I didn't know what to think when I saw this story on the top of the NY Times homepage, but I'm glad that I read it. Basically it's the story of a church in Georgia that chose to forsake it's segregated, homogeneous white past to start ministering to the influx of refugees in their community. The more compelling part of the story is why they did it. Because the mother ship Willow Creek said it's the right thing to do? No. Because lots of other churches in the area were doing it? Not even close. Because they needed their stock as a church to go up, so they could be the biggest and best church in town. Nope. It was simply because the Bible says so. Jesus' teachings about loving your neighbor and unity within the church became real and they decided to accept it.
With his church failing, Mr. Perrin and other longtime members looked to the Scriptures for guidance and found what they believed was a mandate from Jesus to diversify their church.
“We realized that what the Lord had in store for that old Clarkston Baptist Church was to transition into a truly international church and to help minister to all these ethnic groups moving into the county,” Mr. Perrin said.
It's good to see Christianity in a positive light sometimes. Perhaps there is something good about having us around.
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