Two Peoria, Illinois, churches hope to desegregate Sunday mornings

Zion Baptist Church on Sunday was loaded and hot, nearly every pew full.

This by itself is not unusual for a Sunday, but seeing white and black worshippers sitting side by side was a little different.

“(First Baptist Church) Pastor (Tom) Bayes and I had talked about how Sunday mornings were one of the most segregated times in America,” said Pastor Samuel Duren of Zion Baptist. “We don’t feel like that has to be that way, and so we decided to join the worship services.”

Zion Baptist, a predominantly black church, and First Baptist, a predominantly white church, are separated by only a few blocks, but the two had never really come together until recently.

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Posted in * Christian Life / Church Life, * Culture-Watch, * Religion News & Commentary, Baptists, Other Churches, Parish Ministry, Race/Race Relations, Religion & Culture

One comment on “Two Peoria, Illinois, churches hope to desegregate Sunday mornings

  1. Grandmother says:

    Well, I think in SC just the opposite is happening… In a tiny town N of Charleston, there are two Episcopal Churches.. Only once in a blue moon do the twain meet.. (They are 7 miles apart). And of course with the REC coming under ACNA, its more difficult than in a long while… As long as people refer to “black churches, black clergy,” etc. It will remain so… Many barriors still remain, and are even encouraged…
    Shame,
    Grandmother in SC