I've just finished skimming through Deymaz's book,
Building a Healthy Multi-Ethnic Church, and what I found was disappointing. Not that Deymaz's book isn't a well thought out book, but I couldn't find any resources for how to take a homogenous
non-White church (e.g. a Korean-American church) into the multi-cultural river. It makes sense that Deymaz is writing for the majority culture, but it did strike me as ironic that the practical application of the book was geared totally towards White churches that are seeking to become multi-cultural. Ironic because it doesn't really seem like a multi-cultural approach.
What I am struggling with is the tension between ethnic-specific ministry and multi-cultural ministry. I see the need for both. (Throw in multi-socio-economic factors, and you get a picture of what my ideal church looks like.)
Is this a question about being relevant? Am I unsatisfied with ethnic-specific churches because they don't accurately reflect their surrounding communities (in cities that I live in, like Shoreline, WA)? Or is it about being prophetic, staying true to the vision we see in the book of Acts and Revelation?
To be quite honest, one of the reasons why I desperately desire a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, multi-socio-economic church is because of evangelism. I remember when I was back in youth group. Zealous as I was, I wanted to invite a few of my high school friends out to church. They were and still are good friends of mine. But they aren't Asian. And while they respectfully and graciously made their visits to my church, there was no place for someone like them. It had made my heart heavy to realize that as much as I could pray for them, I did not have a church that I would even feel comfortable welcoming them into and having them call it home.
Yes, there are many Asian Americans that still need reaching out to, still need to be welcomed to the church. And there are many that have left the church as well. But perhaps if those Asian Americans saw a church that practiced reconciliation and that more accurately reflected the communities they live and work in, maybe there would be more that would come.
Everyday I meet people in coffeeshops, at the grocery store, in and around my neighborhood, who have a relationship with me but don't have a relationship with Jesus. And I want to invite them to church, but feel somewhat hindered by the fact that my congregation is entirely Asian American. In other words, our homogeneity, while a strength in building a church home, seems to be a detriment to being gracious hosts. Our homogeneity affects our hospitality. It also affects our theology. (A tangent that deserves another post: what happens to your spirituality if your communities on Monday-Saturday look different from your Sunday morning community?) And this should not be.
What, then, is our way forward? One church, homogeneous? Help.
