I hope you have been reading the slew of Multi-Ethnic Church
posts I have written. This is the third section on Staffing a Multi-Ethnic
church. Last post we talked about the importance of cross cultural education,
but now we must delve deeper.
For me multi-ethnic ministry is much like “Alice
in Wonderland” the more you delve into the complexity of diversity, the more
fun it becomes and the less you want to return.
I’d like to delve into the complexities within each
ethnicity. Ethnicity is a larger term, culture is the smaller. I.E. Within
Asian Ethnicity there are many countries, who have many cultures. Cultures are
not bound by borders. My friends who are Gypsy are great evidence of a culture
living outside the social economic boundaries of any one particular country.
Why does this matter!? We must not only be aware of ethnicities
different from ours, but also the cultures within each ethnicity. I’ll chart
out what I’m referring to. Sociologists now refer to these differences as C1 C2
C3. Hang on with me, because this will make sense.
C1 – Carlton (from Fresh Prince of
Bel-Aire) [ brown by skin tone, but white by habit]
C2- Denzel Washington (he can be
either a 1, or a 3 at will)
C3- Ice Cube (very “hood” in all
his mannerisms)
The fact of the matter is that there are possibly hundreds
of sub cultures within any one ethnicity. The “white” community doesn’t realize
that they cross their own cultural boundary often thanks to education that they
have received via media, reading or Experience.
Some sub cultures of White culture:
1.
“red-necks”
2.
Bikers
3. Trekies / Techies
4.
Sport fanatics
5.
Northern whites / southern whites
We must take our time in cultural education to be sensitive to
differences between unique ethnicities. We must all strive to be like Denzel in
the chart above the “C2” who can relate to either the unique C3 or confused C1.
Being a C2 is often times learned, not created, as in the case of the Apostle Paul. Some people like myself are
created C2. I believe I’ve been created to be a C2, my mom is white my dad is a
dark Filipino Cajun French who “looks like a Hawaiian Buddha.” If you’re not
from diversity, you have to learn diversity. Paul learned it through the power
of the Holy Spirit and a desire to share the Gospel. Paul’s message quoted
before in 1 Cor. 9:19-23 is not just for someone crossing ethnic lines, but
also for the person wanting to reach those within their own ethnicity.
Lovingly I'd like to say just because you hire an ethnic
minister, he may not personally relate to all the sub-cultures within his own
ethnicity. The Gospel transcends all barriers, but we must be personally aware
of the needs and language for those people to grasp the Gospel correctly.
