our cultural clubs, should get involved in the celebration of different cultures.
“I think it would be powerful for a student to be celebrated not only for one night a year, but also in the classroom, dormitory, professor’s office, and greater campus property,” Garcia shared. “The only reason why people might think that the celebration of cultures is divisive is because they are not willing to listen to those who haven’t been listened to. It sounds harsh, but it is imperative for us to listen to each other. And if people don’t want to listen, they will not see the importance of celebrating other individual cultures.”
Tierra Hayes, editor-in-chief of Southern’s university paper, the Southern Accent, says that celebrating individual cultures is something that should unite us, but it depends on our personal perspectives.
“By highlighting our differences, we can celebrate what makes each of us unique, but that doesn’t discount other cultures,” Hayes shared.
“I think people might see individual cultural celebrations as divisive because they fail to see how they play into the equation. They may also feel as if the highlighting of other cultures is meant to suppress their personal culture, while it is usually just a tool to enlighten and uplift the marginalized. We need to be able to understand and embrace others, without having to make minorities assimilate to ensure the continuance of the dominant culture. Cultural clubs shouldn’t be sequestered off to one month or even one night. It would make more sense to have such cultures reflected in different worship styles on a rotation, instead of having one culture as the default and the minority cultures solely as special features.”
I believe that true unity is able to celebrate our cultural identity as a whole while also being strong enough to not be threatened by acknowledging and celebrating our individual cultural uniqueness. However, I want to hear your thoughts. How do you think we can integrate better? What are your thoughts on cultural celebrations? Join the discussion below!
By AnaelysTrochez
Americans tend to be homogeneous beings, clustered in like-communities within the broader culture. However, some experts argue that diverse congregations can benefit their communities.
The issue of church diversity is of particular concern to pastors in areas where the demographics are changing. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, about half of the children under 10 in the United States are ethnic minorities, which raises challenges for churches in the future.
Some Protestant pastors are being intentional about multicultural pursuits, but the results have been mixed.
In the fall of 2018, LifeWay Research — a Nashville-based organization — surveyed 1,000 Protestant pastors about racial diversity in their congregations. Researchers then compared the results to a similar survey in 2013.
Here’s what they discovered.
A whopping 93 percent of the pastors s — 80 percent who strongly agreed –said they believed every church should strive to achieve racial diversity. Yet, 81 percent of pastors reported that their churches consisted predominantly of one racial or ethnic group.
The 81 percent was down from 86 percent reported four years ago, according to information available on the Lifeway Research website.
“Protestant churches are still mostly divided by race, but they’re heading in the right direction,” said the organization’s executive director, Scott McConnell, in an article posted on the web site.
Here are some more interesting statistics reported by Lifeway:
Pastors in the South (96 percent) were more likely than pastors inother regions to say churches should strive for diversity.
White pastors (94 percent) were more likely to agree with the statement than pastors from other ethnic backgrounds (86 percent).
African-American (88 percent) were less likely than their white counterparts to say that congregations should strive for diversity.
Similarly, many church members appear to be uncomfortable with the push for diversity. In the Lifeway Research survey, 53 percent of churchgoers disagreed with the statement: “My church needs to become more ethnically diverse.”
Evangelical churchgoers (71 percent) were most likely to say their church is diverse enough. White churchgoers (37 percent) were least likely to say their church should become more diverse. African-Americans (51 percent) and Hispanic-Americans (47 percent) were more likely to say their church needs to be more diverse.
“Pastors want their congregations to be more diverse—because their communities are more diverse,” said McConnell, according to an article on the Lifeway website. “But people in the pews aren’t there yet. There are hard cultural divides to overcome.”
By Gia Arroyo
As a pastor’s kid, I have seen the behind-the-scenes dynamics of churches. Up until the age of 15, most of the Seventh-day Adventist churches I attended had only one service. When my family moved to Central Florida, I discovered that many churches in the area had different church services based on worship style. The services were created to cater to different crowds.
At first, I thought it was a good idea because it allowed those who wanted something different to worship together. As I’ve grown, I think my opinion on multiple services has changed.
Now, before I continue, let me say this: There is a difference between a church having different services due to congregational size and because it wants to cater to different audiences. My opinion on the issue has shifted because I have seen the negative side of it. I now see churches that cater to different audiences suffering from split personalities. These churches are the ones that want to have the best of both worlds. Often, in the process, they compromise their identity and mission.
My most recent home church originally had two services when my family arrived. The traditional service began early on Sabbath mornings and ended a few minutes shy of noon. This service used hymns that were accompanied by a piano as the praise and worship and then was followed by the church choir.
This is the standard traditional SDA church. But by 12:30 p.m. , the piano was stripped from the stage, and the drums pulled out. Screens were pulled down and fluorescent lights filled the church. Second service had begun.
This service had it all! Videos, skits, snacks before service, and even the length of the service was different. You wouldn’t be able to tell that these were members of the same church!
Many arguments about the services were held at board meetings, often pushing members farther away from each other.
These churches decide to split themselves in half only to please various groups. They’d rather lose their overall identity for the sake of keeping members and also keeping the money that these people bring in. When churches are split in services, it is very difficult to say that they are united. They are far from it.
For a problem like this, I see two solutions. The first solution is learning to compromise. Eventually, my church learned how important it was to be one big and beautiful congregation. Being able to sing hymns was important to the conservative members, and having more upbeat music was something that the younger generation wanted. The compromise: Singing hymns a contemporary way. One by one, the church worked through all the reasons they were a split church until they began having one big service again.
The second solution is joining all the contemporary services to make one big church congregation. All of these churches are doing the same format during their contemporary service… colorful lights, drums, and refreshments in the church lobby. For the sake of being united, it makes sense to join them together. This step is easier said than done, but its just an idea.
There is no wrong or right way to praise God. We may be united in the message, but we are divided by practice.
Being united in the church means spending time together and worshiping God as a community. It is possible to have a church with different audiences. Compromise is key. It is time to make compromises and unite rather than split up.
Hello! My name is Natalia Perez. I grew up in Worcester, Massachusetts, and ventured down to the adorable little city of Chattanooga, Tennessee, to pursue a writing degree.
Growing up amid Puerto Rican and Dominican cultures, my parents have fueled my rich background. Since I was raised in a bubble of Latinos for the greater part of my years at home, I didn’t really become culturally aware until I moved down South, where people, including my own people, question my ethnicity often and seem surprised when I speak Spanish fluently.
This forced me into cultural self-discovery, a switch between not only identifying as a Latina, but an Afro-Latina, a Latin American woman with prominent Afrocentric features.
Aside from my complex racial identity, I’m a passionate journalist and a second-generation Adventist who’s still discovering tons about race, gender, ethnic/people groups and how we all come together to make one church.
Understanding a diverse community is wonderful and necessary for our growth as a church. With our blog, we hope to intentionally raise awareness about the diversity within our people groups, our cultural backgrounds, and our stories.
Let’s navigate together.
By Estefania Sanchez
As we begin to dive in and explore the topic of our big research project, a few questions pop into my head. What is diversity? Why is it important? And most importantly, how is it directly impacting our church?
What is diversity? According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the word diversity means “the condition of having or being composed of differing elements: VARIETY”
A couple of years ago, I was given the opportunity to participate in a mission trip that took place in Chiang Mai, Thailand. I will admit, at first I was very nervous. I was scared that I wouldn’t be able to communicate with the villagers and locals around me because we spoke two different languages.
Yes, we had translators, but there is something about two groups of people from two different cultures interacting that almost seems like a form of art– a miracle more precisely. I quickly learned that diversity is something that can be found either on the other side of the world or even right next door to you. To be diverse means to bring something to the table of ideas that nobody else has to offer, and combining those ideas with the ideas of others to form a stronger community.
Why is diversity important? Well, to simply put it, without diversity, our world would be pretty dull. Diversity allows us to discover things about ourselves and others that we may never have been able to see. It is a concept that allows us to explore the cultures, lives, and ideas of other people so that we can be more informed as to how we are different from those around us and the impact those differences make. Diversity helps us see the world around us in full color, and it allows us to understand different views and perspectives those around us may have.
How does diversity directly impact our church? In today’s church, we see a rainbow of cultures that gather in one congregation for the same cause; to worship and praise. Seeing that it is not uncommon to have people of many cultural backgrounds meet in one place with the same goal, one must question, ‘”Is it diverse in numbers or is it diverse in cultural participation?”
Yes, diversity is the key to unlocking the background of people’s cultural habits and beliefs, but is it always accepted in the church?
This is a question that is in the process of being answered; and with this project, I hope to have an update soon.
