Celebration of Diversity:
Church with long history
of many cultures comes to Cary

From Don Mason

CARY, North Carolina—The Cary congregation, pastored by Don Mason, was visited by a reporter from the Cary News Dec. 15. Following is the article she wrote. It is reprinted by permission of Cary News. Mr. Mason said, "We hope it will draw some positive interest in the community."

By Wendy Lemus

You’ve heard the old saying about Sunday mornings being the most segregated time of the week in America. In an area as racially diverse as the Triangle, there may be more truth to that than many people would like to admit.

But in the heart of Cary, there’s a church that has not only attracted a membership of many backgrounds and colors, but has been embracing its diversity for years.

"I guess we take that for granted," said Don Mason, pastor of Celebration Christian Fellowship, which meets at 1142 S.E. Maynard Road, not far from Cary Towne Center. "I don’t tend to see the color. I tend to see the person."

Celebration Christian Fellowship is a congregation of the Worldwide Church of God. Mason, who has been with the denomination for more than 30 years, said the church’s beginnings as a radio and television ministry have contributed to its long history of diversity.

"It was a media-based type of church. As people responded to those programs, churches were formed," he said. There are now more than 900 congregations in nearly 100 countries throughout the world.

The Cary church has been meeting in various Raleigh-area locations for about 15 years. It moved to Maynard Road about six months ago.

Longtime church member James Stewart said he remembers a time when not all members were allowed to sit side by side in the pews. During the early 1960s, some landlords renting worship space, especially in the South, demanded segregation. "It was not a pleasant experience, but you went through it because you knew it was the law of the land," said Stewart.

Today, Stewart says, the mix of people from such heritages as Japanese, Jamaican, Indian, Caucasian and African American "just adds to a richness ... a certain flavor you don’t usually find in other denominations."

Added member Jean Turner, "I think diversity helps you to learn."

The church blends music of many styles to reflect the tastes and backgrounds of the congregation. Traditional hymns, contemporary music, gospel songs and more are part of Sunday morning worship services.

"We are racially diverse, but I think we are culturally together," said Mason. "We’re family; these truly are my brothers and sisters."

He attributes the dividedness at many churches on Sunday morning to the comfort-zone factor. "We fear things we don’t know, and we go where we are more comfortable."

Mason said the Worldwide Church of God’s history is not without its problems. According to the church’s web site (www.wcg.org), founder Herbert Armstrong taught many doctrines that were not Biblical and certainly not within the teachings of mainstream Christianity. After Armstrong’s death in 1986, church leaders began to reject many of their leader’s original teachings. Today the church is a member of the National Association of Evangelicals and is in full agreement with its statement of faith.

Many of the changes in recent years involve the church’s switch from emphasis from prophecy to Christ.

"As the church moved forward, it began to see its mistakes," said Mason. "In the past 10 years we’ve become more focused on Jesus Christ and how that impacts our lives personally and that we should be like Christ in reaching out to other people. The diversity should be a part of that."

Copyright © Grace Communion International, 2003