Repairing the Breach: Worship in Racially Diverse Congregations

Ruth A. Meyers

Repairers of the Breach

Jennifer Lord invites us to envision liturgy as participation in an “eternal dance around Glory,” being poured out for one another and the world, forming us to live as repairers of the breach (Isa. 58:12). The actions of worship transform us, shaping us for everyday life.

In the United States today, everyday life is marked by strife and division, including racial inequities rooted deeply in our history that have resulted in significant economic and social disparities that continue to this day. How might our liturgy bring together racially diverse communities whose members are transformed to become repairers of the breach in worship and in the world?

A Pentecost Vision

In his foreword to Michael Hawn’s book One Bread, One Body: Exploring Cultural Diversity in Worship, United Methodist elder and theologian Justo González asserts, “The church is multicultural by birth.” The communication that occurred at Pentecost, each member of the crowd in Jerusalem hearing the disciples “speaking in the native language of each” (Acts 2:6), was a crossing of boundaries, allowing those on each side to be equally at home. Pentecost worship, González argues, requires far more than one group welcoming different people into their church. He explains that crossing cultural barriers requires sharing the gospel “in such a way that power and control are also shared and even relinquished by its previous owners.”¹

A Pentecost vision understands the church as a diverse community, one that bridges differences, with no group dominating. In Ephesians, the apostle Paul writes of the dismantling of divisions between Jews and Gentiles. Christ has broken down the “dividing wall of hostility,” creating “one new humanity in place of the two” (Eph. 2:14–15). This new humanity, as Paul envisions it, is rooted in baptism. It knits together not only Gentile and Jew, but also slave and free, Jew and Greek, male and female (1 Cor. 12:12–13; Gal. 3:26–28; Col. 3:11). 

The assurance of reconciliation in and through Christ runs throughout the New Testament, echoing Isaiah’s vision of a house of prayer for all peoples (Isa. 56:7). It culminates in the book of Revelation, with John’s vision of worship around the heavenly throne:

There was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. . . , They cried out in a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Rev. 7:9–10). 

Pastor and teacher Jim Wallis observes, “Human diversity is not abolished but rather celebrated and ultimately reconciled in praise of the Creator.”²

Our Unhappy Divisions

Underneath Paul’s oft-repeated emphasis on unity rooted in baptism may be the struggle of first-century Christian communities to embody and enact that unity. In First Corinthians, Paul begins with a plea for unity: “I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and there be no divisions among you” (1 Cor. 1:10). These divisions are evident when the Corinthian community gathers for the Lord’s Supper. Paul chastises them, “When you come together, it is not really to eat the Lord’s supper. For when the time comes to eat, each of you goes ahead with your own supper, and one goes hungry and another becomes drunk” (1 Cor. 11:20–21). Reminding the Corinthians of Jesus offering bread and wine at the Last Supper (1 Cor. 11:23–25), Paul urges the community to wait for the entire body to assemble before beginning to eat (1 Cor. 11:33–34).

A different form of division took root in the United States, which Wallis describes as “America’s original sin”: “The United States of America was established as a white society, founded upon the near genocide of another race and then the enslavement of yet another.”³ Racism was manifest in churches in different ways. Until the Civil War, it was common for people of African descent, enslaved or free, to worship with white people. Yet Black people were frequently relegated to balconies for seating for worship, and often a racial hierarchy prevailed in devotional practices and distribution of communion: first whites, then free Blacks, and finally enslaved people. Gradually African American congregations formed in Northern states, and enslaved people in Southern states gathered for secret religious meetings. After the Civil War, many newly freed African Americans left white churches to form separate congregations, providing a place for religious autonomy and for social and political activities. This segregation was never complete; a few white congregations welcomed African Americans, and most African American congregations did not bar whites from joining. In the twentieth century, worship in the newly emerging Pentecostal movement brought together white people and Black people, and a few intentionally interracial churches were founded during the 1930s and 1940s. But overall, churches in the United States remained largely segregated by race.⁴

Recognizing the persistence of segregated congregations in the United States, in a 1960 interview on the television program Meet the Press, Martin Luther King Jr. observed, “I think it is one of the tragedies of our nation, one of the shameful tragedies, that eleven o’clock on Sunday morning is one of the most segregated hours, if not the most segregated hours [sic], in Christian America.” King’s dismay stemmed from his understanding of Scripture, as he explained, “Any church that stands against integration and that has a segregated body is standing against the spirit and the teachings of Jesus Christ.”⁵

Most scholars agree that integrated congregations were rare after the Civil War. The first comprehensive study of multiracial congregations was conducted at the end of the twentieth century by a team led by sociologist Michael Emerson, who published the results in his 2006 book People of the Dream. Emerson defines a multiracial congregation as one in which “no one racial group comprises 80 percent or more of the people.” He explains, “At this percentage, the proportion is high enough to have its presence felt and filtered throughout a system.”⁶ Using data from the National Congregations Study, Emerson estimated that only 7 percent of American congregations are multiracial. Moreover, most congregations are much more segregated than the neighborhoods in which they reside, except for multiracial congregations, which tend to be more diverse than their neighborhoods.⁷

Since Emerson’s first study, subsequent waves of the National Congregations Study have shown a growing number of multiracial congregations in the United States. Between 1998 and 2019, “racial and ethnic diversity within congregations steadily increased, with no signs of having reached a plateau.” Both the proportion of multiracial congregations and the percentage of religious service attendees participating in these congregations have grown. Notwithstanding this increase in racial and ethnic diversity, the authors of this study caution that greater diversity does not necessarily promote racial justice, pointing to several studies showing that these congregations may “reproduce racial inequalities rather than transcend them.”⁸

Worship in Multiracial Congregations

In what ways does worship in multiracial congregations reproduce racial inequalities? In what ways might it transcend those inequalities? To what extent are worshipers of every race and ethnicity able to participate fully, on equal footing?

In a 2004 study of racially diverse congregations in the United Methodist Church, Michael Hawn urges the development of “culturally conscious worship,” in which no clear majority dominates, and all can participate as full and equal members. Acknowledging the challenges of worshiping without showing preference or partiality, Hawn suggests several strategies to move beyond cultural uniformity or assimilation, which tend to reproduce the dominance of one race or culture, toward cultural openness and cultural partnership, which seek to transcend inequalities, breaking down walls of hostility and creating one new humanity in Christ (Eph. 2:14-16).⁹

Hawn encourages congregations to work creatively within their own tradition rather than developing entirely new structures.¹⁰ My tradition is the Episcopal Church, which sets forth worship in its Book of Common Prayer. In 2019, I began a study of six multiracial congregations in the Episcopal Church, worshiping with them and interviewing the clergy, director of music, and lay members. I returned in 2024, seeking to understand more fully how these racially diverse communities worship and how individuals participate in this worship.

In each interview, I asked what was most meaningful in worship. The responses varied widely. In one congregation, worshipers moved out of their pews to gather in a circle for prayers of intercession. Although this did not lead to any more vocal participation, one person I interviewed felt deeply engaged by the sense of community, seeing and hearing one another as they stood shoulder to shoulder. For another person, singing together after everyone had received communion created a sense of the community’s closeness to God. While the breadth of responses suggests that people engage worship in different ways, a common thread is the importance of practices that foster a sense of community. Despite the complexity and challenges of bridging racial differences, these congregations have found ways to draw people into one body.

Some aspects of cultural difference are readily observable, for example, music and language. But cultural differences go much deeper, to patterns of behavior and communication. Fifty years ago, cultural anthropologists began to identify unspoken attitudes and actions that characterize interactions in different cultural contexts, for example, attitudes toward time, understandings and use of power, approaches to leadership, expression of emotion, and communication styles.¹¹ Using this research, I invited those I interviewed to complete a worksheet that marked their congregation’s worship on several continuums:

• from emotionally restrained, to emotionally expressive;
• from carefully following the printed order of service, to relying on oral tradition;
• from managing time carefully, to living in the moment;
• from priority given to requirements for worship, to priority given to relationships.

In nearly every interview, this simple worksheet led to significant reflection, and my experience of worship confirmed what worshipers told me.

Worship in these multiracial congregations tends to be more emotionally expressive than most white Episcopal churches, which tend to value restraint, dignity, and good order, with little spontaneity.¹² A high value for building relationships is evident in greetings before and after worship and in an extended exchange of the Peace. The use of time is also more fluid. Even when worship starts on time, worshipers do not all arrive on time. Many seem unconcerned about the length of the service, and people linger for a meal or coffee hour following the service.

These characteristics correlate with many non-white cultures, particularly Black and Latino/a. (My study does not include congregations with significant numbers of Asian/Asian American or Native American/Indian members.) In congregations that have been historically white, members are able to create space for people from other racial backgrounds by sitting more lightly with characteristically white cultural values and patterns. Historically Latino/a and Black congregations do not relinquish their cultural values and behaviors as white members join them. Some white people in these congregations report life experience of bridging racial differences, and some intentionally seek more racially diverse congregations.

Learning to worship in cultural partnership, with no single culture dominating, calls for openness to diversity and the development of a capacity to adapt to different cultural contexts. Racially diverse congregations develop worship practices that foster a deep sense of community and connection to God, and their members are able to adapt to different patterns of interaction and communication in worship. Poured out for one another and for the world in their liturgy, they are formed as repairers of the breach.

Notes

1. Justo González, foreword to C. Michael Hawn, One Bread, One Body: Exploring Cultural Diversity in Worship (Bethesda, MD: Alban Institute, 2003), xiv.

2. Jim Wallis, America’s Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege, and the Bridge to a New America (Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos, 2016), 108.

3. Jim Wallis, “America’s Original Sin: The Legacy of White Racism,” Sojourners (November 1987), cited in Wallis, America’s Original Sin, 33.

4. For a fuller overview of this history, see Michael O. Emerson, People of the Dream: Multiracial Congregations in the United States (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2006), 9‑23.

5. Martin Luther King Jr., “Interview on Meet the Press,” April 17, 1960, The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute, Stanford University, https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/interview-meet-press. Although the statement is frequently attributed to King, see “Worship Hour Found Time of Segregation,” New York Times, November 4, 1952, which reports that Dr. Helen Kenyon, chair of the policy committee of the Department of United Church Women of the National Council of Churches, in an address at Riverside Church in New York City, designated eleven o’clock Sunday morning as the “most segregated time” in America.

6. Emerson, People of the Dream, 35.

7. Emerson, People of the Dream, 46. For the National Congregations Study, see https://www.nationalcongregationsstudy.org/, accessed September 24, 2025. The study includes churches, synagogues, mosques, and other places of worship.

8. Kevin D. Dougherty, Mark Chaves, and Michael O. Emerson, “Racial Diversity in U.S. Congregations, 1998–2019,” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 59, no. 4 (2020): 654, 659–660.

9. Hawn, One Bread, One Body, 5–10, 141–176.

10. Hawn, One Bread, One Body, 159.

11. Edward T. Hall, Beyond Culture (Garden City, NY: Anchor, 1976); Edward T. Hall and Mildred Reed Hall, Understanding Cultural Differences (Yarmouth, ME: Intercultural Press, 1990); Geert Hofstede, Culture’s Consequences—International Differences in Work-Related Values, abridged ed. (Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications, 1984).

12. For a discussion of characteristics of white worship, see Ruth C. Duck, Worship for the Whole People of God: Vital Worship for the 21st Century (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2013), 49–51.