The Great Cultural Divide

by Minister Gilbert Wilkerson Sr.

 What is it like to be an African American in an all African Church?
Awesome! The music, the dance, the food etc,. That's the word I use to describe being at the Church of the Living God located on Woodman Road here in Richmond. A Church of Africans from such places as Ghana, Sudan, Burundi, and Nigeria.

When I first visited the church I told myself they had nothing to offer me. Such attitudes are the norm within the Christian American community. We think we got the only Gospel in the world, that God is really the God of America and nowhere else. The majority of  American Christians unconsciously believe they are better than any other Christian's around the world. We are brain washed to believe such lies.

My African brethren have taught me a lot about God and the Bible. The culture is similar to what it is in Israel because they live nearer the middle east. Their upbringing is similar to what I read in the scriptures. They know what it is like to live off the land. We Americans see the Bible through the eyes of the American Culture but the Bible was not written in America. It was written in the deserts and mountains while sheep grazed nearby.
When my African brethren teach they bring out a new depth of God that we seldom hear in America.

 Now we are a big family. I have learned to appreciate their culture more than ever. When they say you are a brother then you are truly a brother. What other cultures have we missed out on? How can God speak to us from other people's perspective and what great lessons can we learn from others?
I have learned that God is in all cultures. I thank God he got my attention by allowing me to attend a Small church on the west end where the difference is the culture and not the love.
 

Gilbert Wilkerson Sr. is now one of the ministers of the Church of the Living God Richmond.
Gilbert is  the founder of "Fire at 5" . He is a Conference Speaker, Author, and Writer.
He is also the President of the Coalition Against Violence as well as Division Chaplain for the Henrico Division of Police.
He and his wife Gloria have four children.