Whatever arguments for affinity groups worshipping will cease at the throne of Revelation 5.
SAWGUNNER
Some years back in response to a Black Student's Association a student at SMU created the short lived White Student Association. It was perhaps done tongue in cheek same way the NAAWP was a few years later.
SAWGUNNER
We have universities still extant which are really a vestige of Jim Crow laws. They are called Historically Black Colleges and Universities. I don't know how common those are across the nation outside the South but the surprise to me was how they have strong popularity/support among blacks in several states. I lived in Austin Tx and I had always heard of Houston Tillotson (HT) across the highway in the eastern side of Austin. Never met anyone from there. There are also like or not black majority churches; which saddens me because as Dr King noted 11am Sunday morning is the most segregated hour in America. I have been in churches with a single black member (the minister of music) and currently I attend a church with two black Elder board members. As far as I can tell, all the remaining black members of the church are family or inlaws of those two men. But the eternal take home point still holds: we look at the inside of a man or woman and never at something as superficial as skin pigment. Our Elder members are there due to character content and knowledge of the Gospel. Folks attend school or worship where and how they wish and there can be no compulsion in such matters.
MinnieKins
Paul said that there is neither Jew nor Greek in the Body of Christ, for all are one in Christ Jesus. Whatever the intention of minority-centered "worship" services, it goes against the law and love of Christ to divide His people by artificial cultural or ethnic barriers.
Jacob Rhoda
It seems there are a couple of competing issues at play here.
1. I have no idea the politics behind the MNA (not a PCA member,) but this is typical of behavior you see from entrenched denominational standing committees at the top. They're often full of people who do this full time and have general support of General Assemblies which generally rubber-stamp everything until there's some controversy. Let's not forget what happened with Machen and old Princeton in the 20th century. I think these sorts of committees are generally unwise and have too much unchecked power.
2. There seems to be a misunderstanding of the purpose of *worship* in the life of the believer and of the church. I suppose worship is, in a general sense, "[gathering] for comfort, celebration, counsel, and mutual support." In the specific sense, if worship is something that happens to us—like a group therapy session—then this makes perfect sense to have specific worship services for specific ethnicities. But what we find, Biblically, is rather that worship is gathering to give praise, glory, and honor, to the One who is entirely worthy of receiving our worship. We're not the audience — God is. And yes, we receive comfort, celebration, counsel, and mutual support — but only as secondary benefits. The primary benefit is that we have the privilege to be in the holy presence of the Triune God. Therefore, this idea that we need separate spaces for specific ethnicities to gather to receive comfort seems to deny the fact that all believers, no matter their skin color or national origin, have a need for comfort and celebration. "Q. What is your only comfort in life and in death" "A. That I with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Savior Jesus Christ; who, with his precious blood, has fully satisfied for all my sins, and delivered me from all the power of the devil" (Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 1.) That's not something that is exclusive to one ethnicity — it is the common condition of all humanity that is satisfied only in the person and work of Jesus Christ for all who believe. What is corporate worship, if not an "affinity" gathering for sinners in need of salvation from Christ? Of other so-called "affinity" gatherings, I see no need for them.
BobK
"...it drew a distinction between exclusive gatherings and those that encourage attendance by ethnic minorities but don’t bar others from coming." That is better than what many have characterized this as, but the whole idea still smells rotten. If we would condemn a worship service celebrating our white brothers and sisters then we should condemn a worship service promoting the exclusive attendance of other races or nationalities. Race is a cultural construct. We are only part of one race - the human race and only part of one family: God's.
Whatever arguments for affinity groups worshipping will cease at the throne of Revelation 5.
Some years back in response to a Black Student's Association a student at SMU created the short lived White Student Association. It was perhaps done tongue in cheek same way the NAAWP was a few years later.
We have universities still extant which are really a vestige of Jim Crow laws. They are called Historically Black Colleges and Universities. I don't know how common those are across the nation outside the South but the surprise to me was how they have strong popularity/support among blacks in several states. I lived in Austin Tx and I had always heard of Houston Tillotson (HT) across the highway in the eastern side of Austin. Never met anyone from there. There are also like or not black majority churches; which saddens me because as Dr King noted 11am Sunday morning is the most segregated hour in America. I have been in churches with a single black member (the minister of music) and currently I attend a church with two black Elder board members. As far as I can tell, all the remaining black members of the church are family or inlaws of those two men. But the eternal take home point still holds: we look at the inside of a man or woman and never at something as superficial as skin pigment. Our Elder members are there due to character content and knowledge of the Gospel. Folks attend school or worship where and how they wish and there can be no compulsion in such matters.
Paul said that there is neither Jew nor Greek in the Body of Christ, for all are one in Christ Jesus. Whatever the intention of minority-centered "worship" services, it goes against the law and love of Christ to divide His people by artificial cultural or ethnic barriers.
It seems there are a couple of competing issues at play here.
1. I have no idea the politics behind the MNA (not a PCA member,) but this is typical of behavior you see from entrenched denominational standing committees at the top. They're often full of people who do this full time and have general support of General Assemblies which generally rubber-stamp everything until there's some controversy. Let's not forget what happened with Machen and old Princeton in the 20th century. I think these sorts of committees are generally unwise and have too much unchecked power.
2. There seems to be a misunderstanding of the purpose of *worship* in the life of the believer and of the church. I suppose worship is, in a general sense, "[gathering] for comfort, celebration, counsel, and mutual support." In the specific sense, if worship is something that happens to us—like a group therapy session—then this makes perfect sense to have specific worship services for specific ethnicities. But what we find, Biblically, is rather that worship is gathering to give praise, glory, and honor, to the One who is entirely worthy of receiving our worship. We're not the audience — God is. And yes, we receive comfort, celebration, counsel, and mutual support — but only as secondary benefits. The primary benefit is that we have the privilege to be in the holy presence of the Triune God. Therefore, this idea that we need separate spaces for specific ethnicities to gather to receive comfort seems to deny the fact that all believers, no matter their skin color or national origin, have a need for comfort and celebration. "Q. What is your only comfort in life and in death" "A. That I with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Savior Jesus Christ; who, with his precious blood, has fully satisfied for all my sins, and delivered me from all the power of the devil" (Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 1.) That's not something that is exclusive to one ethnicity — it is the common condition of all humanity that is satisfied only in the person and work of Jesus Christ for all who believe. What is corporate worship, if not an "affinity" gathering for sinners in need of salvation from Christ? Of other so-called "affinity" gatherings, I see no need for them.
"...it drew a distinction between exclusive gatherings and those that encourage attendance by ethnic minorities but don’t bar others from coming." That is better than what many have characterized this as, but the whole idea still smells rotten. If we would condemn a worship service celebrating our white brothers and sisters then we should condemn a worship service promoting the exclusive attendance of other races or nationalities. Race is a cultural construct. We are only part of one race - the human race and only part of one family: God's.