• By RJ Walters, Editor •
According to the 2010 US Census Muskegon, Mich. is statistically the sixth-most racially segregated metropolitan area in the country.
About 83 percent of the county's 24,599 African American, non-Hispanic residents (roughly 14 percent of the county’s population) live in about one-quarter of the county's 42 census tracts and per-capita income among the county's African-American population is $11,761, compared with $22,140 for whites
But the Rev. Diane Gordon and the Rev. Duane Bennett believe those statistics can only be divisive if people let them dictate how they live.
Gordon, the lead pastor at Central United Methodist Church in Muskegon, and Bennett, the lead pastor at Mt. Zion Church of God in Christ just a few blocks away, are color-blind, faith-filled friends in ministry.
Central is a made up of predominantly white members, while Mt. Zion’s populace is mainly African American people and families — but racial and socioeconomic dividers do not define the churches’ relationship.
Last month more than 30 members from each church distributed goods from a food truck in Muskegon, one of many outreach events the congregations have partnered for recently.
The churches have hosted joint turkey dinners, shared in men’s retreats for males of all ages and they work hand-in-hand with the Family Promise, an interfaith hospitality and community service organization.
“There’s more we have in common than there are differences and we accentuate those things we have in common,” Bennett said. “Does that mean everybody in both congregations probably jump up and down that we’re doing it? Probably not, but at the same time I think it’s important we continue to work together. If the church can’t be an example of togetherness and unity for the next generation, who can be?”
They have even joined forces to host Bible school several times in the past, part of a shared history that goes back more than 20 years.
The Rev. Lynn DeMoss, a retired pastor of Central UMC who is still a member, helped build a relationship with Bennett’s father and the former pastor of Mt. Zion, George Bennett, in the 1980s.
Since then, the Central UMC mission team has intentionally planned everything from interchurch picnics to an array of community service opportunities.
The result has been more than just cordial relationships.
“I can say that very emphatically that relationships have been born and cultivated because of the relationships between our two churches, many of them good friendships,” Bennett said.
Gordon, who came to Central UMC last July, said the Census statistics are “totally different” than her initial perception of Muskegon because she’s used to working with churchgoers who have found the value in reaching beyond their own church doors to make a difference.
“The racial part of it — I’m sure there are some people in Central’s congregation who really still feel uncomfortable working with black people — but there have been opportunities for those barriers to be broken down,” she said. “Both congregations have kind of that Wesleyan mindset of meeting the needs of people so we come at in the same direction in that regard.”
Gordon said she and Bennett communicate regularly, as do certain church committees in each congregation — conscious efforts that are essential by Gordon’s estimation.
“I think we get so busy and so caught up in our own little worlds, our own congregations, that we just overlook the possibilities and opportunities,” she said. “Sometimes people or churches consider themselves (as) competing for members or potential members, but there are way more people out there who don’t go to any church, we don’t need to be worried about stealing people from each other.”
Bennett said he believes more interdenominational work is not done around America because people like to socialize with others “who look and think like they do,” but in doing so churches are missing out on “powerful ways to serve the same God.”
“Your next-door neighbor can have the same values that you have — they might look like you, they might not look like you,” he said. “But if you don’t reach out you will never know. Our society does not really foster that — we say we do, but we really don’t.”
Gordon said the next step in faith-based collaboration is for Muskegon-area pastors to join forces to help combat violence and shootings that debilitated the community much of last summer.
“How wonderful would it be if we all worked together on it — it’s just a matter of meeting each other and sitting down, having a cup of coffee and talking and establishing relationships,” she said. “It begins with meeting your neighbors.”
