Is the Body of Christ a Melting Pot or a Tossed Salad?

thoughts by Charles P. Schmitt, founding pastor

Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “We were all baptized in one Spirit into one Body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and were all given the one Spirit to drink. Now the Body is not made up of one part but of many” (1 Corinthians 12:13–14).

During lunch in the Café of the Nations a few weeks ago, a sister raised the question: “Is the Body of Christ a melting pot or a tossed salad?” Dotty immediately responded: “A tossed salad!” Everyone seemed to agree. But I was deep in thought.

Our nation has been called “a melting pot”—but some very severe problems have arisen from that concept, especially when the majority metal has been white/Anglo. True, other minorities—other brightly colored metals—have been added to the pot, but the majority metal—by virtue of sheer dominance—has made the whole look like itself. The identity and the color, the beauty and the value of the other metals has been “swallowed up,” if you will, in the mix. And I believe the current social turbulence in our American society is a reflection of just that—the “melting pot” concept with its loss of cultural identities and the consequent denigration of the value of other cultures.

Immanuel’s Church has been called to be more than a melting pot. We have over 60 nations represented in our midst; their flags hang in the rotunda. We are a church of various minorities—European and other Caucasians, Native Americans, Hispanics, African-Americans, Asians, African Africans, Middle-Easterners, and so on. But our church culture can, at times, seem to be predominately white, Anglo Saxon, Protestant and Charismatic—and all too much of our other cultures and backgrounds and identities have seemingly become absorbed and melted in that predominance!

What then is the “tossed salad” concept? One whole, but made up of many different parts—one salad made up of lettuce, tomatoes, onions, leeks, carrots, etc. The Church is one Body, Paul writes to the Corinthians, but made up of many differing parts, each contributing its uniqueness to the whole, blending together into one without a loss of the distinctiveness of each part! My, how onions add to a salad, but they remain uniquely onions, and that is why they add so much to the whole salad.

To see our Immanuel’s people wearing clothing special to their own cultural hearts is a joy! To hear that the Café of the Nations will soon be serving different ethnic foods—that is something I’m really looking forward to. To see a blend of different cultures reflected in our leadership and ministry is enriching! To worship, as we have over the past several seeks, to the sound of a different drum—that is a foretaste of heaven! To have close friends from different cultures, drawn close to our hearts by the love of God, that is what the Body of Christ is all about!

God is calling us as a church to take the next step up—into an inter-culturalness that brings the beauty of each contributing part into the beauty of the whole—the beautiful Body of Christ! Welcome to this foretaste of heaven!

—This is the first in a series of articles on this subject by Pastor Charles.
Next week; “Why Are Our Nations’ Flags in the Rotunda (and Not in the Sanctuary)?

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