Santa Ana Church Breaks Trend of Racial Segregation

May 27, 2001

Source: Los Angeles Times

On May 27, 2001, the Los Angeles Times reported on the Church of Christ of Cypress, made up mostly of white senior citizens, and the Westside Church of Christ, filled with young African American families, who integrated into one Santa Ana church. This type of racial integration is "unimaginable in most of the Christian church world...Academics estimate that only 2% of America's churches have successfully developed multicultural congregations...Ten months into the experiment in Cypress, the church has maintained the original diversity numbers it inherited from the merger...An affirming byproduct are the post-Sunday friendships that have formed between some white and black members."