Destiny Church is merging with Maranatha Christian Fellowship in a joint effort to work toward ending this segregated worship.
There is a quote by Martin Luther King Jr. that has haunted both Pastor Jonathan Leath and Pastor George Bowen.
“At 11 on Sunday morning when we stand and sing and Christ has no east or west, we stand at the most segregated hour in this nation,” King said.
Destiny Church, a predominately African American church, is merging with Maranatha Christian Fellowship, a predominantly caucasian church, in a joint effort to work toward ending this segregated hour. The merger will take place on July 8, and once the two churches become one, Leath and Bowen will share pastoral responsibilities as the two congregations gather under one roof.
Leath said he’s had a long-standing desire to have a multicultural church. In 2014, he tried to merge Destiny Church with a church in Burlington City, but when that didn’t work out, he moved his congregation to Moorestown where they met at William Allen Middle School for a time until Bowen offered Maranatha Christian Fellowship’s space.
Over the years, the two churches held joint services, and each pastor occasionally preached for the other’s congregation. However, nearly a year and a half ago, the two pastors had serious discussions about what it might look like if their two churches merged.
Bowen said, with recent racial tensions in the country, he and Leath agreed it seemed like the right time for a change.
“Christianity is, for me, more than me just going to heaven,” Leath said. “It’s loving my brother or sister down here on Earth. If we can’t get over the racial thing, there’s no hope for America.”
Marantha is celebrating its 90-year milestone as a church this year while Destiny is celebrating its 11th year. Currently, around 30 percent of Marantha’s members are of a minority, but Leath’s largely minority-based church will create one congregation that is about 40 percent minority-based.
Bowen said it’s highly unusual for a black pastor and white pastor to come together and co-pastor one church.
“The thing I love about it is we’re going to bring our own uniqueness. Difference is not bad; it’s just different,” Leath said. “My experiences are going to be different than George’s. Really, it’s breaking down a racial wall.”
The duo will share preaching responsibilities, visits to hospitals, overseeing weddings and funerals and other responsibilities. The two churches will also merge finances and come together under a new name that has yet to be determined. Leath said both churches are still working through the logistics and many of the finer details.
Bowen said their ultimate goal is to create a congregation with an appreciation for people of a different background.
“If you attend our church, regardless of your background you’re going to end up interacting with someone different than you.”
Both Bowen and Leath said they’re not naive to the fact that some people will leave because of the change. Leath said for some members of both congregations, it may be a challenge adapting to having a pastor whom they’re not used to and who is of a different race, but he said, by and large, members of both congregations have embraced the merger with an open mind.
“You usually hear of people sort of dividing over issues, but we’re doing it in reverse,” Leath said. “The goal is to demonstrate that God is still moving in the church. Everybody’s not polarized.”
