Unity in Christ Magazine

On Monday, January 25 Multi Cultural Ministry will launch a new e-zine called Unity in Christ Magazine.

The purpose of this e-zine is to equip, inform, and educate our readers on how to serve a multi-ethnic society in a multi-cultural world. It will feature ministries that are reflecting the love of Christ in their multi-ethnic multi-cultural communities.

Go to “7 Days to Unity” to watch video testimonies of lives impacted by attending a multi-ethnic church, written testimonies in support of Unity in Christ Magazine, and descriptions of articles in the first issue.

To view the inaugural issue on Monday, January 25, 2010 go to www.unityinchristmagazine.com.

Reaching the Nations Among Us: Part 3 The Seven Fatal Errors of Ethnic Ministry: Error #1 – Lack of Unity

Many conflicts between a host and immigrant church are the result of unfulfilled expectations. Unfulfilled because they were not expressed and written down prior to launching the immigrant ministry.

Here is a three step process I use to create a spirit of unity.  It takes me an average of eight months to walk a church through the first two steps.

1.  SOW the Vision. Helping people take ownership of a vision cannot be done in one 45-minute presentation. People need time to process the vision. 

·      The Pastor. The pastor is the key person. Nothing will be accomplished without the pastor’s full support.

·      The Leadership.  The leadership needs to work through the issues and ask all of the questions necessary before moving ahead. Only then can they confidently respond to questions from the congregation.

·      The Congregation. The congregation should receive the same information that the pastor and the leadership received. They are the ones that will have to give up exclusive use of facilities, worship styles, and leadership positions to reach all levels of assimilation within an immigrant group.

2.  SURVEY the Body.

·      Determine your acceptable losses. The leadership should determine the number of families or individuals they are willing to loose in order to implement an ethnic ministry. Whether you change your style of worship music, name, or drop Sunday school for small groups, there are always some who will leave the church.  It’s no different with starting an immigrant ministry.

·      Conduct an informal survey.  Following the Vision Casting to the congregation (I recommend a series of messages) divide the families of the church among the leadership and ask them what they think about the possibility of starting an ethnic ministry.  This casual survey will help you get some idea if you are within the range of acceptable losses.  If not, go back to casting the vision.  Consider some of the negative feedback received from the casual survey.  Address these concerns from a biblical perspective. Remember we are not asking for permission, we are preparing the hearts of our people for transition.

·      Conduct a formal survey.  Proceed with this step if the informal survey is positive. The purpose is to solicit the opinions, concerns and fears of the people so they can be addressed at an announced congregational meeting for this purpose. 

3.  SECURE a Covenant.

 A covenant outlines the commitments the church is wiling to make to launch an immigrant ministry.

·      Facility Use. The usage of rooms, days, and times for regular services and a process for requesting usage for special events and activities.  Rooms are no longer for the exclusive use of any one person or ministry.

·      Equipment Use.  The usage of audio/visual equipment for regular services and a process for requesting usage for special events and activities.

·      Chain of Command.

                   o     Ministry Leaders: Children’s, Youth, Audio-Video, Greeters, Ushers, etc… should provide training for counter parts in the immigrant church for continuity across language ministries regarding church policies, practices, and care of facilities and equipment.

                   o     The Immigrant Pastor and congregation must be aware of the church’s process and protocol for dealing with issues.

·      Finances. Since the immigrant ministry is part of the local church then all offerings go into the church treasury.  The church should create a line item(s) to cover the expenses of the immigrant ministry.  This should include, as soon as possible, the immigrant pastor’s compensation package.

That’s my opinion.  I welcome yours.

December 19, 2008 ~ Interracial Churches | Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly

This video is about Wilcrest Baptist Church and City of Refuge Church in particular and ethnically diverse churches specifically was posted on PBS.org’s Religion & Ethics Newsweekly. Lucky Severson is the narrator.

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Healthy Respect

Jay Pankratz talks about respect, the flip side of humility, and its importance to multi-ethnic ministry.

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What is the Biblical Concept of Unity?

What is the biblical concept of unity? This the second of a series of questions asked by David Hall, Escondido, CA

 

The pursuit of unity is not limited to the multi-ethnic church.  Every local body of believers, because of sin, is susceptible to attitudes and behaviors that can lead to conflicts, divisions, and the exclusion of people groups in their ministries.

That is why we are to strive for unity. The following is a brief outline of the biblical teaching on Unity.

·       Unity is the desire of Christ for his disciples, “I pray…that all of them may be one” (Jn. 17:20-21).

·       Unity is based on Word of God, “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:17).

·       Unity is lived out among believers, “those who will believe in me” (Jn. 17:20).

·       Unity is a testimony to the world of Christ’s coming, “so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (Jn. 17:21); “May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” (Jn. 17:23).

·       Unity must be earnestly and sincerely pursued, “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:3).

·       Unity is achieved with love, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (Jn. 13:34, 35), “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sin” (1 Pet. 4:8),”Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth” (1Jn. 3:18).

·       Unity is contingent upon certain character traits that are the result of spiritual growth: humility, gentleness, patience (Eph. 4:2), unselfishness (Phil. 2:3,4), kindness, goodness, meekness, self-control (Gal. 5:22-23), respect (Rom. 12:10; 1Pet. 2:17), and peace (Heb. 12:14; Js. 3:18).

·       Unity is lived out as we intentionally practice the “one another’s” of scripture; love (1Jn. 4:7), devotion (Rom. 12:10), honor (Rom. 12:10), live in harmony (1Pet. 3:8), accept (Rom. 15:17), instruct (Rom. 15:14), admonish (Col. 3:16), greet (Rom. 16:16), agree (1Cor. 1:10), serve (Gal. 5:13), bear (Eph. 4:2), forgive (Eph. 4:32), speak (Eph. 5:19), submit (Eph. 5:21), encourage (1Thess. 5:11; He. 3:13), spur (Heb. 10:24), offer hospitality (1Pet. 4:9), be humble (1Pet. 5:5), have fellowship (1Jn 1:7).

Unity is to be pursued by every member of the body of Christ regardless of the degree of ethnic, socio-economic, or gender diversity in the church. It is best measured by the character and practices of the individual believers toward one another, than by the number of diverse groups, the greater our commitment to character and practice, the broader the diversity of our ministry and its potential for unity.

That’s my opinion I welcome yours.

Jay Pankratz: The Power of Humility in a Multi-ethnic Church

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Is Multi-ethnic Ministry Biblically Prescriptive or Descriptive?”

“Does the Bible MANDATE the church to engage in multi-ethnic ministry? Or is it best viewed as a matter of strategy (or methodology) to carry out effectively other biblical mandates (like reaching and discipling the lost)?”  – Dave Hall, Escondido, CA

       While there is no absolute Biblical mandate, “Thou shall be a multi-ethnic church” (prescriptive), that does not mean that the concept is not in the Bible.  In fact there is substantial Biblical evidence that supports and illustrates multi-ethnic ministry (descriptive) in the Book of Acts and the Pauline Epistles. 

       Historically the ethno-centric church reflects a prescriptive nature established by society over centuries of practice. The Edict of Milan in 313 A.D. by Emperor Constantine granted equal rights to Christianity. Philip Schaff in his History of the Christian Church, Vol. II, writes that this religious freedom brought about the “conversion of the nations,” during the middle ages. It “was effected or introduced by a few individuals, St. Patrick in Ireland, St. Columba in Scotland, St. Augustine in England, St. Boniface in Germany, St. Ansgar in Scandinavia, St. Cyril and Methodius among the Slavonic Races” (p. 20). In essence these missionary endeavors established mono-ethnic churches aimed to reach a people group in their language and cultural context.

      The Reformation continued to minister to mono-ethnic groups. Lutherans could be found in Germany, Scandinavia and the Reformed in Switzerland, France, Holland, England and Scotland (Schaff, Vol. VII, Modern Christianity, The German Reformation, p. 45). 

      In the New World the racist attitudes of many Northern Europeans justified by the Doctrine of Manifest Destiny toward Native Americans, African Slaves, Mexicans and later toward Chinese and Japanese institutionalized segregation not only at all levels of society but in the church as well. This act gave rise to the necessary formation of ethnic churches and denominations by minority group believers. Giving birth to the Christian version of separate but equal.  Equal within the Body of Christ, just not the local church.

       America has sought to break down segregation in our society through congressional legislation. The recent election of Barak Obama as President of the United States is an indication that we as a nation have made some major advances against institutional racism, prejudice, and segregation. Regrettably the Church still lags behind. This historical fact in no way implies that all ethno-centric churches today are racist. What it does establish is that our ethno-centric churches are such by historical default and not by Biblical precepts.

       Secondly, multi-ethnic ministry is not a strategy or a methodology to help carry out the Great Commandment (Luke 10:27), the Great Commission (Matt. 28:19, 29; Acts 1:8), and the New Commandment (John 13:34,35).  It is the end result of having faithfully carried out these mandates in an ethnically diverse community. 

Jay Pankratz, Sunrise Church Rialto, transitioned into a multi-ethnic church out of a commitment to the mandates of Christ, he states, “I had no vision for ethnic diversity; but, when I began to study God’s Word, the Lord’s mandates, and I looked at the ethnic diversity of our community I came to the conclusion that we could not be anything less.

Mile McPherson, The Rock Church, San Diego, stated that “God wants [his church] to reflect heaven…the more ethnically diverse your church is the more firepower for evangelism you have…”

       These multi-ethnic ministries reflect a biblically descriptive nature as depicted in the New Testament. Once again, not every local church must be multi-ethnic.  If the demographics of a community reflect only one ethnicity then the church will be mono-ethnic. This exemption, as illustrated in the Book of Acts, eliminates a mandate that all churches must be multi-ethnic. For example, seven of the nine church plants listed in the Book of Acts were multi-ethnic; Pisidian Antioch (Acts 13:43), Iconium, Acts 14:10, Thessalonica (Acts 17:4), Berea (Acts 17:12), Athens (Acts 17:17), Corinth (Acts 18:4, 8), and Ephesus (Acts 19:8-10). Luke states that these churches consisted of both “Jews and Greeks”, “Jews and Gentiles”, and “Jews and devout converts”.  Only two, Derbe, a small town (Acts 14:20b, 21) and Philippi, a Roman colony (Acts 16:12-40) did not have a multi-ethnic congregation. But in the communities that were ethnically diverse and the Gospel was intentionally proclaimed to all, the church became multi-ethnic.

       If the mandates of Christ instruct us to reach all within our immediate community then expand that Gospel outreach to the outermost parts of the world, and to love one another as he loves us, then ask yourself the following questions.

• “How is it possible to begin to accomplish the Great Commission by practicing selective evangelism in an ethnically diverse community and growing a mono-ethnic church?”

• “Does the lack of a mandate for the church to be multi-ethnic nullify Christ’s Great Commission mandate to make disciples of all nations when individuals from those nations live in our community?” 

• “Should the history and traditions of a local church or denomination exempt it from ministering to all in their diverse community? In other words does the prescriptiveness of history trump the descriptiveness of scripture?”

• “How can the unity that Christ prayed for and the testimony of the church to the world be achieved in an ethnically diverse community if we remain in segregated churches?”

      The Multi-ethnic Church model, is certainly not the historical model of the church or incontestably mandated in the scriptures, but it is most certainly demonstrated in the New Testament and offers a better reflection of the mandates of the Father and of the Son.

That’s my opinion I welcome yours.

Worship In A Multi-ethnic Church: Part 1 The Heart of Worship

Question: How do you navigate personal preference and kingdom purpose in worship style?

Kingdom purpose in worship style is to be expressed in song. The New testament records that Jesus and His disciples following the last supper “sung a hymn” Mt 26:30; Mk 14:26; Paul and Silas during their imprisonment worshipped God by “praying and singing hymns to God” as the other prisoners listened Acts 16:25; Paul’s desire for the Romans is that God give them “a spirit of unity” as they follow Christ and that unity was to be expressed as they “sing hymns” Rom 15:7-9; To the Ephesians Paul writes “ speaking to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord” Eph 5:19.

It is clear from these verses that believers are to sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. The source of these expressions of worship is our heart and the motivation behind this heartfelt worship to God is our gratitude for all that he has done for us. Genuine worship is expressed with other believers as evidence of unity, at times in the presence of non-believers, in the midst of our trials, from a heart that is overflowing with faith, trust, thanks giving, and contentment.

Worship should not be an act we reserve for Sunday services but a lifestyle. My wife, Debbie, shared with me the words she penned following a devotional Bible study on worship, Matt Redmond’s book The Unquenchable Worshipper: Coming Back to the Heart of Worship is what led her into this study. She writes.

Worship.

It’s a lifestyle.

It’s how we live each moment

of every day –captivated

by the awareness of

God’s presence.

It’s making choices to bring Him

pleasure and honor.
It’s refusing to allow the struggles

in life to consume us,

but rather to seek contentment

in every situation.

It’s kneeling before a holy God

to praise Him,

For it is only there

that we forget ourselves

and find rest

in His loving arms.

Deborah Lee Lucero 1-21-05

Our purpose in kingdom worship is to draw people into the presence of God through corporate prayer, singing, and the teaching of God’s Word.

As we consider creating a multi-ethnic worship service the focus should not be on instruments, genres, relevancy or contextualization. To do so would be to fall into the trap of pragmatism. These factors are important but not to the exclusion of Biblical worship, instead they should enhance Biblical worship. They should be used to help believers sincerely express their praise, adoration, confession, and thanksgiving to God.

The challenge for a church that has age diversity is that it must deal with those musical styles and genres that are influenced by generational preferences. Add to this the issue of ethnic diversity and we must also deal with musical styles and genres influenced by cultural preferences as well as generational preferences among the individual ethnic groups.

The reality is that all of us have musical preferences influenced by our ethnicity, age, family, and even our church culture. Therefore it is an impossibility to satisfy every ones personal preferences.

How then is it possible to create a worship service for a multi-ethnic congregation whose individual preferences are as diverse as their ethnicities and generations? There are basically three options that I have personally observed. If you know of any others please submit them as a comment.

1. Keep the worship style of the church and encourage everyone that joins your church to accept your style of worship. This is the assimilationist approach. While it won’t attract a large amount of diversity some members of other ethnicities will attend and join the church. Interviews I conducted among these minorities revealed that they are usually of the same socio-economic, educational and employment status as the church members and they are willing to sacrifice their personal preference in worship style for something else that the church offers, in every case it has been expository Bible teaching.
2. Find the most common musical genre preferences of your congregation and rotate those styles of worship on a weekly basis. Churches that begin to experience some diversity and desire to reach a larger segment of their ethnically diverse community will recognize the need to offer other genres of worship music. The initial shift has been to move from traditional hymns to contemporary worship music (generational issue). The next phase was to include other genres such as Rock, Gospel, Jazz, Latin Rhythms, etc (cultural issue).
3. Blend the various genres into your worship service every week. The intent is to offer a little bit of everything on a weekly basis. This option has it’s own challenges which we will discuss in an interview with Gregory Hooper, Pastor of Worship Arts, Sunrise Church, Rialto, CA. in Part 2: Develop A Multi-ethnic Worship Team.

Sunrise Church operates under the third option. Our Senior Pastor Jay Pankratz, in dealing with the issue of personal preference, tells us, and I am paraphrasing, “You have all week to listen to your favorite Christian artist in your favorite style of music. On Sunday don’t expect to hear what you like all the time. Instead, learn to appreciate different musical styles and remember that worship is not about you it’s about God.”

Navigating personal preference and kingdom purpose in worship style can be challenging. The music we use for worship is to help people express a genuine worship of God. As Pastors we need to teach our people to stop thinking about what helps them to worship and start thinking and praying about what musical styles helps others to worship.

That’s my opinion I welcome yours.

The Ideal Model for An Ethnically Diverse Church

Michael Wilson from Australia asked, “Is there one right or ideal church model? If so, what is the biblical and theological basis for this?  

 

         I have yet to meet a pastor of a multi-ethnic or a homogeneous church for that matter, who doesn’t feel that his approach to ministry is the right-if not best-approach. We can gather them all in one room and discover that they are for the most part basing their ministry on the same biblical principles and mandates.  What differs is the methodology, the manner in which they carry out the ministry of the church.  This personal guideline for ministry is called a Philosophy of Ministry. For instance, there are some pastors of English speaking congregations in the United States who see the need for providing homogeneous immigrant services in the language and cultural context of the ethnic group they desire to reach, while others refuse to provide such services insisting that immigrants must learn English and attend the English speaking services.

         The Bible clearly instructs the church what it is that she must do, but falls short of explicitly telling us how to do it.  The how is mostly based upon one’s philosophy of ministry.  For a guide on how to develop a biblical philosophy of ministry click here.  

         The ideal model, from my perspective, is a church that will, in the case of the United States, reach out to the English and non-English speaking members of her ethnically diverse community. I don’t see where the Great Commission restricts the proclamation of the Gospel only to those who speak our heart language. On the contrary in Acts 1:8 the church is to proclaim the Gospel across cultures.  Doesn’t this mandate hold true if those cultures come to our neighborhoods? That is why I believe that the local church in an ethnically diverse community is to minister to the native and foreign born 1.0, 1.5, and naturalized generations of ethnics in her community.  With that in mind lets consider a few models. Please keep in mind that this is by no means an inclusive list. But for the sake of our discussion I will address four.

         The Renter/Rentee Model.  This church rents its facilities to an ethnic congregation. The Pros, it provides the host church with additional income, an opportunity to indirectly reach an ethnic community it is unable (or unwilling) to reach and it gives the immigrant church a facility in which to meet. The Cons are that the churches continue to be segregated and there is little opportunity for the 1.5 and 2.0 extended family members of the immigrant church to be reached by the renter church.

         The Mission Church Model. This church sponsors an ethnic mission church plant of its denomination. Providing its resources, usually facilities and utilities, until the mission church is self-sufficient.  The Pros, it provides the host church with a mission outreach opportunity and it provides the ethnic church plant with resources that lowers their initial expenses while working toward self-sufficiency. The Cons are that the churches are still segregated and there is little initiative for the sponsor church to reached the 1.5 and 2.0 extended family members of the immigrant church.

         The Multi-ethnic Church Model.  This is a church that intentionally transitions from the original homogeneous congregation to a multi-ethnic one that reflects the diversity of its community. The Pros, integration is in process among all ethnic groups that have proficiency in the dominant language group. Members are learning to worship together, serve together, and love one another. The Con is that the immigrant community is still unreached.

         The Hehogeneous Church Model.  Don’t bother to Google “hehogeneous” I coined the term. This church is heterogeneous (multi-ethnic) in the dominant language service and homogeneous (multi-cultural) in the various immigrant services conducted in their respective language and cultural context. The Pros, integration is in process among all ethnic groups that have proficiency in the dominant language group. Members are learning to worship together, serve together, love one another, and all levels of assimilation among ethnic groups are reachable. The Cons? I don’t see any but then again I am biased.

         The local church should strive to reach not only the diversity of ethnic groups within her community but all levels of assimilation among them as well.

That’s my opinion I welcome yours.

 

For further reading on models for multi-ethnic churches and immigrant outreach see:

Eldin Villafañe, “Seek the Peace of the City: Reflections on Urban Ministry,” Eerdmanns, 1995

Manuel Ortiz, The Hispanic Challenge: Opportunities Confronting the Church,” Inter Varsity Press, 1993 and “One New People: Models for Developing A Multi-ethnic Church”, Inter Varsity Press, 1996

What Programs Are Necessary to Become Ethnically-Diverse?

I had the privilege of participating on a panel discussion at the Ethnic America Network Conference in St. Louis.  One of the questions asked of us was, “Share a brief story how your church intentionally reached out to ethnic minorities and included them in your fellowship.”

 Sunrise Church, Rialto, CA 2000

          Like so many first time visitors I was awed by the ethnic diversity of Sunrise Church in Rialto, CA. My first question to our Senior Pastor Dr. Jay Pankratz was “What programs have you initiated to become so ethnically diverse?”  His answer was, “None”.  The obvious follow up question was, “How then did you accomplish this degree of diversity?” I will never forget his response. He said it so matter-of-fact, “by being relentlessly Biblical.”  He went on to say, “I had no vision for ethnic diversity; but, when I began to study God’s Word, the Lord’s mandates, and I looked at the ethnic diversity of our community I came to the conclusion that we could not be anything less. The key text in the vision of Sunrise Church is Luke 10:25-37.  A man asked Jesus, ‘What do I have to do to have eternal life?’  He responds, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.’  

          There were no books or networks to provide guidance on how to transition a church.  Pastor Jay and other pioneers like him across the country learned by trial and error.  It began by embracing the demographical change of their communities. As the White population of Rialto continued to decrease while the ethnically diverse population increased, Rialto Community Baptist Church had one choice continue to reach a declining population that would result in a declining church congregation or reach out to the entire demographic of the community and increase the potential for the church to grow.

          What began with a vision took six years to become a reality.  Here is what Pastor Jay has said about the process.

I have learned three things about multi-cultural ministry

· It’s Biblical   · It Works    · It’s Hard

• My first year, we drafted a church vision statement which said, “We will seek to reach all ethnic groups without distinction or separation.”

• In the next few years, we were surprised to see some from other ethnicities coming and joining our church.

• As the numbers from other ethnicities increased and some moved into leadership, the criticism increased from all sides.

• After six years of difficult struggles and limited success, I nearly left the church.

• We turned the corner during my seventh year when our people began to accept the multi-cultural mix, criticism began to diminish somewhat and the number of minorities grew significantly.

• During my ninth year, we started being more intentional about including more minorities in all levels of leadership and utilizing more multi-cultural music and promotion.

• By my eleventh year, half of our Elder Board were minorities.

• In my twelfth year, we reached a point where we had no ethnic majority in our church or on our pastoral staff.

• We continue to work on new ways to touch the hurts of our community that we might teach their hearts about the love of Jesus.

         It’s Purpose not Programs that guide a church through the discomfort and criticism leaders face when transitioning their church. It’s a commitment to carrying out the mandates of Christ in an ethnically diverse community. In the words of Pastor Jay Pankratz its being, “relentlessly biblical.”

That’s my opinion, I welcome yours.

Art Lucero