Integration

“For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,’ it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,’ it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired. And if they were all one member, where would the body be? But now there are many members, but one body.” 1 Cor. 12:12-20

Although “integration” is most often used in discussions of race, it applies to far more. God has not only called His church to be racially integrated, but for it to also include the integration of ages, socio-economic position, musical preferences, education experiences, vocational choices, etc.

To gain a more vivid picture of what this looks like, Mike Breaux has creatively correlated the difference between a salad bar and a salad bowl. The teaching pastor from Willow Creek Church notes that a salad bar is filled with many different components...lettuce, tomatoes, eggs, cheese, broccoli, etc. Although there is a large variety and they are all close to each other, they remain separate and do not touch. In a salad bowl, all the entities are mixed together and they result in a sumptuous meal.

The Church is called to look like a salad bowl rather than a salad bar because God knows the end product of a blended congregation is much richer than one that exists in segregated isolation.