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.

Favoritism is Sin

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Dr. Jay Pankratz teaches on How Faith Works in Relationships.

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Seven Fatal Errors in Multi-cultural Ministry: #5 Finances

“Pastor Lucero, I have people in my office that need help now!  If they don’t pay their rent they will be out on the street.  This family can’t wait for all of the red tape and a weeks turnaround time for the church to cut a check. They need funds now!

In the Hispanic Community the pastor is the one his flock goes to for counsel on immigration assistance, legal matters, job placement, housing, and financial assistance.  In many Hispanic churches the pastor has access to the church checking account and provides funds to assist his people with groceries, utility bills, gas, and a late rent payment.

Because of the great temptation to misappropriate  funds it is in the best interest of pastors and members of their congregation if the pastor does not have access to church funds.   This is why many churches install procedures for the collection, banking, and oversight of the expenditures and benevolence in which many Pastors don’t play a role. Its intended to preserve his integrity and that of the church.

When working with immigrant pastors who are accustomed to distributing funds at their discretion our North American practice comes across as being insensitive and apathetic to the needs of the people. We can be accused of caring more for procedure than people

Here are some recommendations to deal with this issue.

1. Create a policy and a process for the handling of church funds, especially as it pertains to benevolence assistance.
2. Inform the immigrant pastor and his leadership of the church policies and procedures on the handling of benevolence funds.
3. Encourage the pastor to educate their people on the importance of not waiting until the last minute to request assistance.
4. Provide the necessary paperwork to gather the necessary information for a benevolence request.
5. Appoint as soon as possible a leader in the immigrant church who will conduct the interview with the people who need assistance.
6. Prepare a list of Community Service Organizations that can assist with emergency housing, food and other services to share with those in need.

How has your ministry dealt with this issue?

That’s my opinion, I welcome yours.

Art

Seven Fatal Errors in Multi-cultural Ministry: Error #4 Organizational Structure

I received a phone call late one afternoon.  “Pastor Art, our church has voted to ask the Spanish ministry to vacate the building.  They refuse to leave.  Can you help us?”

I visited the church the following Sunday, attended the Spanish speaking service and met with the Spanish Ministry pastor over lunch.

“Pastor Garcia, what is happening here?”

“Pastor Lucero, my wife and I were invited by this church to reach the Spanish speaking people in this community.  I was told that we would be one church with one membership. But when this ministry outgrew the English speaking ministry, I was given the membership applications of our people and told to leave.”

The issue here is will you be one church with one membership or multiple independent churches sharing the same facility. Failure to make this determination before you launch an immigrant ministry will lead to frustration and hard feelings.

From my perspective I prefer the one church with one membership model.  Here are the benefits to this model.

Benefits to the host church.

• It expands its outreach to the immigrant community in their language and cultural context.

• It allows for the increase of ethnic diversity as it ministers to the English-speaking extended family members of the immigrant congregation.

• It allows for the breakdown of racial barriers as members are encouraged to love one another as Christ loved us.

Benefits to the immigrant church.

• It provides facilities suitable for local church ministry.

• It provides ministries for it’s children, youth and other extended family members that are predominately English speaking.

• It provides a full time salaried position for its pastor much sooner than if they were independent.

• It allows for the breakdown of racial barriers as members are encouraged to love one another as Christ loved us.

• It benefits from the services that are provided by the host church, ministries for English speaking family members, payroll, benefits, facility maintenance, basic administration, and equipment repair and replacement.

Some denominations prefer to use the independent church model.  The strategy is to ask a local church to allow the use of their facilities either for a specified period of time or until the immigrant church is self-sustaining and able to rent or build its own facilities.

Benefit to the Host Church

• It feels good that it is assisting a mission church plant.

Disadvantage to the Host Church

• It doesn’t allow for the increase of its ethnic diversity.

• It doesn’t allow for the breakdown of racial barriers.

• It increases the frustration of members who endure the sharing of facilities until the mission church is asked to leave.

Benefit to the Mission Church

• It provides facilities suitable for local church ministry.

Disadvantage to the Mission Church

• It must create programs for its English speaking youth.

• It doesn’t allow for the breakdown of racial barriers.

• Church planters must work outside of the church to support their family.

• As the ministry grows the mission pastor finds it difficult to work with the host church as he senses that his welcome has been worn out.  Conflicts tend to ensue over facility use.

• Conflicts can result in the mission church being asked to leave prematurely.

The organizational model you select greatly impacts the relationship between host and immigrant ministries.  Determine what it is you want to accomplish by launching an immigrant ministry and then decide on the model that will best help you attain your objectives.

That’s my opinion, I welcome yours.

Redeeming a ‘Teachable Moment’

Ed Gilbreath of urbanfaith.com asked me to contribute to an article about lessons learned from the Henry Louis Gates controversy and how the church should respond.  Here are my thoughts for the full article click here.

I think one of the main lessons from the Gates incident is that frustrating circumstances can be a seedbed for misunderstandings and unfortunate consequences. Proverbs says, “He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding: but he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly.” And it later says, “A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.”

The Civil Rights Act protects all Americans from discrimination. But it does not change the heart of man. The only real answer to matters of race and class is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Government legislation may impact our actions, but the Word of God transforms our lives. It teaches us to love one another as Christ loved us (John 13:34-35), to put the interests of others above our own (Phil. 2:3-4), and to forgive (Eph. 4:32b). Although the Word of God is clear in its teachings on this matter, some preachers of the Word are not.

The role of the church is to bring people to maturity in Christ (Eph. 4:12-13). Paul goes on to describe how we are to reflect that maturity, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”

As long as people of all ethnicities perpetuate the injustices of the past and their grievances toward other ethnicities, the wound will never heal. The only biblical solution is for pastors to teach their flocks to forgive those who hurt us (Eph. 4:32b), love our enemies, and to pray and do good to those who hate us (Matt. 5:44; Luke 6:27).

That’s my opinion, I welcome yours.

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.

The Job

With todays massive lay offs here is a twist on the local day labor center. The Job, was created by Screaming Frog Productions. Written & Directed by Jonathan Browning. for more information on this award winning short go to http://www.screamingfrog.com

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Trust God to Bring Your Success

Pastor Jay confesses he never heard of Rialto, CA before accepting the call to pastor Rialto Community Baptist Church, nor did he have a vision for multi-ethnic ministry. When the vision came everyone told him it wouldn’t work.

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Sunrise Church Worship Team

This clip is from a DVD produced by Sunrise Church featuring the Sunrie Worship Arts Ministry. Pastor Gregory Hooper, Worship Leader. To order a copy go to www.sunrisechurch.org

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