Do you know how to do Christian ministry in a multicultural world? I’ve been asking that question anytime I’m with denominational and congregational leaders. No one has said, “Yes, we know how to do it.” A few have responded, “We haven’t a clue how to do it.” And the vast majority of church leaders have said, “Huh?”

This is the submerged reef, lying invisibly under the waves of the postmodern world, ready to sink the ship of even the most mission-driven church.

Recently I read a university study on the impact of multicultural growth on participation in religious institutions. This study focused on the Toronto area called the “Golden Horseshoe,” which extends from Oshawa to the edge of Buffalo. The study concluded that the more multicultural a community becomes, the less people actively participate in organized religion. Why?

• Because religion is the #1 flashpoint for social upheaval, and people just want to live in peace with their neighbors;
• Because the more people appreciate other points of view, the less convinced they are that their old religious institutions have all the answers;
• Because religious institutions are not pragmatic enough to adapt and partner with other organizations to do good work effectively and efficiently in the community.

Multicultural issues

You may or may not agree with the interpretation, but the fact remains that the more multicultural our world becomes, the less significant people will consider traditional religious institutions like your church. Immigration is accelerating inevitably and exponentially in North America. We are way beyond assimilation. Like it or not, we are in a conversation among many equal voices.

The trouble is, very few examples of truly cross-cultural churches or church ministries exist in North America. Most churches remain so homogeneous that they do not even pretend to mirror the community’s demographic diversity.

I was in a small town in the northern Midwest and observed a large gathering of young Koreans country dancing in a local hotel. I asked the congregation I was visiting, “What are you doing in ministry with the Korean population here?” Their puzzled response, “What Korean population?” The same community has Korean churches, which in turn do nothing to cross over in ministry to the Caucasian population.

All kinds of culture-specific churches grow across North America. But as second, third, and fourth generations experience a truly multicultural world, they often leave their ethnic-specific churches behind.

North American churches haven’t even managed to grow cross-racial churches effectively, much less comprehending how to share Christ’s mission equally with immigrant newcomers. How many examples do we see of churches that truly and effectively gather and celebrate white European and African-American, or white European and First Nations, people? Far too few. Unless we learn how, the coming generations will distance themselves from Christian congregations.

I see this challenge as one of the most important growing edges for my mission as a consultant. I do not have the answers. I am scrambling to find models and mentors from whom to learn.

I do know that we all need to awaken to this huge challenge, and we need to awaken to it whether we live in New York City or Fargo or Tallahassee or Calgary.

Language studies

These two suggestions might help you get started.

First, do your daily devotions in a different language.

Find one mission that captures your imagination, and find an indigenous mission partner to tackle it with.

A few years ago Samuel Pagan (president of the Evangelical Seminary of Puerto Rico) urged me to begin reading my Bible and doing my daily devotions exclusively in Spanish. I have done that for the past several years now and can say with enthusiasm that this simple tactic has helped sensitize me to the perspectives of Hispanic people and opened me to depths of spiritual insight I never had before.

Language is a great revealer of culture. Only when you share the language do you begin to feel the heart of the people. How many times now have I read a passage of scripture so familiar from my childhood, and yet the Spanish translation shatters my preconceived ideas with a whole new nuance, insight, or perspective on God’s Word for the world today?

More powerful than a theologian and mightier than a consciousness-raising program, the simple fact of regularly and constantly reading Scripture and praying for others in a second language transforms lives.

New immigrants know this in reverse, for they often feel their ties to culture and spiritual meaning diminish as they are forced to communicate in “English Only.” Is it not time for English-speaking North Americans to walk the second mile and take classes in Spanish, Tagalog, Cantonese, or Ojibway?

Some time ago in consultation with churches in Victoria, British Columbia, I discovered the most common language in some neighborhoods was not English, but Tagalog. The traditional Protestant churches in these neighborhoods were all dying, because both literally and figuratively they don’t speak the language.

Do not misunderstand. The issue here is not that leaders of any ethnic church need to learn other languages to tell people about Christ. Leaders of every ethnic group need to communicate in other languages to comprehend the fullness of Christ in their own circumstances.

Get involved in global missions

Second, plunge into a hands-on mission with an indigenous partner.

Leading consultations to help congregations in vision discernment has been a growing edge for my mission for several years. Frequently, however, congregations successfully build clarity and consensus about values and beliefs, only to bog down while trying to open themselves to be seized by biblical vision. Truth to tell, with their limited experience of God’s world, the container of their lives cannot hold the immensity of a biblical vision anyway!

Many congregations don’t need a process or a program -- they need to find an indigenous mission partner and get their hands dirty while working together in God’s mission field.

Set everything else aside. Forget the Advent pageants and fowl suppers. Stop worrying about paving the parking lot or repairing the roof. Stop struggling to fill all the vacancies on the board. Just find one mission (local or global) that captures your imagination, and find an indigenous mission partner to tackle it with, and get down to it.

• Make sure it’s “hands on.” The primary goal isn’t to raise money but to deploy your own folks from 13 to 85 in the actual, physical doing of mission. Get your hands dirty. Raise money to send your people there (wherever “there” might be), and equip them with the right tools to do good work.
• Make sure it’s in equal partnership with the leaders who live there (wherever “there” might be). Don’t expect to supervise -- just cooperate. Raise money to bring partners back to your own turf to help you, and equip them with the right tools to do good work.
• Work, reflect, and pray all at once. Do it together with your indigenous mission partners. Speak each other’s language. Pray each other’s prayers. Walk in each other’s shoes. Laugh at each other’s jokes. Get excited about each other’s spiritual insights.

Make the vessel of your life experience big enough to hold a biblical vision. Then, indeed, you will receive it.

So wake up, church folks! Cultural diversity poses one of the fastest growing challenges in North America--from the biggest cities to the most remote hamlets. Christ is for all the people!

Tom Bandy is vice president and senior partner with Easum, Bandy & Associates. EBA prepares congregations and faith-based organizations for mission in the 21st century by training innovative leaders with a passion to grow disciples of Christ, and provides resources, services, and networks to equip faithful and effective Christian ministries. For more information, call (361) 749-5364 or write to easum@easumbandy.com.

The article is reprinted with permission from Net Results, a monthly journal of “New Ideas in Church Vitality.” For more information or to subscribe, phone (806) 762-8094; fax 806/762-8873; e-mail netresults@netresults.org.