If
you truly desire to build a multi-ethnic ministry you must learn what the
current views are of numerous aspects of ministry. Let’s begin with the general
understanding of what church is for differing ethnicities. I don’t intend to
label differing ethnicities as being one of these or the other. Rather, I
will just list the general views of church and you can list the ethnicities as
you see fit.
God
experience –
This view considers church to be their time to experience God. This is a high
view of feeling and a low view of learning. Churches like this have a "freer" worship service that lasts for hours until they feel that the service is over. They may also change formality of the service so that the experience may be better achieved.
Duty-
This
view considers church to be a “duty” or “thing we do on Sundays.” This view
will leave the believer to feeling obligated to attend, and leave as soon as
possible, and attend only when required.
Learning
– This
view focuses away from worship / community and focuses primarily on the
teaching time. This leaves the believer lacking a true concept of community and
expression of ministry.
Center
of Community –
Some ethnicities consider the church to be the central portion of the
community. Often times this results in a longer day at the church, or much more
time spent with the church as a family. Those who hold this view also often
time get together as frequent as possible, much like a family.
As you consider the above views i'd recommend you remember several of the points that we listed
earlier that one must learn.
c. Ask
God to break you from the thinking that any one Ethnicity is 100% correct!
d. Ask
God to give you eyes to see how other’s view the World.
e. Ask
God to break you of habits that are offensive to others.
It is a wonderful thing to diversify the view of
church, but IT IS WRONG to force someone to divorce their cultural view of church. We
must accommodate their view so that they can feel a sense of belonging. Otherwise,
they will visit once and leave having no personal connection. We see these
views lived out in many more aspects such as discipleship, worship, and
theology. All of these are topics to come.
What is my personal view of church you may ask?
