“So that was a black church. I thought black and white churches existed only in the South, the head-quarters of racial problems.”

This was the thought with came into my mind as I reflected on my first Sunday worship service in Philadelphia.  I had just arrived in the U.S. and after that service I was thinking about the warm welcome I had received from the church members.  I was also pleased at the opportunity of meeting the pastor whom I had heard preaching over the radio in Ghana.  Then it dawned on me that most or all of the faces I had seen in the church were black.

I later told a white pastor that we do not have black and white churches in Ghana.  He was amazed and asked, “Can you get along?”  I was even more surprised than he.  Here was a pastor, born-again of the water and the Spirit who did not think black and white Christians could worship together.

I visited a white church one Sunday.  As I entered, the usher met me with a broad smile and hugged me as if he was welcoming his son home from the Vietnam war.  Then he guided me down the aisle and seated me beside three blacks.  The happiness I had felt disappeared.  As I sat down, he seated whites in front of us and behind us. 

After a while he brought someone to sit by me and behold, he was a black guy.  I assumed that he thought blacks would feel more at home sitting together in that “foreign” congregation.  However, I did not like the idea of bunching us together because I was not brought to that church in chains but on my own free will.  I had known that I was going to be among whites, and so if I was not prepared to sit beside a white, I would not have been there.  That smiling and well-meaning usher hurt and offended me.

Not a Warm Welcome

Most of our black and white problems are due to deep-rooted prejudices.  As I left the classroom one day with my briefcase and shopping bag, I was stopped by a police officer.  After he had written down my particulars and told me he detained me to protect me from robbery, I thought, “What made me look suspicious?  Was it what I was carrying, my manner of walking, my dress or my looks?  In any case, what do criminals dress or look like?  They are like anybody else.  Oh… I am black.”

Within the next nine months I was confronted by the police four times as a suspect for serious crimes.  I became more conscious that I was on the untrustworthy side of society, and at times when I felt like helping someone on the street, I did not because I might be taken for a crook.

An effort to get to know people of different backgrounds can be a help in breaking down prejudices.  The first time I saw a group of Chinese in Ghana, I thought they were brothers because they all looked alike!  After meeting and getting closer to them later, I found they have the same emotions, problems, and red blood as anybody else.  They don’t look alike to me anymore.

Show and Tell

For Christians who are called to show the love of God to all people, here is a special opportunity.  First, why don’t you plan on getting closer to someone of a different race?  Second, how about working on a lasting friendship with a lonely person (they are not hard to find) from another country?  Remember that you will have to break a cultural barrier.  But don’t give up; the experience will be very rewarding.

Some of the future leaders of other nations are right here on your doorstep on these North American campuses.  If you are not involved already, then you and your church or Christian group can organize activities for these internationals where Christianity can be introduced.

You can become a friend or a host family to an international scholar as soon as he arrives here.  The lonely new arrival will very much appreciate your good Christian hospitality.  He may need your help in such perplexing things as how to find the food he wants among all the strange brand names in the supermarket, where to buy snow boots, or how to use the Laundromat.

In fact, your friendship may lead him to Christ.  I know of international students who have found Christ as their personal Savior through the hospitality of Christian families.

At the same time, reaching an international student in the U.S. may not be smooth sailing since that person is exposed to all the prejudices and the social injustices of this “Christian” nation.  It is up to the Christians to prove that Christ makes a difference.  Those bad experiences in church left me confused.  The main factor in my enjoying my stay in the U.S. was the sweet fellowship of the Christians who came to me in fellowship.

Keep it Simple

By the way, you don’t have to receive a certain minimum income before you become eligible as a host family.  Your love for and availability to the international will be enough.  The food or bed can be simple.  What lonely people from overseas want is to be accepted by you.  Look them up and invite them to join in whatever you are doing.  Make them a part of your life, part of your fellowship group, part of your family.

Perhaps you did not realize or it escaped you, but now you know that the harvest is plentiful and the workers are few among internationals studying and working in North America.  Having been a foreign student until recently, I ask that you consider what part the Lord may have you play in this ministry.

EBENEZER A. JACKSON, who obtained a Ph. D. in electrical engineering at the University of Pennsylvania in 1975, became a lecturer at the University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana following graduation.

Copyright Information:
Reprinted from HIS magazine, October 1976 issue.