If we are going to build genuine multiethnic unity in our church, we need to become flexible and adaptable people.

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In the Book of Acts, culturally, we see three types of people:

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C1 - Those that had taken on another cultural worldview.  The Hellenist Jews fit the C1 category as they had adopted Greek culture.

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C3 - Those that are culturally inflexible, for example, Hebraic Jews or Pharisees.  As we build multiethnic churches we need C3s on the bus, but not at the highest levels of leadership because their learning curve is higher.

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C2 - They are flexible and adaptable, able to float in and out of various contexts without losing who they are in the process.  Think of Paul.  He was able to connect with Jews and Gentiles, each at their level, and communicate his message, leadership, and style to his audience or coworkers.

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This 30-minute podcast goes into this topic in more detail:

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This past December, I had breakfast with three friends.  The conversation started with a chit-chat about our families.  Then, one of my friends mentioned that the temporary choir director at our church, whom I’ll call Benita, had brought in some professional singers who have made the choir sound better.  I tagged off that and said that the best thing about Benita filling in for three months was that she brought in singers of color, as our choir had been so white!  I could see that one of my friends, whom I’ll call John, was fighting back a smirk, but he didn’t bite.  We chit-chatted a bit more about our families, and then my first friend returned the conversation to Benita and the good things that had resulted from her being the interim choir director.  Again, I tagged off that and said, “Another great thing about Benita being our choir director is that the experience has prompted us to discuss the importance of building cultural intelligence!”  I then explained how that was true.  Again, John fought off a smirk and didn’t initially respond.

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A few minutes later, John asked, “How is Pastor Drew doing?  Is he still preaching the truth?”  The implication was that those who teach the truth aren’t concerned with diversity or multiethnic unity, and if you put a focus on building multiethnic unity, it forces you to discard the truth.  This was the exact opening I had been looking for.  I explained what it takes to build unity, how we must avoid partisan politics while acknowledging perceived injustice, and what the Bible has to say about injustice.

 

Knowing that John and others I was having breakfast with had attended the January 6th rally in DC to call for election integrity and transparency, I explained that acknowledging perceived injustice means acknowledging the pain of those grieving perceived racial injustices as well as the pain of those who believed they were disenfranchised by widespread voter fraud.  This led to question after question for well over an hour.  It was a great discussion that left John saying, “This has been fascinating.”

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The restaurant was nearly empty and quiet.  Towards the end of our discussion, a black woman that I’d never met walked up and said, “Excuse me.  Thank you for engaging in such difficult discussions.”

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If we are going to lead our churches into greater unity, we must develop cultural sensitivity with people of other ethnic groups.  This also means being able to pull those who don’t understand the importance of building multiethnic unity into conversations on race, using language and examples that will resonate with those individuals.  We don’t need to be experts, and we shouldn’t wait until we feel like experts.  And when we attempt to do this, as imperfectly as it inevitable will be, the world will take notice that Jesus must be working in us.