In dress, music, and food, diversity and unity celebrated

Decked out in her Jamaican flag dress, 2-year-old Isis Jones danced to the various evangelical performances alongside her family Sunday during International Day at Abundant Life Fellowship Church in Edgewater Park.

Isis, like many others, was representing her family's home country through her clothing. Others wore traditional African dresses representative of their region or tribe.

It was the Burlington County church's annual event, in which other South Jersey and Philadelphia churches join the congregation in celebrating the unity of people. More than 1,000 people attended Sunday's affair, which featured a two-hour religious service and a food festival with cuisine from around the world.

"It's a wonderful blessing," said Odette Cohen, who was dressed in a Jamaican shirt and moving with little Isis at her side. Cohen, a longtime member at Abundant Life, said she looks forward to International Day each year to meet people of all races and ethnic backgrounds.

"If we don't start in the churches, we're not going to make it" as a society, she said. "When you meet people face to face . . . you can dispel the stereotypes because you realize we are all the same."

Cohen said that in previous years, she and other members of the church used to be the ones preparing the international foods for the festival part of International Day. But the event has grown so large that the food is now catered by local ethnic restaurants, she said.

The bigger, the better, organizers said.

"People love to see churches unite," said Abundant Life's pastor, the Rev. Aubrey Fenton. "Our struggles are united, so our people need to be united."

Unity was clearly the theme of the day.

By covering their faces in white paint, the church's mime ministry expressed oneness through dance. With the church's band playing in the background, the mostly teenage group danced around the stage, throwing their hands up in the air at times.

"It's not about the artist," Fenton said, explaining that the mime ministry is one of the more popular ways to get teens involved in the church.

More than 50 flags were displayed during the service, representing the countries of people in the six congregations that attended the event. People came from all over the globe, including Australia, Barbados, and Ghana.

After the service, participants lined up outside four food tents to try African, Caribbean, Italian, and American food. People sat and ate together.

"Celebrating and embracing diversity" is what it's all about, said the Rev. Jason Greenaway, of Abundant Life.

Nigeria native Mercy Achinivu, a member at Celestial Church in Gloucester, was one of the women wearing African dresses.

"It was very nice," she said of the service and feast afterward.

Her blue dress and hat were admired by many, including Nicole Robert, a resident of Maple Shade and a member of Abundant Life.

"It's great we got more churches from different backgrounds," Robert said. She is of African descent but doesn't know the specifics of her lineage. "I wish I knew what tribe because I would come all dressed [up]."