April 2022 Monthly Letter

Dear Reconcilers,

I hope you enjoyed the first installment.  in this second installment, you will get to hear from Pastor Albert VanderMeer.

Reconciliation and Unity – (Second Installment)
The Challenge of Integration, by Rev. Dr. Albert VanderMeer, S.T.M.

In January of 2006 the board of First Reformed Church of South Holland held an all-day retreat to discuss their vision for the future. Due to white flight and an unwillingness to change, the congregation had declined significantly in worship attendance. The board made a unanimous decision to become a multi ethnic congregation. The means of accomplishing this vision was to share their facilities with “Shepherd’s Community Church.”

Upon revealing this decision of renting FRC building to Shepherd’s Community Church to Pastor Willard High the response was less than enthusiastic. Pastor Will shared with me that five years earlier a request was made to rent space from FRC.  The first response by the Associate Pastor was quite positive. A few weeks later upon returning to the possibility of an African American Church sharing space with a white affluent historical church the suggestion was met with much less enthusiasm and finally denied. Due to this painful experience of rejection Pastor Will was reluctant to accept the invitation to share space with FRC.

Pastor Will shared a painful reality with me. He said, “Wherever we go, to a new neighborhood, or a new job, African Americans are not welcome. The only place where we are welcome is our church. I do not wish to risk losing our special place of being welcomed.” 

I shared with Pastor Will that I could relate to the feeling of not being welcomed. My family had emigrated from the Netherlands to Ontario, Canada. We were not welcomed because we were different from the other children in our school. The adult immigrants threatened the jobs of the local residents. 

I suggested to Pastor Will that we needed to engage in a plan of reconciliation to heal our divide and undo the racism within our hearts. FRC members needed to experience the reality of African Americans who shared the same values and life style appreciated by the members of FRC, unlike the way they had been portrayed in the News Media.

Therefore, we devised a plan for Racial Reconciliation. Pastor Will must have an office in our building located next to the office of the Senior Pastor of FRC. We would engage in regular staff meetings including the leadership of FRC. The plan accepted by the leadership of both congregations was to worship together once a quarter followed by a joint (integrated) lunch. Also, our Wednesday evening activities were to be shared by both congregations, including leading the devotion and Bible study.

On the first Sunday that we worshipped together, the leadership and members of FRC were very pleased. The attendance increased by 150 persons. The singing of our traditional hymns was awesome. Pastor High’s message was well received.

However, the leadership and members of Shepherd’s Community were disappointed. They felt like guests in a white congregation, having no ownership in the style and order of worship. For our next joint worship service, Shepherd’s worship team planned and lead the service. I gave the message. The response of the Shepherd’s congregation was very positive but the response of the FRC congregation was very negative. This was only the beginning of the growing pains we experienced on our way to reconciliation and unity. (To be continued.)