There is a lot of talk about being multi-cultural in the church. For some that is a great thing, and for others it puts too much emphasis on race as opposed to who the church should serve. The interesting thing is, the idea of multi-culturalism is mainly thought of only within the predominantly Caucasian church in America. Additionally, when most white church members think of being multi-cultural, the first thought is accepting African-Americans into the congregation, as opposed to Asians or Hispanics. Go outside of the context of the predominantly white church in America and you will rarely hear any discussion about being multi-cultural. What does this say about our church in America?
One of the most common phrases I heard repeated during my time at seminary was, “Sunday’s are the most segregated day of the week.” in reference to churches. Our communities are becoming diverse, our workplace is diverse, yet our churches are not. Why is that so?
I think to be a church of a majority really does a great injustice to those in the minority. It causes those not in the majority to feel uncomfortable. You can cite all of the cases you want of how your church has some diversity in it and that no one looks at the color of another person’s skin–that you all just get along as one happy family. However, in reality, there is a conflict brewing inside of those that are not like the majority.
Let me give you an illustration to consider: You are craving Chinese food so you head over to your favorite, local restaurant only to find it has changed. The sign outside is now written in Chinese. You walk in the door and are greeted to a familiar face you’ve seen before, only she is now welcoming you in Chinese. You head over to your usual table and are handed a menu written only in Chinese. You look around and everyone else in the restaurant is Chinese. The waiter comes over and asks for your order…in Chinese. How do you feel? Uncomfortable? Strange? Displaced? Knowing that you really, really like the food at this restaurant, what do you do? Do you risk trying to explain in English to someone that keeps responding in Chinese? I think what you’d do is go back to your car and go to your second-favorite Chinese restaurant and hope that they still speak English there. In essence, the white church in America is like that Chinese restaurant, but they just don’t realize it. Everything is about the white culture, yet the invitation to reach out to people of other ethnicities is always given. The white church expects those in the minority to come in and assimilate into the existing, predominant culture–like the Chinese restaurant–yet makes no gestures to try and understand the perspective of the minority culture. It’s like the white church says, “Please come to our party. We’ll have music, but you can’t request any songs. We’ll have food, but only if you like meatloaf. We’ll be mingling, but mostly with people we know already.” This is the reality of multi-culturalism. It’s diversity for the sake of looking pretty, but with no respect to the other cultures you are inviting.
Third culture, on the other hand, is not really about attracting people for the sake of looking pretty. It’s about learning more about people of other cultures and finding how we can live life together. It goes much deeper than the color of someone’s skin. It goes to the core of who they are and how they are different. It’s an exploration into why God made us all uniquely individual, coming from different nations to be joined together at that very moment in time. It becomes more of a celebration of us individually and how we can come together collectively in a way that honors God. It lets us be free in the color of our skin and have some security in appreciating our differences rather than seek to homogenize us into the majority. As the working definition from Dave Gibbons of third culture is: “the mindset and will to love, learn and serve in any culture even in the midst of pain and discomfort.” It entails some pain and discomfort.
Continuing with the illustration of the Chinese restaurant. When you go back to your second favorite restaurant and find everyone still speaks English and the food tastes like you remember, you’ll soon come to reflect on why this is your second favorite Chinese restaurant. Either you go on eating average food or you make an attempt to understand some of the language and customs of the people of your favorite Chinese restaurant and begin a process that will allow you be able to eat your favorite food once again. However, as much as you may go through the pain and discomfort of trying to learn the Chinese language and culture at the restaurant, you will most-likely find that they will begin doing the same with you. They will begin to pick up on some of your customs and language. Once you make a commitment to try to learn and better-understand the ways of the Chinese restaurant, the more those in the Chinese restaurant warm up to you rather than look at you as an outsider.
Third culture in the church is a process that begins with a mindset. It takes work, perseverance, steadfastness, and a willingness to get through whatever it takes for the sake of celebrating those things that we don’t know. If we as the church are willing to make some sacrifices in our comfort and not fear the day when we become the minority, but instead choose to celebrate all that outside cultural influences have played in creating this great nation and all that will continue to happen as we embrace each other’s pain and look forward to a better tomorrow, the future will be very bright. Otherwise, the only pain will be the result of internal struggles we all have that never have the chance to come to the surface. This is a pain that shouldn’t be required for us to endure. It’s a pain that can only ultimately be resolved through having the will to love, learn, live, and serve in differing environments that will bring about a reconciliation amongst us, not just a visible patchwork of skin colors.
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In theory I think it would be great for the church to simulate the analogy you gave but unfortunately due to issues of comfort, tradition, and (what people may be less likely to directly say) efficiency, I don’t see these changes coming quite yet or even any time soon.
Also “White” churches aren’t the only ones that aren’t so keen on this integration/ cultural exchange concept. Possibly as a response to the establishment of racial majority churches you commonly see other ethnicities sprouting their own culturally exclusive churches.
However, one of the things that does get me is when these rare culturally accepting churches (or non-cultural churches) has a completely white administration while the “help” of the church, those who more crassly do the grunt work, are minority members. If that isn’t a twisted derivative of Colonialism’s Christianity then I don’t know what is… perhaps this is a digression.
Still, I believe that to strive towards this “third culture” church we’ll have to get passed more than just the racial/ethnic/cultural obstacles. We’d have to strive towards things like gender and class equality as well as work towards addressing rather than just thinking we’re eliminating the ways in which we separate ourselves by ignoring them as we (the church) seem to do now.
Lovelee, moving towards a third culture environment for the church will definitely go beyond race. It’s more about culture than race, although I have been tending to define more from a racial perspective in these early posts for 3rd Culture Thursdays. From my lens, I tend to see gender and social equality as an aspect of our culture as well. It’s interesting how we as the church tend to almost look down upon others and act like rescuers of those that have less or in the case of women, offered less. For third culture to function in a church, there definitely would need to be diversity and sharing in leadership.
As difficult as it may be to realize this dream, I am doing what I can to stay true to the value of the church being a place of reconciliation and allowing us, children of God, to know the true expression of what it means to know who we are in Christ and why we were created to look like we do, think like we do, and live in the places that we do.
The American church is reflective of the country in general – put away your culture and become “American”. I wonder if this phenomenon exists in Canadian churches where multiculturalism is embraced.
I know that Western & Eastern Canada are very diverse places, yet from what I understand, the church isn’t as diverse as we’d think it should be. There is a lot of conformity expected in Canada just as in the US. Australia on the other hand, is much different.
I’m replying with no intention of stirring conflict or argument but the above statement does seem to imply either or both of the following, that 1) becoming “american” is acultural and/or 2) Non-”american” culture is secondary to “american”
Lovelee, while I don’t know the intent behind the comment from Hybridboy, I can say this from my experience:
1) Becoming an American Christian is basically acultural in the mainstream church.
2) White American culture is forced upon most of us in the church.
In most churches people of all races are invited to be a part of the membership, but it’s on the terms of the majority in the church. It’s evident in the way messages are preached, the casual nature of dress, contemporary songs, branding, etc. We aren’t asked to come represent our distinctiveness, rather we are invited to assimilate and be one happy white Christian family that happens to not all look alike, but are expected to act and think alike.