At the start of the month we gathered on Zoom to hear from 4 speakers share their experiences and lessons learnt on the journey towards build intercultural local churches. Tex Chettiar hosted the meeting and set out some aims and definitions. The aim of the meeting was to enrich our practice by creating a more holistic reflection of the kingdom. In other words, to have the full bride of Christ integrated and influencing how the church looks.
A really helpful definition that shaped our understanding of the was distinguishing multi-cultural church from inter-cultural church. How does this description resonate with you? Which description describes your current church and where you’d like to see your church in the future?
Multi-cultural church is when multiple cultures are gathering within same context but they don’t necessarily relate to each other. The different cultures don’t shape how the church functions but they are present and welcome.
Inter-cultural church is when multiple cultures interact and influence each other in shaping church life and the church culture represents everyone.
Cross-cultural church describes the intentional outreach across cultural boundaries. Within the Unreached Network, this would especially focus on unreached people groups.
Session 1: DANIEL YU
Daniel is a Korean American who grew up in multi-cultural church. He now lives in Thailand, leading bi-lingual and multi cultural church.
With a background in economics, his opening statement, that racism is inefficient, led into an exploration of how good diversity is on an economic level.He went on to show how at a personal level, difference is wonderful. As the church, we have an opportunity to benefit from each other’s strengths and cover each other’s weaknesses.
The deep seated problem of tribalism can be seen in nationalism, political affiliation, race or even brand loyalty. Tribalism is powerful and sits at a deep place in our brains. Essentially tribalism says; ‘ I’m happy when good things happen to my people. I’m happy when bad things happen to others.’ As Christians we look to Christ who has; ‘…broken down the dividing wall of hostility’ instead of perpetuating barriers that divide. This is still a hard value to put into practice because the new man in Christ is not homogenous. Diversity operating in unity requires dedicated effort. Languages and value systems still need to be negotiated even when we have the same aims. There exists a primitive human need to associate with people like us and this drive can make us a church that is multi-cultural rather than inter-cultural. We want our churches to be melting pots and not tv dinner. A stew is a mix of flavours that have simmered together over time, each ingredient influenced by all the flavours. A TV dinner has separate elements on a plate; in one place but one part does not affect the other.
Intentionality is required for social interaction. In Daniel’s church they plan social outings to encourage people from different backgrounds to spend time together. Sometimes they will mix up life groups and provide translation so that diverse groups can have communion together. ‘We need to cross the aisle’ he encouraged us. Their church’s leadership will gently ask people who are on their own to sit with others from different backgrounds who are also on their own. Daniel has now seen these people together naturally after doing so. They model diversity in the eldership group with the aim of those values trickling down to the congregation. He admitted that working as an inter-cultural eldership means there are greater opportunities for conflict and misunderstanding and this can lead to ungodly judgements. Perhaps someone is late to a meeting and are therefore judged as having bad character. Bitterness can easily arise. Daniel introduced the idea of ethnocentrism, that is, when one applies ones own culture as frame of reference with which to judge others rather than the standards of those other cultures. He referenced some dominant cultures that do not easily think that others have different values and cultural practices from themselves.
Looking at a diagram from Dave Devonish’s book, ‘Fathering Leaders, Motivating Mission’, we looked at how behaviours between cultures can sometimes look similar but do not necessarily relate to the same deeper feelings. In order to achieve meaningful diversity, there is a need to work beyond the realm of behaviour only.
When working with multi-lingual groups it is important to know that there are words in each language that can’t be translated into another. So one language might be able to express a feeling that can’t be trans to another language. Difference of processing feelings
The book ‘Ministering cross-culturally’ offers some great insights into examples of how cultural assumptions can create surprise miscommunication.
For example, the UK is predominantly time oriented in contrast to somewhere like Thailand. Daniel recalled a time when he asked what time something would start. The reply was that it was hard to say, maybe some time after 10 and that they would have to wait and see. In Thailand, who you’re doing things with is more important than the task. This is quite the opposite in west.
In his context, some people will be well prepared in advance for meeting, others more flexible and less prepared. They need to acknowledge that these are just cultural norms.
He told us that the values of the church will reflect the values of country it is in. They want to reflect those gathering and as a leadership team, they are asking what is God’s call on their values. Working it out collectively is not natural. Compromise is needed and commitment to the new value system that reflects diversity.
When they first arrived in Thailand, their aim was for a Thai church. They wanted something that would function in the Thai language but to get it started without language competency and with an expat community, they decided to begin as an English language church until they were able to pastor and disciple Thai people in their own language. Thai people joined anyway, even without English. They pushed into change by starting to hand out translated sermon notes, then later they had a Thai translator for the sermons. Later they started to include Thai songs in worship, then they created 2 services, one of each language. They are constantly evolving. Daniel said; ‘We have plans but God has better plans and we are called to be a base church, influencing the country and neighbouring countries.’ Their vision as a Thai church has shifted and they now want global outlook.
After this first talk, groups were given the following questions that you might like to consider;
1. Have you ever had annoyance or frustration working or dealing with someone of another cultural background due to your different value system?
2. Have you ever placed a moral judgment on someone for being wired differently than you in these areas?
3. What are some things you can do in the future to relate to someone with differing values?
Session 2: SARAH VARLEY
Sarah is currently living and working in Rotterdam. She is from London and has been in the Netherlands for 3.5 years.
Sarah describes her upbringing as largely monocultural but 25 years ago some proactive conversations began taking place that began her realisation that; ‘You don’t know what you don’t know.’ In her 20s, being part of a culturally diverse church showed her how much we can operate through our own cultural lenses. People see the world differently, we might not know how but a willingness to learn is crucial. She describes herself as a big question-asker and will quiz friends from different cultures about how they live and she reads to keep feeding her pursuit of understanding.
It’s not always been a case of getting things right for her. For example, after a meal where a number of friends had been together, one lady paid whole bill then later sent out individual costs for each person to pay her back. Her friend offered to pay but she refused out of British politeness. Later she worried that she might have offended her friend. Her son told her she should have let the friend pay so she decided to call her the next day. She asked questions about how it felt in her culture for her to have refused the offer of payment. She learnt that for the other woman the offer was an expression of friendship. It meant ‘I want to hang out with you again and next time you’ll pay.’ Having been brave enough to ask the difficult question she was able to right the mistake. ‘Recognise what you don’t know and be prepared to be a learner’ was Sarah’s excellent advice.She has been learning in her Dutch church, how different people’s cultures can be even when they look the same as you. The Dutch are known for having a direct style of communication. It would be easy for her to find that offensive but she is taking the approach that knowing how they communicate isn’t wrong.
Her church is made up of 60 people with 20 nationalities, TCKs (third culture kids), cross cultural marriages, English and Dutch services and people from mixed christian backgrounds! The church consciously reflects the varied nations in their expressions of prayer. They show value to the countries represented in the congregation by praying for news items coming from members countries of origin. Here are some great ways in which they are working towards inter-culturalism in their church;
- Different people will make videos about their nation, what is happening there and how to pray. They then pray in their native language and the video gets sent out to everyone in church.
- The theme of unity and diversity is regularly and deliberately included in the preaching. It highlights God’s delight in our difference and his desire to bring unity.
- They have changed their language to be more inclusive. For example, by replacing expressions such as; ‘We can all think…’ (about a particular issue for example) with; ‘If you’ve grown up in the west you might think…’
Questions have arisen around giving and tithing because of cultural differences. While she admits the church doesn’t have firm conclusions on every issue, questions are being raised and dealt with because of their openness to engage with the issues. For example, someone in the church had their bike stolen and another member asked if the church should buy them a new one. Sarah admits that her first response was to think as someone brought up in an individualistic culture; don’t they have enough money themselves to replace it ?Perhaps the person asking the question could do something. Being on this learning curve though, a way ahead was discussed with others to talk about cultural responses and biblical narrative. She said it was a great moment to challenge my assumptions and it involved others from a cultures different to her own being involved in the decision making. Another issue that has arisen around giving and tithing is that people in her congregation send money home to their family and some see that as their tithing. Sarah explained that giving to the local church in our culture can be seen as a demonstration of commitment and even a qualification for leadership. If this is the premise for leadership then could those who are sending money home be missing leadership opportunities as a result?
Another area needing conscious engagement is around contributions on Sunday morning.
In her experience, some cultures are more confident while others do not naturally put themselves forward. Some people need more drawing out either because of cultural factors or because of people coming from different church backgrounds.
Hospitality is another area that requires our attention. In some cultures, shared meals are central to social interaction. Sarah said they aim to invite people into their home rather than the church building even for the ‘belong’ meetings when new people are just entering the community. They actively accept invitations to others homes and at Christmas when some have no other family in the country, they are open and welcoming to those from different nations.
The church’s leadership teams diverse but some people will struggle to say things of a more controversial nature because of how honouring your pastor looks in their culture. To counter this, the leadership always try to give their opinions second.
Sarah encouraged us to invite others in to our churches to raise awareness and to talk about the issues. They have had John and Jem visit their church to share and give space to those in the church to talk about the issues.
Variety in celebration is another great way to improve the dialogue of diversity. They have asked members to bring and share food with the church from their home cultures, wearing traditional clothing from home. They have seen the value of celebrating together as various ones pass exams as maybe no-one else is doing that for them. We were reminded that people have different celebrations and attach different meanings to them. Birthdays can be very important in the west and gives an chance to express why you love someone but for others, celebration takes place when you become a parent, in some cases it being a moment when their name changes. The dedication of children in an Indian context would involve the pastor revealing the name of child, for the first time, in the service. Sarah said times like these have given them the opportunity to lean in to what others value.
Sarah gave us numerous examples of when cultural differences have opened her eyes to the weight of cultural difference and raised questions around her own behaviour, language and assumptions. She discovered that a woman originating from SE Asia would not consider saying no if invited to serve somewhere in the church as the request would be like God asking her. She would assume God had prompted a leader to ask her and therefore she had to say yes. Another woman, from South American expressed that in her culture a good woman is one who is married with children. Another culture would naturally defer to their parents when they had questions and not look elsewhere. Each of these situations raise question about how we lead.
After the second talk, groups were given the following questions that you might like to consider;
- In what ways can admitting our gaps in knowledge open up opportunities for deeper connection?
- Is there anyone in your church it would be good to have a conversation with in order to learn more about their culture/ cultural perspective?
- Reflect on the idea that ‘my culture isn’t the plumb line’.
- How have you seen cultural norms shape expectations in church, and how do we create an environment where no single cultural perspective is seen as the norm?
- How might we further integrate diverse cultural expressions into our worship and community life?
Session 3: SIMON ROGALSKI
Simon serves at Jubilee Church, Teeside.
Simon’s church was planted 27 years ago when the area was not a culturally diverse place. In the early 2000s things changed due to cheap housing in low demand areas. Asylum seekers were brought in to the area and the church started to think about what to do for these new people. Their charity, ‘Open Door North East’ started to see persecuted christians joining the church and refugees coming to faith. People from diverse backgrounds had found a welcome in the church. Simon explained; ‘God changed us from just wanting to serve those in need.’ The congregation is 40-50% non white and they have numbers of Iranians, Ukrainians, Nigerians & Indians attending. There are 10 people on the leadership team, representing 6 different nations. They have a ‘Multi-Coloured Church initiative, equipping churches to work inter-culturally.
https://christcentralchurches.org/news/408/god-s-multicoloured-church-in-depth-training
6 things Simon has learnt on the journey;
- As a white British leader I often have to make first move. I’m from the advantaged and dominant culture. I have to make first move (and second, third etc) to engage other cultures. I invite people to pray in their own language. I put myself in places where I’m in the minority such as parties and wedding. I was once 1 of 4 white ppl at a 200 people strong wedding. I was looking to others to help me to understand what was going on. Westerners will put themselves forward for leadership and others might not. I might have to invite multiple times.
- Leadership is different and better with different cultures involved. It takes longer and is frustrating for those who are task-focussed. We can’t assume starting points.
- We all have cultural blindspots. Someone was visiting the African majority service and they were serving fizzy drinks and saying wanted to reach more local people but this visitor thought they needed to serve tea and coffee if they wanted to attract local people. Another group had stayed up all night cooking and while Simon felt bad they had felt the need to do that, they said they loved it. It’s easy to miss what other cultures need or like.
- We are learning to take opportunities with people. Western Brits tend to be more risk averse. We need to take risks on people. They might think differently, preach differently and not around long term. We can easily disadvantage people by raising a church just like us. I need to know my limitations and include others because the gospel is at stake.
- When people leave it’s painful. Moving might be in peoples hearts. Think kingdom, not church. Some have moved for work or family and we need to remember it’s a privilege to bless others. Some have left the church because they don’t like diversity.
- We won’t enjoy everything. In an integrated church, you should only be 75% satisfied with how things are done because diverse and integrated church reflect other cultures. One example would be at a baby thanksgiving. Brits have made this service informal so people hear gospel and know it’s not the same as a christening but for Nigerians it’s a really important moment so Simon put the running of the event into their hands. He said; ‘It wasn’t how I would have done it but my approach is shaped by my experience.’
After the third talk, groups were given the following questions that you might like to consider;
Which of the points stood out to you from this presentation and why?
Why is it important to foster intercultural leadership teams to create intercultural churches?
Do you have examples of this working well? What did it take?
What will it take to keep developing intercultural leadership in your setting?
Session 4: FUSI MOKOENA
Fusi grew up in post-apartheid South Africa and his first church was in New Frontiers. He is now working in Dubai, UAE. He is the pastor of diverse church.
His current context is a place with a population of 3.84 ppl, 88% of whom are ex-pats! In the next 15 years the country has a target to increase the population to over 7 million people. There are over 200 nationalities in city. The city is proud to describe itself as having 80% of world’s population living within 8 hour flight of Dubai. It’s a place that is accessible to nearly everyone around the world. His church has a Russian speaking congregation of mixed Ukrainians and Russians. Within the eldership, one is Russian with a Ukrainian wife and other elder is Ukrainian.
Some of the challenges that they have seen in the congregation relate to practices around birth, death and marriage. In Ghana, for example, it takes 4-5 months to complete a burial but in other places this process only takes a few days. Some people call pastor by first name and others call him ‘pastor’, depending on their cultural heritage.
Fusi again outlined the differences between multi-cultural and inter-cultural church. Multi-cultural church lends itself to assimilation, the aim of inter-cultural church is integration. He illustrated this by referring to the South African congregation where people are open and accepting of others but remain essentially African.
Inter-culturalism is not a new idea. It is present throughout the Bible. God was never interested in just one nation but nations. The first person to be called Hebrew was Abraham and he was a gentile!Ruth was a Moabite, Rahab a Canaanite. Christianity is already inter-cultural; Jesus is a Jewish saviour of the whole world.
Reasons why Fusi is committed to inter-cultural church;
- There is a new airport in Dubai with 5 runways, anticipating 260 million ppl p.a. (Heathrow has 30 million) Nations are passing through. The Sheikh said we don’t want an airport for Dubai but Dubai to have airport for the world. They are asking God for all the nationalities. Sociological reasons are providing great opportunities.
- Anthropological reasons – God made one race. From one man came all nations. Humanity is expressed through geography and colour but God’s anthropology encompasses all humanity.
- The fall introduced fragmentation. God is recreating one new humanity with the church as its manifestation.
- Mission is very important in a global city. It happens well when we understand the great commission. It happens when we love those we go to.
Practices helping Fusi and his church move from assimilation to integration;
- Addressing language and acknowledging the power dynamic. Any monolingual event disadvantages those without the predominant language. Because the UAE culture is not present in the church, their host culture doesn’t have any power. Fusi said; ‘We are constantly trying other remind ourselves of power dynamic.’ They have 5 different services. They used to have Russians wearing headphones listening to a translation but now they try to do things in Russian and have translations made into English. Their prayer meeting are now held in Russian and translated into English. This change puts the normally dominant English speakers into the position in which we would normally put others.
- Inter-cultural leadership and discipleship. Just because the church is diverse, putting one person into leadership does not mean everyone from their nation / area of the world is now sufficiently represented. Discipleship helps us integrate. Those Fusi disciples are from cultures other than his own so he learn and he in turn is discipled by someone from another culture.
- Unmute muted voices. People can be muted because of their language or social class. Some people don’t put themselves forward and some cultures would love to be asked rather than step forward.
- Polyphonic voices. Preaching on any given month can involve people from India, the Philippines, Britain and South Africa. They are deliberately pursuing that enrichment.
Three important things to do;
- Be intentional. Having an inter-cultural church can’t be an afterthought. Being diverse is where you start.
- Be biblically convinced that this is the right thing to do rather than just responding to current sociological concerns.
- Compare notes with others. Dialogue and learn.
After the fourth talk, groups were given the following questions that you might like to consider;
Are there any creative ways we can unmute muted voices in our churches?
How has your church/ministry shown intentionality in this area?
How has politics in your nation impacted your pursuit of intercultural vision(negatively or positively) ?
Comments coming out of Q&A session
What is the meaning and role of a pastor? When accepting hospitality, does saying yes to a meal with someone mean saying no to others?
You can think you’re going somewhere for a quick cuppa and dinner is made when you arrive.
You can go thinking their kids will be in bed and they’re not.
People say yes they will come and then they don’t. You feel they are wasting your time, they feel they can’t say no.
Saying ‘we will be family to you’ means very different things to each other. It can be heard tat you will help their kids through uni, pay the hospital bill….
How do we tackle racism and islamophobia in the church?
Talk about it. One church has done it as multiple preaching series, linked in with home group activities. Seminars for open discussion. Have the courage to call it out for what it is. Senior leaders need to say they want to learn,
If people are islamophobic, they need to find their true identity in Christ.
Tex then summarised our time together speaking of courage, humility, taking risks and being inter-cultural. He concluded by asking us; ‘What’s the next step you’re going to take?’
Special thanks to Sophie Parker for taking the time to write and edit this conference paper.
Look out for our next What are We Learning Call on on 3rd April: Supporting Sending: Building Resilience.
You can sign up for this and future prayer, connection and training calls by visiting www.unreached.network/events or www.unreached.network/contact-us to join the mailing list.
