If you were to peer through the stained-glass windows of thousands of American churches on a Sunday morning, chances are you’d see the same thing over and over.

Blacks worshipping with blacks, and whites with whites.

For whatever reason, the racial makeup of the nation’s churches seems to illustrate the familiar adage “birds of a feather.”

That’s largely the case in Lawrence — and no one’s saying that’s inherently a bad thing. People are free to worship where they’re most comfortable.

But there are at least a few congregations in town that depart from the norm, places where you’ll find the pews filled with blacks AND whites, and all aspects of church life reflect that.

These are places of interracial harmony where the skin color of members is so small a matter it’s hardly deemed worth mentioning.

Victory Bible Church, 1942 Mass., enjoys a reputation around Lawrence as a faith community that’s racially, ethnically and socio-economically diverse.

Membership there includes blacks, whites, Hispanics, American Indians, interracial couples, people from African countries, those of modest means and those from more well-off backgrounds.

“People who’ve come to Victory look around and say, ‘This is how it ought to be,'” says the Rev. Leo Barbee Jr., senior pastor.

Deidra Davie and her son Tavaris Davie, 4 months, left, and Muriel Cook, children's ministry director of First Christian Church, 1000 Ky., participate in the opening song of Sunday's worship services.

That’s not just a preacher talking.

Ask a member of Victory’s congregation, like Willone Eubanks, chair of the church’s deacon board.

“Sunday morning is the most segregated time of the week in the United States. Victory is one of the exceptions,” says Eubanks, who is black.

“I don’t necessarily see white or black or Native American or whatever. I don’t really dwell on the issue of race, relative to who goes to our congregation.”

Value of diversity

First Christian Church, 1000 Ky., is another faith community that’s highly integrated, with a healthy mix of blacks and whites in the pews, leadership roles and ministries throughout the 140-plus-year-old, Disciples of Christ congregation.

“When people come and they see a racially diverse congregation, it makes them feel more comfortable. You see people who look like you, and that’s a positive thing,” says the Rev. Randy Beeman, First Christian’s senior pastor.

Beeman believes having people of different races and backgrounds come together in faith should be the norm not the exception.

Audio clips with the Rev. Leo Barbee Jr., pastor, Victory Bible Church: What is the philosophy behind the church? How did the church become so diverse? How does the multicultural church dynamics work?

“God has gone to great lengths to tear down dividing walls between his children. I think that was Jesus’ whole issue: There’s neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free (person), male nor female. Regardless of our races, we can all love Jesus,” he says.

Beeman and his wife, Linda, who are white, are setting an example for the church’s 500 members.

Their daughter Lori, 20, a junior at Drury University in Springfield, Mo., got engaged on New Year’s Day to Amasa Monroe, 22, who is black.

“It’s a non-issue for me,” Beeman says. “I can’t even conceive of it being an issue. I know that’s the ideal world, and there are still people who are very racist, and they will encounter that. But that’s not who we are; that’s not from God, and we choose not to live that way.”

First Christian feels like home to Dennis and Janella Baker, a Lawrence couple who are black. They and their three teenage girls have belonged to the church for about five years.

Dennis, 39, an account executive for UPS, values the racial diversity he sees at First Christian.

Students of First Christian Children's Church pose for a picture. The class is designed to reach children during regular worship service.

“I’m a big advocate of integration. That’s how people learn about other people and overcome some of the discrimination and problems we’ve had in this country,” the Los Angeles native says.

“Interaction is what makes the difference, helping to overcome stereotypes by accepting people for who they are. I think it’s really important in churches and schools. The younger you can do that, the better.”

Breaking down barriers

Mike Cardona, a deacon at Victory Bible Church, is an illustration of racial diversity by himself.

Cardona, 38, is the son of a white mother and an Hispanic father. His wife of 18 years, Alicia, is black.

The couple and their two children, Brittany, 18, and Isaiah, 14, have belonged to the church since just before their son was born.

“When we first started going, there were couples that were like us, from different races. That’s what we wanted to find, just a good mixture of people,” Cardona says.

During each worship service, members stand in a circle and sing “We are One in Spirit,” and it’s a moment that has touched Cardona.

“If you will just look and see the many different colors of the people, to me it’s a good reflection of what heaven will look like,” he says.

It was the welcoming spirit at First Christian that drew Harold and Muriel Cook and their three daughters to become members at the church in the early 1980s.

“When we first joined, there weren’t that many African-Americans there, but there was an acceptance. People greeted you, people wanted to get to know you,” says Muriel, who has been director of children’s ministries for three years. “I have felt comfortable from the very beginning. I have felt that I could be a part of worship, leadership, small-group participation.”

She sees the value of an integrated and diverse church, where whites, blacks and others worship as one.

“I think it breaks down the barriers of prejudice, breaks down a lot of those myths. The best way to see that is when you look at the children’s ministry,” Muriel says.

“When they come in and sit down, they’re not looking for someone who looks like them. They’re looking for somebody to play with and have fellowship.”