Cultures Converge At Integrated Moorestown Church

MOORESTOWN, NJ — “I think it is one of the tragedies of our nation … that 11:00 on Sunday morning is one of the most segregated hours if not the most segregated hour in Christian America.”

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke these words on “Meet the Press” on April 17, 1960. The Baptist Minister and Civil Rights champion went on to say that Christian churches should be integrated, and that segregated churches go against the teachings of Jesus Christ.

King, who believed churches should integrate on their own and not be forced to, might be proud if he stepped into Converge Church on any given Sunday.

For the last year, Christians of different cultures and backgrounds have gathered together at 802 North Lenola Road in Moorestown to worship together.

Converge is a non-denominational Christian church that is a literal convergence of Destiny Church and Maranatha Christian Fellowship.

Pastor Jonathan Leath founded Destiny Church in April 2007, and from the beginning wanted to establish a multi-cultural church. The problem he found was that all churches that claimed to be multi-cultural had a leadership that was either all white or all black.

“I challenged my white pastor friends to celebrate multiple cultures,” Leath said. “To have different styles of music. I found that many churches claimed to be multi-cultural, but they were just multi-ethnic at best.”

In George Bowen, he found a partner who thought the same way he did. Bowen was the pastor at Destiny Church and Maranatha Christian Fellowship, which has been around for nearly 90 years. Since 1991, the church has been working hard on racial reconciliation.

Bowen quoted Bible scripture in which Jesus Christ prays for a oneness for the people that is analogous to the holy trinity.

“If you look around at the world, that’s just not the case,” Bowen said.

Leath was fascinated by Maranatha Christian Fellowship because that is a name he had considered for his congregation. Maranatha means, “Our Lord Cometh.” So he had jogged to the church several years ago and met with Bowen.

Meanwhile, Destiny Church was looking for a home for most of its existence. It had left its initial home when Leath thought an opportunity had come up, but when that fell through, he suddenly found himself a pastor for a church without a home.

Eventually, Destiny set up at the William Allen Middle School for one year, but had to find a new home when the middle school needed to undergo renovations.

For two months, Leath held services outside at various parks throughout Burlington County, miraculously finding good weather each Sunday. At the end of the summer, though, Leath knew they had to find a place inside.

While working with various churches, Leath crossed paths with Bowen once more.

The year was 2016, and Leath had friends he said were visibly upset by the outcome of the presidential election.

“I was surprised that the church had become involved in the political discussion,” Leath said. “The church is supposed to be the umpire, not a fan. I vote, but I don’t endorse anyone from the pulpit. I saw the church being divided along political lines.”

“The racial divide had become so evident in the country, and the integrity of the gospel was at stake,” Bowen said. “If the gospel can’t stand up to racism, it loses integrity. The question was why not do this? This should be something we do to demonstrate that the gospel does work.”

And so, they began talking. Two years later, in September 2018, Converge opened its doors to worshipers of all cultures and ethnicities. Leath and Bowen share leadership of the church.

The services, which run anywhere from an hour and a half to an hour and 45 minutes, feature musical styles found in both traditionally white and traditionally black churches.

The convergence has been nearly seamless. Yes, each church lost some members, but the new unified church gained many members. And some of those old members are returning.

“Not just a Church but a family,” one person wrote as a review on the church’s Facebook page. “So many cultures with one vision.”

“Great local church with real people who will love and accept you as you are,” wrote another, while another wrote that it is “a wonderful place to get connected.”

Currently, the church has two services on Sunday, 8:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. The 10:30am service including children’s ministries. This was done to attract as many different worshippers as possible, Bowen said.

It will celebrate its one-year anniversary with a single service, on Sunday, Sept. 22, 10 a.m. They will be moving forward with one service in a sign of unity, the pastors said. They are also looking to expand, and bring their vision of an integrated church to more towns and communities.

As it stands, for one day a week, one church in Moorestown will continue to be immune to the segregation that so upset Martin Luther King.

For more, visit Converge Church’s Facebook page and myconvergechurch.com.