Multi-Cultural
Churches
Conference
Findings





On November 26, 2010 ACTS Seminaries (at Trinity Western University) brought together about forty representatives from five denominations to discover “best practices of effective multi-ethnic congregations.” The day began with an overview of the challenge for multi-cultural churches by Canadian Baptist Seminary president Arnell Motz. It was then followed by case studies of the five denominations presenting various models and experiences so as to learn from each other in this new territory of ministry.

• Canadian society is becoming predominantly multi-ethnic which means the church, God’s harvest force, must take seriously its commitment to this new harvest field.
In 2006 the foreign-born population consisted of just over 6.5 million persons and accounted for 19.8% of the Canadian population. By 2031 it is projected that the proportion of the Canadian population consisting of foreign-born persons would reach between 25% and 28%. This would be the highest proportion of foreign-born persons since Confederation. By 2031 it is also projected that between 29% and 32% of the population will be a visible minority.


As an example of the changing metropolitan centers, by 2031 the Vancouver population will be 59.2% from a visible minority, more than half of the population will belong to either a non-Christian religious group (20.8%) or no religious group (32.6%).
The greatest growth in non-Christian religious groups will come from those who are Muslim. In 2001 there were 580,000 Muslims and by 2031 it is expected there will be 2,870,000 Muslims, an increase of nearly 400% in 30 years. If we are to take the Great Commission seriously then we need to be asking – how do we as the church respond to this new harvest field?

• Although many churches have multiple nationalities, they are not intentionally multi-cultural. For the sake of mission we need to distinguish between “multi-colored congregations” and “multi-cultural” congregations.
The choice of terms marks the difference between assimilation and accommodation. Assimilation is merely integrating various ethnicities into a common ‘host’ culture or church thus minimizing or ignoring distinctions. Accommodation allows for some distinctions and special interests of various groups within the church and includes people from various ethnicities as equal partners.
One case study of accommodation was Willingdon Church, Burnaby. In their model they have twelve ethnic ministries that participate together in a common worship service with live translation in their language. However other ministries for that particular ethnic group will be in their own language with their own pastor. They were careful to add that each ethnic pastor sits on the elder board not to look out for the concerns of their own ethnic congregation but for the concerns of the church total.

• Preaching must be culturally sensitive in use of illustrations; also tactful yet truthful in talking about other religions.
In our use of the English language we pepper our speech with idioms and dry humor making it difficult to be trans-cultural. Bernard Mukwavi of Fleetwood International Church related how his preaching must be very direct and descriptive with minimum idioms. For those with English as a second language phrases such as “pepper our speech” or “not on our radar screen” might not be understood.
The other consideration is references to other religions. We need to speak respectfully yet truthfully about their religion because, for those who are seekers visiting our churches, their culture is intimately intertwined with their religion. On the other hand, this does not mean ignoring differences because at some point their beliefs need to find a point of contrast with the gospel.

• Multi-cultural churches come in various models and sizes – no one model fits all.
There are though some common features such as: Sharing ethnic meals, actively celebrating ethnic events and heritages, displaying national flags and other practical evidences of our heritages (one church noted over fifty countries were represented by their flags and dress), use of various cultural forms in worship or languages in prayer. Some churches even did signage in various languages. Most presented bi-lingual Bibles, when possible, to newcomers.

• Most of the churches had written and adopted core values that specifically noted their commitment to multi-ethnicity.
This was needed to keep the multi-cultural mission before their people. Some intentionally reflected the multi-cultural mission in the name of the church.

• Successful churches are ones which promote an “ownership” model rather than a “landlord” model of ethnic ministries.
The landlord model treats the ethnic congregation as renters. The ownership model seeks to build a sense of mutual responsibility for the governance and koinonia of the church. Even though there will often be a “host culture” that provides the platform and building, the intent is to help both the host and the newcomers to share a sense of ownership together.

The challenge:
While we all have tendencies towards ethnocentrism (viewing one’s own culture as the center of everything) our values as Christ followers are to be centered in God’s kingdom. What we share together here on earth is to be a fore-taste of what we will experience in the grand scene of Revelation 7 when people of every tribe and tongue will be gathered around the throne of God in celebration. It is with that vision that we step into this multi-cultural harvest field before us.