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Christ Church is celebrating its 41st anniversary this summer and has been multicultural almost from its beginning. Currently a full third (22) of our 60 members are immigrants and/or have racial backgrounds other than Euro-American. Consistently a third to a half of our Board of Deacons and session are immigrants. In addition to the United States, current members come from the Philippines, Ghana, Brazil, El Salvador, Lebanon, Mexico, Scotland and Canada. An addition, 10 percent of our members who were born in the United States are Hispanic and mixed race. In the past, members have come from India, Japan, Australia, Cameroon, Korea and Pakistan. Over the years our membership has experienced ups and downs and is currently gaining ground again.
The pastoral nominating committee, choosing a pastor in 2005, was deliberately multicultural; three members were female and two were male, one member was from Brazil, one member was from El Salvador and another from the Philippines. In addition the age range was from 25-60. We were also very deliberate in looking for a bi-lingual (Spanish speaking) pastor. She has ministry experience in Mexico and the United States and in Hispanic, Anglo and Korean-American congregations. When we were able to obtain a McCormick seminary student/intern for the past school year, we chose a middle-aged man from Guatemala. We plan to have him return in the fall.
Church mission statement (motto): United in Christ to grow and serve.
For 20 years an Hispanic Cumberland Presbyterian congregation has met in our building. For one year a Korean Presbyterian (U.S.A.) congregation also shared the building. One of our most meaningful experiences was a tri-lingual Christmas Eve service. We have had joint Maundy Thursday services and Sunday morning bi-lingual services with the Cumberland church. In order to have a joint Sunday school with Cumberland, Christ Church moved its Sunday morning service to 9:30 a.m., to be followed by Sunday school at 11:00 a.m. and the Cumberland service at 12:30 p.m. We were never able to recruit teachers from Cumberland, however, and their new pastor decided to have their own Christian education classes on Thursday evenings. Members of the Cumberland church have also provided music and preaching for our worship services.
For Advent 2005 the two congregations met for a workshop, making bi-lingual banners (one for each week of Advent) to hang in the sanctuary. For Advent 2006 our theme was “Our Story — A Multi-Cultural Advent, Christ Presbyterian Church, Hanover Park, Illinois.” The preaching series was based on “Christmas Carols from the Gospels/Luke.” Music was important in the celebration of Advent, giving the celebration a multicultural feel. Paraments used were stoles from Guatemala, Kente cloth from Ghana, serape from Mexico, ikat cloth from the Philippines and African prints. Each week an angel, dressed in cloth of the countries/regions represented, was added to a new banner: Guatemalan ikat cloth, Middle East patterns, African kente, Chinese, South-Pacific batik and Gingham (United States) were used.
First Sunday of Advent: Middle East
- Communion — borrowed from the Greek Orthodox liturgy; served pita bread
- Used the Nicene Creed
- Special music: a recording of a Christmas carol in Arabic (translated to power point by a member): Hal Giet a Rabby Sayyedy (Lord and Master You have come as a Babe), sung by Moshira Girgis
Second Sunday of Advent: Africa
- Carols: Malawi carol “That Boy-Child Jesus”: “Jesu, Jesu” (Ghana); “Go Tell it on the Mountain” (African-American spiritual); “We are Marching in the Light of God” (Siyahamba)
- African Creed (Maasai)
- Special music: Carol sung by Ghanan member in Twi
Third Sunday in Advent: Asia
- Special music: Members from the Philippines sang a carol in Tagalog
- Celebration of Faith — India
- Special item: Philippine parole, used as the Star of Bethlehem
Fourth Sunday in Advent: Latin America
- Special Music: Carol sung in Spanish by members from Guatemala and El Salvador
- Affirmation of Faith: Zacamil, San Salvador, El Salvador
- Sung response: “Santo, Santo”, both in Spanish and English
Other Activities:
- “Taste of Cameroon” evening
- Family event: making a Philippine parole for use in our own homes
- Hosting a citizen workshop: help and information on how to become a citizen
- Learning responses for worship in Cameroon dialect and Spanish
- Choir singing in Spanish and using music of Asian (Chinese) origin
- Identification of ethnic origins of hymns in the weekly bulletin
- Making mosquito nets for Africa
- Hosting Raafat Girgis to gain information on multicultural churches
- Sending two persons to the Multicultural Conference (in the past) and sending pastor and member from Brazil to the conference this summer.
Future (and on-going) Strategies
- Encouraging our pastor, Laura Taylor de Palomino, in her part-time position as field staff with the Multicultural Ministries of the General Assembly
- Encouraging our Personnel Committee to continue finding church officers from our diverse population.
- Using our street-side lighted sign to welcome visitors in various languages
- Finding new ways to gain information and participate in presbytery events that encourage diversity
- Continue to use creeds, statements of faith and music from many cultures
Celebration!
When our last group of five new members met with the session for membership, an Anglo, retired female was asked, “Why did you pick this church?” Her reply was, “Because of the diversity.” We feel that God is leading us in the right direction! |
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