Building a Multiethnic
Congregation
CBFNC Annual Gathering
– First Baptist Church, Hickory, NC
March 31, 2017
Part 2 –
My own Story
A. Race Autobiography
I
grew up in white suburbia, first a small town outside of Detroit, MI and then
in Roanoke, VA. I met very few non-white
people, and I fell for all the stereotypes white people perpetuate.
My lack of time with
people different than me meant that I had a woefully limited worldview, and my
ignorance often almost got me trouble.
Here’s an example.
I was in army basic
training. One day, I was kind of dogging it, going very slowly. If I wasted too much time, it would bring
discipline on my squad(extra push-ups). My squad leader (an African American
and another trainee) was frustrated with my snail’s pace, and he hollered at me
"Come on, Boy!" In my frustration, I yelled, "I'm coming,
boy!" I did not know that you're not supposed to call adult African
Americans males "boy." I have not done it since. With the hot tempers
that foment in infantry basic where 19-year-old men chant mantras like
"Kill! Kill! Kill! with the Cold Blue steel", it is a miracle a fight
did not break out.
I did not know
that "boy" had been a term used by white men to strip black men of
their dignity and to withhold the respect they are due.
I have had many
lessons in experiences like that, situations where I blunder but then receive
grace from a person of color and, humbled, learn in the process.
I never in my
life used the N-word or any other epithet (besides "boy"). I never
thought of myself as an overt racist. But I am a product of white American
suburban culture, a world in which whites have advantages they are unaware of
and blacks, especially young black men, are accosted in middle class
neighborhoods by the police. It has taken me years of experience, conversations,
and study to become aware of systemic racism. I still have much to learn.
I started being
intentional about learning my final year of seminary. I was waiting for class to start and I opened
my Bible and the passage we read a moment ago Revelation 7:9-10. In that moment, I realized, nearly all my
friends were from just one tribe, language, and nation. I didn’t know people from other tribes,
languages, and nations. I’d be spending
eternity with them! But I didn’t know
them – my brothers and sisters in Christ.
So, when it was
time to circulate my resume and hope some church would call me as a pastor, I
searched for a church that would be in a place where I would develop
friendships with people from backgrounds different than my own. I found it in that small church outside of
DC. I have said some critical things
about that church, but that comes from a place of deep, deep love. Over 9 years there, I made life-long friendships
with people whose background are similar to mine, and with other people who are
very different from me.
The church did
not change while I were, but now it has.
I pleased to share that God has moved in that congregation. They now have a wonderful pastor, a woman
from Jamaica. And their associate pastor
in the English congregation is a Hispanic woman. The pastoral leadership now resembles the
surrounding neighborhood.
B. Adoptions
The next step in
the transformation of my own understanding of race and ethnicity in America and
in the church came when I became a parent.
I was married in 2003. My wife is
white. In 2005, we adopted a child from
Russia. Our oldest son is also white.
Then in 2006 we
moved to North Carolina and I began as a pastor in Chapel Hill. We adopted a son from Ethiopia in 2009 and a
daughter from Ethiopia in 2011. Boom! We were a multiracial family.
With that
reality, one of the more dramatic moments of my learning in terms of race came
when Travon Martin was killed. I
suddenly realized something I had always known but never admitted. White America is scared to death of strong
black men, like the one my son will be in a few years. Trayvon Martin died because he was a young
black man in a hoody. And someone got
scared. George Zimmerman got scared
because so many of us are afraid of young black men.
Case in point:
in my neighborhood in Chapel Hill, a supposedly enlightened town, someone
emailed the neighborhood list serve and said, “I saw two black guys going
door-to-door. Should I call the
police?” Who were these invaders
imposing themselves on our white suburban serenity? They were members of a high school football
team in town. Their coach had sent them
out to sell calendars to raise money for the team. A week earlier, two other boys (white boys)
from a rival high school were in our neighborhood doing the exact same thing –
selling calendars to raise money for football equipment. When white boys walk through the neighborhood
going door-to-door, no one wonders if they should call the police.
To my wife’s
everlasting credit, she confronted the woman who sent the email and requested
she not call the police if she sees our son out playing. To the woman’s credit, she was horrified at
her own racism. She did not recognize
her own racial bias until an adoption mom confronted her. She apologized, and I hope her embarrassment
has been a teacher for her. I hope she
doesn’t still see black and assume the worst.
My journey has
gone from awareness to serious, immediate concern. My experiences with my kids has prompted more
frank conversations with some of my good Asian and Hispanic friends. I hope I can be the dad my son needs me to
be. I thank God for my black friends
who have patiently listened to my questions and fears.
But, I am not
just a dad and a friend and a Christian with his own personal worries. I am also a pastor of a church and the church
has a responsibility; a calling.
Millions of people in our country have some of the same fears that I
harbor.
·
If
I am a racial minority, is America a safe place for me?
·
If
I am white, now that I am awakened to my own prejudice and latent racism, what
do I do?
·
In
the current climate of racial tension, the church of Jesus Christ is called to
be a witness.
o
How
do we do that?
o
What
is our testimony and how do we share it so it will be heard?
Part 3 –
What do we do?
I
think it begins with a true sense of God’s call. Who is God calling the church to be? By this I mean the church universal –
Christians everywhere around the world.
I think the answer is quite clear.
We read this earlier. It is
Jesus’ commission to the first disciples.
It passed from them to the early church, to the succeeding generations
of churches, down through the ages to us.
Acts 1:8, Jesus says to us, “When the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you
will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of
the earth.” As witnesses, our testimony
is that in Jesus the Kingdom of God has come.
All people can be freed of sin and have life in Jesus’ name. He died on the cross for all, rose from the grave,
and is the Savior of the world. That is
the testimony of every Christ follower everywhere. We are witnesses called to testify.
Once we accept that and commit
ourselves to answering Jesus’ call, then what is the specific calling on any
given local church? What’s your
context? We’ve talked about racial tension
in America today. That’s one factor
everyone has to face. Within that and
within the overall cultural climate of the United States, in your town, in your
church, what are some context particularities that contribute to your church
answering God’s call?
I am in Chapel Hill. We have the University of North Carolina
there and the UNC hospital. People from
all over the state, all over the country, and all over the world make their way
to Chapel Hill either to attend UNC, work at UNC, work at the hospital, or come
as patients at the hospital. Also, Duke
Medical center and Duke University are 9 miles away. Additionally, Research Triangle Park is not
that far from us. Student, doctors, and
researchers come.
Also in Chapel Hill, we have a large
refugee population. The Karen people, refugees
from Burma, number in the 1000’s just in Chapel Hill. The Karen Baptist Church that rents space in
our building on Sunday afternoons has as many in worship as our church does on
Sunday mornings.
Furthermore, there is the historic
African-American neighborhood called Northside in Chapel Hill. That community is full of stories and a
cultural heritage that is threatened to be lost to gentrification.
Our specific context is teeming with
human diversity. Your town is probably
very different. However, there’s nowhere
in North Carolina in the year 2017 that is culturally homogenous. It might be worth taking a second look around
your own community. Make note of people you
meet around town who are different than the ones you see in church on Sunday morning. Ask the question I asked at my son’s choir
concert. Would these folks, people
different than me, be welcomed in my church?
Would my church be willing to make changes to help these folks feel
welcomed? Would they find a home in my
church?
The reason I think this is so
important particularly for America, particularly right now, is the mandate
Jesus gives us to be witnesses.
Revelation 7 says there will be every tribe and nation gathered together
to worship the Lord. Does the world look
at our churches and see living witnesses to this promise from scripture? With
the way we do church, the way we gather as a church family, do we communicate
to the world around us a vision of the Kingdom of God? Can they look at us and see it.
Answer the call to be witnesses.
Know your context.
The third important point in what we do is stretch beyond your
comfort level. In 2016, our church
decided that we would, in 2017, go through at church renewal. One of the things we decided we would do is
examine whether or not God was calling us to be a multiethnic
congregation. We’ll spend the remainder
of this year examining this. Currently
we are multiethnic, kind of. We have
about 140 involved in ministry at some level.
About 12-17% of that group are people of color – African Americans,
Burmese-Karen, Mexican, Chinese-American, Koreans. Our leadership is dominated by Caucasians and
by our traditions which are Eurocentric.
My dream is that we would become so welcoming to people of different
backgrounds that in 2 years you come on a Sunday morning and clearly see that
no group is a majority and that the worship is intentional about welcoming and
appealing to all.
To this point all we’ve really done
is declare our intention to prayerfully explore the possibility of becoming
truly multiethnic. We said, “God, we
think we’re going to try this, or at least talk about trying it.” Since then, spring of 2016, 4 African
Americans have joined the church as members, including one on the pastoral
staff. None came knowing what we were
seeking. They just came looking for
church and stayed. Additionally, opportunities
for partnership have dropped into our lap: one is a fledgling Hispanic church
plant; another is a potential Chinese-American church plant.
It’s like we told God, “This is what
we want to do,” and God said, “OK,” amd and new people started coming. For us, the answer to “what do we do” has
been to explore a new call from God.
Part 4 –
How do we do it?
The
“how” is seen in our attitude. It first
has to be relational. Do we have the
capacity and the desire to be close and intimate in friendship and brotherhood
with Christians whose cultural experience is different than our own? The answer to that has to be “yes.” Relationship comes before program because no
program will satisfy everyone. I get
complaints in one ear that we do too many hymns and additional complaints that
we don’t enough hymns in the other. Some
people clamor for communion to be served every week. Others say, “Pastor, we’re doing communion
too often. What are we, Episcopalian?”
The program, whether it is worship, church organization, or something
else, will never satisfy everyone. But
if the programmatic challenges are worked within the boundaries of loving
relationships, people will stay and stay invested even if the program is not
completely to their liking.
The
second word is humble. We go into this
humbly, always willing to learn. This is
especially true for white people because Eurocentric culture has dominated the
United States since our nation’s inception.
A generic American is pictured as a white person. Any other history demands a modifier: Asian
American, Hispanic, African American.
The norm to which everyone has to adapt is the white cultural norm. It cannot be like this in the multiethnic
church. The multiethnic church is part
of God’s new creation. We are curious
about one another and eager to share God’s love with each other. It imperative that those of us from what has
been the dominant culture – Eurocentric culture – take the lead in humble
learning. We express curiosity about
other cultures and we enthusiastically celebrate the unique characteristics of other
cultures.
The
third word is sensitive. In the
multiethnic church, we are sensitive about not insulting others. This is straight out of Romans 14:21, “It is
not good to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that makes your brother or
sister stumble.” If an African American
or Hispanic is insulted by something a white person says or does, that white
person must repent and be willing to learn why this was an offense. Similarly the person of color should show
loving sensitivity. But it is especially
important that the person of privilege not
say, “O I didn’t mean it that way.
Don’t overreact.” The person of
privilege must say, “I’m really sorry. I
didn’t know that was offensive. I won’t
say that again. Please help me
understand a better way for us to be friends.”
The
fourth and final key word is persistence.
Our secretary at our church is one my confidants. I share just about everything with her
because she’s got a brilliant perspective.
She has a master of divinity degree from Golden Gate seminary, she is a
competent musician, she leads Bible studies, and she has a great feel for the
pulse of our church. She is a Chinese
American. She’s not from China any more
than I am from London. She’s from San
Francisco. She and I were talking about
multiethnic congregations and all that is involved when different people groups
come together. Based on her experience,
she looked me and offered a warning. She
said, “You better be careful. It gets
messy.”
She’s
right. Based on my experience in
Arlington, I know exactly how right she is.
Someone will say something offensive and refuse to apologize. We have to stick with it because building the
multiethnic church is a call from God.
Someone will misunderstand something and there will be great
confusion. We have to stick with it because
building the multiethnic church will say to the surrounding community, “this is
what the Kingdom of God looks like.”
Through the misunderstandings, the unintended hurt feelings, the lamp
that gets broken during VBS by a child from a refugee family, the frustrated
old deacon who feels like I’m losing my
church – through all the pain and mess, we stick to it. We work without ceasing trudging through the
mess because it is worth. Building the Peaceable
Kingdom is worth it.
What
we do is step beyond our comfort zone to answer God’s call.
How
we do it is relationally, humbly, sensitively, and persistently.
We
know our only success will come as God blesses our efforts and transforms our
hearts. God can be counted on. God will work in us and speak through us. That’s why for me, and I am praying for my
church, building the multiethnic church is a call that must be answered.
I’ll take any questions, and then
I’ll go over resources to finish up.
Resources
A. Relationships – these
are acquired throughout the process
B. Experiences – these
are acquired throughout the process
C. Media
1. Books
2. Internet research
3. Popular Christian
Magazines
4. TV & Movies
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