There is a lot that we can talk in the Church Sydney and amongst the pastors, the scholars as well as the leaders about the requirement for the churches to be more multicultural as well as multi-ethnic. But it is not accomplished so often.
Multicultural vs. multi-ethnic
Pursuing diversity is considered to be a very good thing. But, we need to clear what exactly we are talking about. A church could be multi-ethnic in case it has people belonging to different ethnic backgrounds who are attending it.
But in case people from different ethnic groups are listening to the similar kind of music, eating the similar kind of foods, hanging out at similar venues of entertainment and going to the same church together, this is not called multiculturalism.
They have simply assimilated to one common culture. It could be multi-ethnic but it is still known to be monoculture.
No offense to anyone but both multicultural as well as multi-ethnic is very good as well as worth pursuing. But, being multicultural is quite difficult as compared to just being multi-ethnic.
The multicultural church would not just have some people who belong to African American culture, but would also engage to certain extent in the African American context.
The people from Latin America would not just attend but the Church Sydney would also intentionally engage certain Latino contexts as well as cultures.
The church would have people who are the 2nd generation Asian immigrants and would to certain extant engage the cultural norms of the Asian cultures.
A multicultural church would choose to encourage, celebrate, accommodate and also engage these cultures.
For people hoping for much more diversity in the church, below are some of the useful suggestions:
1. Start very simple- be intentional for knowing at least 1 other group in the community
2. Try putting yourself in the shoes of the other person- in case you are a white and longing for multicultural church, just imagine the black coming to the white church. Would you like to join a predominantly African American church? Will you be committed to be a part of the church which looks like the God’s kingdom?
3. Be prepared to slowly grow- the truth is that a multicultural church grows slower than the monoculture church. It takes a lot of time in developing transparency and trusting across the cultures.
4. Be aware about the challenges and also be sober minded about barriers to the multicultural ministry- it needs Christlikeness and humility for pursuing unity amongst the diverse ethnicities as well as cultures.
Do you want to do everything that it takes for moving your Bible Based Church Sydney, in a much more multicultural and multi-ethnic direction? Do you want to cross the barriers and then start the multicultural shift by going to a different culture and ethnicity than yours?
These are very difficult questions which do not have easy answers. But it is important to ask then and also to pursue what looks like the God’s kingdom.
Multicultural vs. multi-ethnic
Pursuing diversity is considered to be a very good thing. But, we need to clear what exactly we are talking about. A church could be multi-ethnic in case it has people belonging to different ethnic backgrounds who are attending it.
But in case people from different ethnic groups are listening to the similar kind of music, eating the similar kind of foods, hanging out at similar venues of entertainment and going to the same church together, this is not called multiculturalism.
They have simply assimilated to one common culture. It could be multi-ethnic but it is still known to be monoculture.
No offense to anyone but both multicultural as well as multi-ethnic is very good as well as worth pursuing. But, being multicultural is quite difficult as compared to just being multi-ethnic.
The multicultural church would not just have some people who belong to African American culture, but would also engage to certain extent in the African American context.
The people from Latin America would not just attend but the Church Sydney would also intentionally engage certain Latino contexts as well as cultures.
The church would have people who are the 2nd generation Asian immigrants and would to certain extant engage the cultural norms of the Asian cultures.
A multicultural church would choose to encourage, celebrate, accommodate and also engage these cultures.
For people hoping for much more diversity in the church, below are some of the useful suggestions:
1. Start very simple- be intentional for knowing at least 1 other group in the community
2. Try putting yourself in the shoes of the other person- in case you are a white and longing for multicultural church, just imagine the black coming to the white church. Would you like to join a predominantly African American church? Will you be committed to be a part of the church which looks like the God’s kingdom?
3. Be prepared to slowly grow- the truth is that a multicultural church grows slower than the monoculture church. It takes a lot of time in developing transparency and trusting across the cultures.
4. Be aware about the challenges and also be sober minded about barriers to the multicultural ministry- it needs Christlikeness and humility for pursuing unity amongst the diverse ethnicities as well as cultures.
Do you want to do everything that it takes for moving your Bible Based Church Sydney, in a much more multicultural and multi-ethnic direction? Do you want to cross the barriers and then start the multicultural shift by going to a different culture and ethnicity than yours?
These are very difficult questions which do not have easy answers. But it is important to ask then and also to pursue what looks like the God’s kingdom.
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