The Narthex: A Publication of the Young Pietists

A Call for a 21st Century Pietist
by Alexandria Taylor

I REMEMBER THE PHONE CALL as if it were yesterday. I was standing in the living room of my suburban apartment. I answered the phone with my normal greeting and continued to do what I was doing as the other person started to talk. There was something different about this call – the person began to share his thoughts on what God was revealing to him about starting a multicultural church in the city with a group of college students. I was intrigued enough at this point to stop what I was doing and start listening to some-thing that would change my life forever. He asked me, “What would happen if a genera-tion of believers gathered across racial, social, and cultural differences for one common purpose, to seek the heart of God and build relationships that will impact Chicago and then the world? Is it possible to be a church that models the New Testament church of the 1st century and still impact a generation in the 21st century? Can this generation be the kind of church where people from all walks of life, regardless of where they’re at in their spiritual journey, are valued and find acceptance?

In this phone call, I heard how he believed this could be done and why he wanted me to be a part of it. As he continued to share, I could mentally, physically, and spiritually see the vision of this multicultural church led and established by a group of diverse people ready and willing to pursue God’s Kingdom on earth as it is in Heaven. God honored my prayer request that I could become a part of this new community. The person on the other end of the phone was my friend and colleague at the time, and within a year he became my pastor at this multiethnic church.

The church is located in a predominately Latino neighborhood north of downtown Chicago. Like many neighborhoods in Chi-cago, each one comes with its own unique stories and histories. After working with the church for a year, my husband and I decided to move to this Latino neighborhood of Logan Square. At first the hardest thing about mov-ing into the city was getting lost, but after I learned my way around, I realized that living in Logan Square and learning the streets wasn’t enough. It is essential for me to live in Logan Square. I needed to get to know thecommunity, its history and its stories. I needed to shop at the neighborhood stores. It meant walking in the neighborhood wasn’t about me getting from place to place, but a way to know the real community and the people we came to serve and the community that will serve us.

Recently, a friend gave me an article writ-ten by the late Dr. F. Burton Nelson, "The Pietist Heritage and Social Concerns." He writes about the history of pietism and its effect on Christian life and service: who the Pietists were, how they affected the larger society, and how they influenced social concerns by putting their faith into action - not just using words. As I read the article one question stood out to me: Are there any Pietists in this generation? Does this genera-tion love their neighbors more than them-selves? Are they capable of uncovering and dealing with the causes of social wrongs, or will we just focus on healing the wounds of the afflicted?

One thing I love about this generation is that they are willing to ask hard questions. They recognize that giving food to the home-less only heals the wounds for a moment; they want to find the cause of why the wound keeps opening. I believe this generation pursues the hard questions to get real answers. This generation also has access to receiv-ing news and information in seconds. They can see the start and end of wars broadcast to them twenty-four hours a day. There is another pivotal thing that we now have access to that this generation's ancestors did not: the availability to discover and build relation-ships across cultures and ethnic backgrounds in schools, neighborhoods, and churches. This generation can live, work, and play with people from all over the world from preschool to college. With all the power, money, educa-tion, and technology at their fingertips, this generation is well equipped to be a "priest" of our time, like Philipp Jacob Spener and August Hermann Francke in the 18th century.

But even after three years of being in community with my church, I still wrestle with answering the questions that my pastor asked me. Can a community of diverse people seek the Kingdom and not worry about the color of their skin? Can we be Pietists today and fight the causes and the wounds in our communities? There are many problems that come with worshipping in a multicultural community. Most of the time I lose hope, rely too much on myself, am tempted to push my own agenda, and sometimes I even forget that God is what gives me hope for this community. The call to be a multicultural community isn't the idea or vision of one person, but the vision and calling of God. My prayer is that God honors and trusts us to allow us to see this vision - and when we seek God, the battles and fights become easier and they become His. We must be committed not only to community, fellow-ship, and breaking bread, but to truly loving each other, for better and for worse, and across different skin colors. The call to pursue a multicultural community is part of the vi-sion to see God's Kingdom here on earth. It is to believe in the vision that John talked about in Revelation, and to believe that it is starting to happen now.

I want to call Pietists to seek the Kingdom of God by living with or worshipping with or supporting a multicultural community. I want to call all Pietists from all cultures and ethnici-ties, young and old, with blue eyes or brown hair or olive skin or mocha skin, with green eyes or Swedish background or brown skin or white skin, short or tall, medium or long hair, sienna skin or of Asian descent, with light skin or First Nation people or Latino people, and people from all over the world-I want to call all Pietists to come together to seek and worship the one God, our Heavenly Father and Son Jesus Christ. I want to call all Pietists to sing "Holy, Holy, Holy." It doesn't matter if you sing loud, off-beat, move side to side, sing from your heart, clap your hands, dance, or just stand in awe. When the kingdom comes, everyone will worship the King.

I believe that this generation is equipped to bring the universal Church as a whole to become a better reflection of God's Kingdom in all its cultural, ethnic, and economic diversity. How will you - how will your generation - live out the call of Pietism?