February 5, 2009
by Eva G. Stimson

SAN ANTONIO – "All around us are hurting people," worship leader the Rev. J. Herbert Nelson told more than 1,000 people gathered here for the 2009 convention of the Association of Presbyterian Church Educators (APCE).

Yet barriers of race, class, upbringing and status "keep us from being real with one another," he said. These barriers prevent us from welcoming all people into the community of faith.

Nelson, a third-generation Presbyterian minister, is founder/pastor of Liberation Community Presbyterian Church, which describes itself as "an African-centered congregation committed to evangelizing the poor."

In a series of sermons Nelson challenged his mostly white and middle-class listeners to "step out of their comfort zones" and cross the barriers that are keeping Presbyterians from becoming "a light to the nations."

He encouraged them to ask the poor and hurting people around them, "What can I do for you?" This is the question Jesus asked the blind man, Bartimaeus, in Mark 10:46-52. And it's a "loaded question," Nelson said. Our orderly worship may be disrupted. We may be asked for money, for a ride somewhere, for healing.

But if Presbyterians truly want to be the church God intends, we need to be realistic about what it means to be in relationship with the poor, he continued. "The world is hurting and in pain, and they really don't care about our order. We want to tell them about The Book of Order, and they want to know about the book of John, and the book of Matthew," Nelson said.

If poor and hurting people are drawn to our churches, it's not because they want to become moderator of presbytery or serve on a committee, he explained. They want to see how the gospel can transform their lives.

Nelson also raised pointed questions about the current emphasis on "multiculturalism," which has become a buzzword in mainline churches seeking to reverse years of declining membership.

Yet even as churches are paying lip-service to multiculturalism, he said, "I'm amazed at how we're cutting our budgets for justice, advocacy for women, immigration. These issues are pushed aside as if they don't have meaning for the church anymore."

Nelson told of spending eight weeks in South Africa before the end of apartheid, a visit that opened his eyes to the deeper meaning of multiculturalism. He said he grew a giant Afro before going, and expected to experience an immediate sense of connection with his South African hosts. But he couldn't speak any of their languages, and did not understand their history or culture. He discovered that the connection he sought "was beyond skin color and race – it was about how we understand life."

"Multiculturalism at its core is about learning to appreciate the culture and values that form us," he said. And this may cause discomfort. It may require us to reexamine some of our cherished beliefs and ways of doing things.

Nelson cited the example of the Apostle Peter, in Acts 10:9-33, whose vision on a rooftop led ultimately to the opening of the early church to Gentile believers. But as the story opens, Nelson said, "Peter is struggling with what it means to have lived all his life with a particular understanding [that certain foods and groups of people are "unclean"], and now there is a shift in understanding" – a shift being urged on him by God.

Peter ended up going to visit the Gentile Cornelius "not because he wanted to, but because God required it."

What would happen, Nelson wondered, if today's Christians were to really consider what God requires? "Do we really think about what God requires when we live lives of affluence and don't care about the rest of the world?"

To become a multicultural church requires us to get beyond superficial differences and "to learn from people who come from all over the world," Nelson said.

"The only question is whether we'll have the courage to step beyond the boundaries and hear their stories without judging."

Presbyterian News Service
Eva G. Stimson is editor of Presbyterians Today magazine.