African American Culture Celebrated at the First “Gathering”
As the day wears off after dinner and participants ready themselves for Main Stage, CHIC offers two evening options that are both fun and enjoyable (The Block Party) as well as culturally eye opening (The Gatherings). While ‘the block party’ is more of a fun event where Battle of the Bands contestants can be found playing their songs every night, ‘the gatherings’ are events that is dedicated to recognizing and celebrating the different ethnicities represented here at CHIC.
For the first night of the gatherings, African American culture was celebrated through song, dance and spoken word. As the tag-line for the event reads, “ALL are welcome to join the celebration, regardless of your own ethnic background,” the leader of the event reinforced this idea stating that “we are all one under Christ. There is no ethnic line. No male or female line. We are all brothers and sisters under God and we’re all here together serving the same purpose.”
Prayer Team member, Gary Walter, commented on this event by saying, “events like these [the gatherings] allow us to see Jesus together in one place, as one. It allows us to see that we have one common identity in Christ and we can do something the world can’t do through structures and strategies. Jesus is what joins both of us together”.
Eric Cannistraci of Christ Church in East Greenwich, RI, said, “events like this allow us to see just how accepting the church is of everyone and how accepting we as people need to be.”
Every night until Thursday will recognize a different ethnicity. Tonight, Hispanic culture will be celebrated and it’s sure to be a fiesta!
More photos from the event will be coming soon.
