I think it is one of the tragedies of our nation.

One of the shameful tragedies at 11:00 on a Sunday morning is one of the most segregated hours, if not the most segregated hours in Christian America.

Martin Luther King Jr shared that thought with journalists in 1960.

Today, academic research and news stories have reported what many churchgoers already know.

Places of worship continue to be an area of high segregation in America Lori: Largely in America.

White and black people live separate lives.

People can talk about the one white friend they have with a one black friend, but by and large, we don't inter-relate.

Lori Smith is a member of Corinthian Baptist Church in Des Moines, a largely black congregation that was founded by 21 women in 1888.

Corinthian formed a partnership with Plymouth, a large congregational church, also in Des Moines.

These two churches are getting to know each other through many ways, including the music.

[choir singing] That is why this project is so special, because it's bringing Plymouth a very large, successful historical church in its own right together with the predominantly black church, and finding ways to build relationships across racial lines.

In 2018, Plymouth started an anti-racism committee to help its members better understand the historical impact of racial discrimination in America.

We worked with a consultant who said it's time to move from the head to the heart.

And in thinking about that, the anti-racism committee realized we needed to work more on community outreach.

They started a project called Connecting through Curiosity, an ongoing idea to learn more about the differences and similarities that make up these two churches and their members.

We just waded into the messy waters of relationship building with the hope that we could find ways that the two churches could connect.

There is a women's book study group, and we've invited Plymouth women to go to Corinthian for this Bible study so we can take a big church and make it a little bit smaller.

I mean, black, white, Baptist, Congregationalist, women, I mean, and issues of being a mother and a wife and juggling work and aging parents.

I mean, I think there are just bigger things that connect us than than faith or race.

And so that was it, just brainstorming on ways each church can work together and and build relationships.

And then we just got to talking about would it be cool to do a joint concert?

We'll be in here tomorrow and we'll make sure everybody sitting, where are you going to sit?

So if I can give people more room by moving back, I think music is very important to the survival of black people.

From our struggles, we found hope in song.

We found community in song.

We shared escape plans in song.

And so it's very much important to us.

So we don't mind clapping.

We don't mind raising our hands in praise.

We don't mind shouting in joy.

But for me, our pain and I struggle was so deep.

It requires a shout.

It requires a crying out we that comes from a place of deep hope and faith and pain.

Sometimes [chamber music] at the end of the singing the same song.

I mean, it's a great metaphor for what it means to come together.

I just think there are there are so many more ways I've seen overlap and I don't want to dial down different.

So obviously there are different faith beliefs, there are different racial histories and backgrounds.

But that said, I think there are just common points so that I can lift up and amplify.

It's easy to say that the mission was accomplished, but for these two churches, the work is just getting started.

One of my tendencies is to want to feel like a checklist, like we have accomplished something and kind of check it off.

But that's not realistic for how authentic organic relationships form.

I've always said, if you really want to fix racism, you've got to have some friends that are not like you.

But when you choose to spend your time over your home and your heart to someone of a different race, then you can start breaking down the walls and the stereotypes and the myths that we all have about each other.

[gospel music]