{"id":24033,"date":"2024-07-07T07:59:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-07T07:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/?p=24033"},"modified":"2024-07-08T03:31:39","modified_gmt":"2024-07-08T03:31:39","slug":"panelists-share-their-personal-stories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2024\/panelists-share-their-personal-stories\/","title":{"rendered":"Panelists share their personal stories at Multicultural Gathering and Leaders Luncheon"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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By Frank Ramirez<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat is it like to be Black and Brethren?\u201d<\/strong> Robert Jackson asked the attendees of Saturday\u2019s Multicultural Gathering and Leaders Luncheon, before answering the question himself. \u201cWell, I like to say I was born Black and bred Brethren.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jackson was part of a panel who shared their experiences as multicultural members of the Church of the Brethren. He alluded to his earliest memories of attending church in Ohio, and described his experiences in the church over the decades–in many ways \u201cthe best of times and the worst of times.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the best of times was an incident when he was young. He entered a bank in the company of a venerable Brethren elder. When a teller used the N word to describe him, the elder immediately withdrew both his and his company\u2019s considerable funds from that bank and took them elsewhere, telling the bank president \u201cwhat your teller called my son.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the worst of times was an incident not so many years ago when someone who was Brethren used the N word to describe Jackson at a Brethren meeting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The Multicultural Gathering and Leaders Luncheon. Photo by Laura Sellers<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

One of the worst of times was being told in Sunday school that it was inappropriate to draw Jesus with an afro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the best of times has been noticing in recent years that some Brethren churches include stained glass windows featuring a Black Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jackson mentioned other \u201cworsts\u201d in Church of the Brethren history, including the difficulties faced by Samuel Weir in the 19th century and Mattie Dolby Cunningham in the early 20th century–pioneering Black Brethren ministers who encountered many obstacles. But Jackson smiled as he gestured toward the decidedly multicultural gathering at the session. \u201cSeeing a room full of people of color\u201d is a wonder, he said. \u201cThat that kid crying in the back of the church is now speaking up here today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Panelist Cesia Salcedo-Morrison,<\/strong> from Floyd, Va., serving the Nueva Vida congregation, likened her experiences to that of the biblical Ruth. \u201cI think about her because she was different.\u201d Salcedo-Morrison noted that Ruth honored and respected her mother-in-law, a basic tenet of the Panamanian culture where she grew up. She admitted there was some culture shock when she came to the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe Panamanians don\u2019t see differences. We don\u2019t see color. It was so hard to enter a room and to be looked at in different ways.\u201d She appreciated the Church of the Brethren because she could be herself. Even though the style of worship at Nueva Vida might be different from other Church of the Brethren congregations (\u201cWe like to sing very loud. We like the drums.\u201d) she was allowed to use her gifts. \u201cSo I was given the opportunity to be who I am by the Church of the Brethren. We all have a gift, no matter where we came from. I have been called to serve because this denomination seeks that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Panelist Ramon Torres<\/strong> from Traveler\u2019s Rest church in Easley, S.C., wondered if he would be accepted into ministry because, despite his educational background, he had \u201cno theological education.\u201d And there was one other barrier to his entering into the ministry of a Church of the Brethren congregation. He told those who called him into ministry: \u201cFirst you have to convince my wife.\u201d His spouse had heard about the way other pastors\u2019 spouses had been treated in other churches, and \u201cit wasn\u2019t good,\u201d he said. He was glad that neither he nor his spouse had to meet the expectations they had encountered in other church settings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He felt very accepted, and told those present, \u201cSpanish is what you will speak in heaven.\u201d He has learned, when it comes to ministry, \u201cJust invite the Holy Spirit into the room and then stand back and watch it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Panelist Becky Zapata<\/strong> of Anaheim, Calif., is one of the pastors at Principe de Paz. Her upbringing and experience contributed to her concept of ministry. She listed four things that she loved about her Brethren experience: First, the privilege of being a part of the Church of the Brethren. Second, the freedom to worship God in my own way. Many heads in the audience nodded when she said that. Third, that there are places for her children and grandchildren to be active in the ministries of the church. Fourth, that over the course of her ministry, which began in 1991, \u201cI never felt rejected. I\u2019m so grateful to be an ordained pastor in the church.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The event opened and closed with music from the Bittersweet Gospel Band. Annual Conference moderator Madalyn Metzger brought greetings as did general secretary David Steele. Steele also affirmed the work of new director of Intercultural Ministries Founa Augustin Badet, adding that as General Secretary he is committing to prioritizing multicultural ministries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Badet, who shared that she is the first ordained Haitian woman in the Church of the Brethren, invited all attendees to ask themselves two questions: \u201cDo we want to be multicultural? Do we need to be multicultural?\u201d She added, \u201cWhen we want something go for it. When we need something–it requires hard work. Together we can figure it out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#cobac2024<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWhat is it like to be Black and Brethren?\u201d Robert Jackson asked the attendees of Saturday\u2019s Multicultural Gathering and Leaders Luncheon, before answering the question himself. \u201cWell, I like to say I was born Black and bred Brethren.\u201d Jackson was part of a panel who shared their experiences as multicultural members of the Church of the Brethren.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":24034,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1703],"tags":[1258,2886,1274],"wf_post_folders":[],"class_list":["post-24033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church-of-the-brethren-newsline","tag-annual-conference","tag-annual-conference-2024","tag-intercultural"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24033"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24033\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24035,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24033\/revisions\/24035"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24033"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=24033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}