A fan writes to me and says:
Dear Ray,
I wish you could see my church. It is truly multi-cultural. I'm really not into statistics but there are people coming to my church in Elmhurst, Queens, NYC from all over the world. It is a beautiful sight and a little piece of heaven. Tonight they are having "Bangra Ball"- some kind of dance form from India, for the singles- ages 23-74. I would have preferred Native American dances, but our singles pastor is Jimmy Chin, Korean or Chinese, so I guess he's thinking more Asian. There are some 150 Native American people in Elmhurst, according to the census, out of some 15,000 people, most of whom are Asian or Hispanic. There are quite a few of us in the church of NA descent but only my family, myself, my daughter and my sister are culturally involved.
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RAY: Hi Sister -- and thanks for what you are doing and contributing in your church -- what a good thing you are doing! I am sure there are good things happening in MECC (Multi-ethnic Cross-cultural) churches all over North America. This is an urban phenomenon and whenyou get to suburban and rural (reservation) areas, this is really not sociologically possible. Even in the cities, there are churches thatare mono-cultural and have no plans and no calling to be MECC.
The difficulty we see is that the MECC concept is being imposed on many and it is being taught that this is the "right" way to do church and the "closest to the biblical requirements" of any other church form. This is both bad teaching and spiritually abusive to do so.
MECC is a fad (maybe a preference), not a biblical mandate. Yes we will all be together in heaven, and on occasion we cross cultural lines here. But we have 6000 languages spoken in the world today and many more cultures than that (meaning, for example, that many places may speak English but the cultures are different).
So if a group of urban people which to "mix it up" -- go for it! But don't let them impose their form and format on us and insist that their way is "anointed", "the highest form of biblical gathering", the "biblical mandate", or "the future model of the church on earth".
There is enough trouble in trying to have a church on the Yakama Reservation with fourteen different tribes and strong families from different lines "competing" in various ways. Sprinkle in some whites and hispanics and there is plenty to do without forcing whites to be mexicans, or mexicans to be Yakamas or Yakamas to be white.
Some might say "oh but how beautiful it would be if they could all worship in each others' ways", but frankly, that is exhausting and confusing! We should not have to exhaust ourselves to follow Christ -- co-dependently attempting to appease and please every cultural community!
Most people that I have talked with about MECC are very gung-ho about "their way" and it is best not to get in their way. Armed with only a few scriptures, they justify "their way" by guilting the mono-cultural churches and native sacred gatherings that I am often part of.
The first church I started was Spanish-speaking. After about 3 years they added an English-speaking congregation but did not force worship together. They shared the building and did some things together, but did not try to "force conformity" and call it "biblical unity". From that one mono-cultural Spanish church, 20 more Spanish Foursquare churches emerged, and not due to any partnership with white churches.They were free to follow the ways of the Hispanic community and were quite successful.
It was not the white Foursquare churches that decided to add Spanish songs to their service and become multi-cultural. It was the Spanish-speaking reaching the Spanish-speaking. Apparently something worked since the Hispanic pastor I installed when I left is today the Supervisor of Fourquare's National Hispanic District.
When you see an MECC church, usually it is run in a very Western way with Western (white or black) leadership, Western Bible College or seminary-trained pastors, usually connected to Western denominations, following Western preaching styles, tithe collecting, and emphasis on buildings and programs.
What they use to demonstrate "multiculturalism" are music specials, and sometimes speakers and special events. But for the most part, it is really just a mainstream church serving up a combo platter. Sure there is Chinese food, Mexican food and pizza on their spiritual plate, but the restaurant is still owned and run by the majority church.
Culture is God's way of communicating to the many peoples He has made. If someone wants to try and work with 10 groups at a time, fine. But one culture will dominate in leadership, education,finances and control. The other cultures will get to do the entertainment and the specials. I have attended a national MECC leaders' conference -- I am not making this up.
To me, Jesus said to go preach the Good News to every "ethne" (people group). He did not say, "blessed are the efficient ones who can save more cultures with less pastors". So I am continuing on the same path of encouraging small gatherings that form around natural cultural characteristics. We are still one Body in Christ, but let us not be afraid to be who we are, who we were made to be.
And let us not be afraid to acknowledge that we need the other parts of the body, but if you are the heart or the eyes, don't try to be the foot or the arm. We are trying to be the Bride of Christ, not the Bride of Frankenstein!
Thanks for listening!
+Ray
http://www.djchuang.com/multi/ - if you want to research MECCA on your own...
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2 comments:
Hello Ray! Thanks for the link :) Appreciate your well-written thoughts, very articulated. In my attempts at engaging a somewhat wide spectrum of perspectives on churches and cultures, I've found a strong concern from monocultural church leaders against being coerced into becoming ethnically diverse for the sole sake of being diverse, and that's a valid concern - nobody wants to be coerced or strong-armed into something. And using the Bible as a big stick is no help either.
A different concern is the witness of the church to the broader surrounding community, the world, if you will. Sociologist Michael Emerson observed in his book Divided By Faith is that the evangelical church is the last (and most?) racist institution in American society today. That does not bode well for a Gospel witness into the world, and that's a concern that a monocultural church in an ethnically diverse locality sorta needs to consider addressing.
While people outside of our community consider us "mono-cultural", we -- in the US alone - comprise 500 nations of our own. On the reservation I am on, we have lots of intermarriage between tribes and non-natives. We have several indigenous native ways, including Smokehouse (longhouse), Indian Shakers, NAC (Native American Church), sundancers, sweat lodge and more. We have 7th Day Adventist, Roman Catholic, people who attend local megachurches and many non-churched Jesus-followers. So while we have much in common, we are very multicultural within our own community. I don't think that we are in danger of mounting a monocultural monolith anytime soon. BUT -- we don't need MECC churches to tells us that we need to join them because they are missing a couple colors in their rainbow...
And thanks for the reference to the book. I will look it up! May Creator give you gratefulness this day of thanks! +ray
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