Many Colors: Cultural Intelligence for a Changing Church

Acknowledgments

Introduction

A YOUNG WHITE MAN in his twenties stands awkwardly off to the side during the fellowship hour. He knows he should make the effort to talk to his fellow church members but he is intimidated by the clusters of parishioners that have already formed. Most of the groups are divided along national and ethnic lines. Each group seems to be already deeply engaged in conversation among themselves, sometimes in their own native language. He would like to join in, but he feels like he would be intruding, and anyway, he doesn’t know if he could relate to them. He makes eye contact and exchanges polite nods with a number of different church members, but he has difficulty making a deeper connection. He ends up sitting at a table with other white members of his church.

An older African-American woman sits by herself in the sanctuary. Her frustration is difficult to put into words. She has been attending her church for over two years. She is one of a handful of African-Americans at the church who were attracted to a church committed to multiracial ministry and to serving the needs of her neighborhood. But over the past two years, she has become increasingly frustrated with how little the worship service addressed her spiritual needs. Her fellow church members seem to be more preoccupied with making sure the worship service ends on time than with how the Spirit is moving during the service. They seem to have a completely different set of expectations about worship. She sits silently as the worship service progresses along without her genuine participation.

A Native American man sits uncomfortably as a group of children make a special announcement for the fall festival at his church. Two of the children are dressed in native garb. They are taking what are sacred symbols and displaying them in inappropriate ways. Feathers have been placed in random locations and there is a hodgepodge of different tribal symbols thrown together. There was no sense of appreciation of the myriad of cultures that comprise the Native American community—conflating different tribal symbols simply for the sake of amusement. He is troubled by what he senses to be a lack of concern for the accurate reflection and portrayal of his culture in the church.

A young Asian-American man glances around the circle of church board members seated around the conference table. He is the only non-white member of the church board. Everyone seems to be talking all at once and seems to know when to speak up and interject their opinions. The young man is listening patiently to all the opinions being expressed but doesn’t know when he should participate/jump in. He waits for someone to ask for his opinion but no one invites him into the conversation. The conversation centers on the topic of leadership diversity at the church, yet the meeting has focused exclusively on the perspective of the dominant group. Why is he even at this meeting if he’s not being invited into the discussion? He feels a growing sense of frustration as the debate moves along without him. A young Latina mother watches anxiously as her five-year-old son bounces out of the sanctuary. He joins the flow of children leaving the adult worship service to attend the children’s church. She doesn’t quite understand why the children are being asked to leave the service. She recognizes that there is some cultural value at work, but it escapes her. She doesn’t understand the need to take the children out for a separate service. It seems like a devaluing of the children and their place in the family. She wonders if her church holds the same values as her family.

All over the United States, many churches are taking more seriously the biblical call to build and participate in multiethnic churches and communities. The state of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s oft-quoted statement that 11:00 a.m. Sunday morning is the most segregated time in America is now being challenged by more and more communities attempting to integrate churches and break down racial, ethnic, and cultural divisions. These attempts are a part of the good work of God bringing His will on earth as it shall be in heaven. The call to build a biblical community of faith that encompasses the diversity of races, nationalities, cultures, and ethnicities is now being seen as an important part of the church’s responsibility. There is a burgeoning movement of multiethnic congregations in the United States.

The idealism and optimism of developing multiethnic congregations, however, is being replaced by frustration and pessimism as the difficult reality of multiethnic ministry becomes more and more apparent. To reverse centuries of negative history between the races and to rectify ignorance and incompetency when it comes to cross-cultural sensitivity is not an easy task. As the church in the United States seeks to fulfill the biblical mandate for unity, we are coming to the realization that we desperately need proper motivation, spiritual depth, interpersonal skills, and gracious communication in order to live into God’s hope for the church. In short, the church needs to develop cultural intelligence in order to fully realize the many-colored tapestry that God is weaving together.

Some foundational work is necessary in order to move toward the fulfillment of this vision. I have met and counseled too many pastors who are in over their heads when it comes to multicultural ministry. Often these well-intentioned pastors exhibit major gaps in biblical, theological understanding of culture, and they have a limited understanding of cultures outside of their own experience. This lack of understanding of the role of culture ultimately leads to an undermining of cultural intelligence, which they may see as a distraction. In other words, it does not help us to be culturally blind when developing multicultural ministry.

In the last few years, a proliferation of books have been written on understanding cultural differences. Most of these books arise from the context of the business community, which has been ahead of the curve in recognizing that cultural competency and intelligence are absolute necessities in this global economy and our multiethnic, multicultural world. As the world has changed, corporations have recognized the need to adapt many-colored lenses to convey important concepts to a broader audience. The church, operating out of the context of communicating God’s truth, should also see the need for cultural intelligence in order to more effectively communicate God’s truth to a changing world and church.

This book begins with an attempt to understand the vocabulary of culture. Part I, Understanding Culture, develops the backdrop for our conversation. A working definition of culture that arises out of a biblical worldview should undergird our inquiry of cultural intelligence (chapter 1). We must also understand that cultural intelligence should not be understood in a vacuum and therefore requires an understanding of our cultural and racial history in America (chapter 2). More specifically, we need a biblical understanding of the role and relationship of the church to the surrounding culture (chapter 3).

In Part II, we look for ways to construct a working cultural paradigm. What does it mean to have a multicultural worldview that incorporates differing points of reference that leads to culturally intelligent actions (chapter 4)? Culture needs to be understood, not with an all good or all bad paradigm, but as a process or journey of discovery, exploration, and development. In the United States, we are experiencing an emerging culture that intersects multiple levels. Part of cultural intelligence is to see how many streams are converging into a new culture (chapter 5). On the other hand, the evolution of culture in American society means that we understand that cultural dynamics are also dictated by power and privilege (chapter 6) and that it would be naïve to assume that these factors do not apply in our understanding and implementation of cultural intelligence. A biblical perspective on power and privilege will be a necessary component of developing cultural intelligence.

In Part III, we examine real-life models and best practices of cultural intelligence and competence. How do we create a cultural environment that is receptive to the many cultural expressions now found in American Christianity? We will examine the power of story (chapter 7), the learning adventure of journeying together (chapter 8), the impact of hospitality and the atmosphere of humility (chapter 9), and the creation of a welcoming environment through systemic transformation (chapter 10).

For ten years, I served as a pastor of a multiethnic church in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and I have been a member of several additional multiethnic churches. In recent years, I have been serving on the faculty of North Park Theological Seminary. My reflections, particularly my understanding of the need for a book like this, arise out of my experience as a pastor. Cultural intelligence is truly tested when we encounter diversity within our own congregations. Cultural intelligence is essential when a church is beginning to engage in the difficult process of developing a genuinely multiethnic faith community. My experience as a pastor helped me to appreciate the difficulties of cross-cultural ministry on a day-to-day and week-to-week basis. Pastors are constantly looking for practical solutions and ways to make things work. My years as a pastor conditioned me to think pragmatically and efficiently when searching for answers to ministry questions.

At the same time, I have learned as a pastor and as a seminary professor that we need not only the practical training that can be immediately applied to our ministry setting, but also the more foundational work of developing both a biblical-theological framework and a deeper understanding of the larger issues. Cultural intelligence requires delving deeper into the biblical, theological, cultural, and sociological issues as well as understanding the practical elements of cross-cultural ministry.

The overall approach of this book will not be to focus on specific, detailed how-tos for churches to simply mimic or haphazardly apply (although there will be aspects of the book that may prove to be of great practical use to the local church). Instead, the approach to multiethnic ministry will be to develop a larger framework and context for developing cultural intelligence, as expressed as knowledge, experience, and ethos. A central theme for this book will be the emphasis on creating an environment in a local church that fosters multicultural and cross-cultural intelligence. At the same time, there will be specific ways to develop that environment of learning that fosters cultural intelligence.

The American church today stands at an exciting moment of opportunity and challenge. God, through His sovereign grace, has brought together many nations, ethnicities, and cultures to the North American continent. This gathering is a work of God and not the work of man. The opportunity is to become a church that truly begins to reflect the promise of Micah 4:1–3:

In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and peoples will stream to it. Many nations will come and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths. The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He will judge between many peoples and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.

The fulfillment of the promise in Micah 4 is revealed in Revelation 7:9:

After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.

In light of these biblical promises, the challenge we face is the danger of trusting human strength and work at the expense of God’s work—or not striving and putting forth our own effort to move into God’s sovereign work. The American church stands at a multiethnic crossroads. There is significant momentum with an increasingly multiethnic society, greater awareness of the reality of diversity, and the growing sense of the need for multiethnic churches. At the same time, we continue to recognize the obstacles and challenges that exist in this opportunity: the possibility of improper motivation, the burden of historical baggage, and a lack of both the foundation and the building block skills for cultural intelligence. This moment of opportunity for the North American church means that the challenges are well worth addressing and that the promise of a genuine multiethnic Christian community is well worth pursuing.

When we are dealing with cross-cultural and multicultural ministry, it is important to see God at work in all cultures, not just one.

CHAPTER 1

What Is Culture?

IN THE WANING MONTHS of 2009, I became aware of a curriculum— book, DVD, and leader’s guide—titled Deadly Viper Character Assassins: A Kung Fu Guide for Life and Leadership. The material was attempting to employ a Kung Fu martial arts theme in order to communicate concepts of leadership integrity. As I found out more about the curriculum, I discovered that its authors had been using caricatures of Asian culture, specifically images of ninjas and Kung Fu warriors, in a way that would offend many in the Asian-American community (both Christian and non-Christian).

There were numerous examples of the material playing into Asian stereotypes, including the conflation of different Asian cultures, the misuse of Chinese characters, the portrayal of Asians as sinister villains, the portrayal of Asian women as geishas, and even a video clip with Caucasians speaking in a faux Chinese accent. The positive intention of the authors was to present leadership and integrity in a fun manner, particularly to men. What the material ended up doing, however, was creating a deep and very real offense toward the Asian-American community.

Through cyberspace and the blogosphere, more and more people heard about the offensive curriculum and a significant outcry of opposition and protest was raised. While not limited to the Asian-American community, it was understandably Asian-American voices who raised the loudest opposition. Over the course of two weeks, much online conversation and dialogue occurred that became quite heated at times. To the credit of the authors and the publishers, the publishing company chose to withdraw the materials (both the book version and the online content). The authors and the publishers recognized that intentionally or not, they had committed a significant offense against the Asian-American community.

What struck me was how well-meaning individuals could create a product that generated a serious affront toward the Asian-American— or, in fact, any—community. A noticeable gap in the level of cultural sensitivity between those in majority culture and ethnic minorities was evident. Those who are a part of the majority culture have the luxury of ignoring the culture of others, since the dominant culture is the majority culture. On the other hand, ethnic minorities are keenly aware of their minority status and are alert to potential cultural insensitivities.

One of the major issues that arose during the heated dialogue around the Deadly Viper material was the confusion about the role and importance of culture. Some who wanted to continue to make the material available despite its offensive nature believed that the culture of a people was irrelevant and therefore subject to use by any people, whether they were a part of that culture or not.

In response to the announcement that the material was being pulled, one blog respondent stated: It is sad to see that people in the Christian community place higher emphasis on their culture than on the work God is doing. The implication of this statement is that culture is not God’s doing but rather a human product that stands beneath the work of God. The use