About the seminar topic, Pete Scazzero wrote in “Bridging Barriers: Next Steps for New Life Fellowship Church” ::

I soon realized that our evangelical discipleship/spiritual formation model was too superficial to bring about the kind of in-depth transformation we would need to live in authentic community. … Asians, with their rich legacy of love for education, had great difficulty in embracing high-school dropouts who now attended our youth group … We also had to consistently remind immigrants that they were now part of the American church.

And Drew Hyun wrote in “Thoughts on our Reconciliation Seminar“:

1) The Conversation of Reconciliation Needs to Address Personal AND Corporate Injustices/Sins; 2) There’s an Illusion that Building a Diverse Church Family will be Easy (or Formulaic); 3) Understanding (or at Least Trying to Understand) The Black Experience is Fundamental to Making Progress in the Area of Reconciliation; 4) I Have to Take Personal Responsibility; 5) We Need to Talk

Thanks to Drew Hyun for the video link.

Reading about this topic, again, it makes me wonder just how much these racial and cultural barriers stay embedded because some people deny their existence and sincerely believe that we live in a post-racial American society.

The title obviously struck a nerve, and provoked a good number of mis-readings and reactions, even though it was clearly spelled out in that very blog post that Danny did not think he was a sell-out:

I don’t really think he’s a sell-out; I believe Chan is living faithfully to what GOD has called him to be.

Does that mean the question was mis-stated in the first place? Maybe not. There is a rhetorical device called a hypothetical question where a question may be posed, even though the answer is already known as a definitively absolutely “no.” It’s used in the Bible, you know. Paul posed the question, “Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?” Of course not! Is he a sell-out? Of course not!

In Danny’s apology, he clarifies and re-iterates that he celebrates Francis’ calling to minister to all peoples:

I applaud Francis Chan for his faithfulness to GOD’s call on his life. Clearly, his life and ministry has blessed the church; I hope he continues to speak and minister to all groups of people.

Those of you who are regulars to my blog, or have heard of my work in parachurch realm, may have a question in the back of your mind that you may not have asked out loud but might have been thinking. Over the past decade, I’ve been networking with next gen Asian American church leaders & parachurch ministry leaders, first as a avocational hobby, then formally via L2 Foundation, and more recently connecting next gen Asian American pastors via Leadership Network.

And, yet, for all my professional career life in working in that Asian American church world, I personally do not regularly attend a next gen Asian American church, nor am I a member of one. (For the record, my church home is currently ROCKharbor.) Does that make me a sell-out, too? Or is it just one more perplexing inconsistency in my very complicated unconventional life?

ohhhh.. what would I give to get 100+ comments … (;

I consider Rah’s effort to be a great companion to a couple of other books I’ve recently read, The Hidden Power of Electronic Culture: How Media Shapes Faith, the Gospel, and Church (by Shane Hipps, cf. the newer title Flickering Pixels: How Technology Shapes Your Faith has very similar content, I’ve heard) and The Divine Commodity: Discovering a Faith Beyond Consumer Christianity (by Skye Jethani).

The above 3 books make a valiant effort at cultural deconstruction and show just how greatly our mainstream American culture has been influenced by theology, technology, and consumerism. And not only that, the typical American evangelical church has been embedded with values that do not represent the Gospel well. To quote Tim Keller, “Every culture is dominated by idols that is not dominated by the glory of Christ.”

Sadly, in too many contexts, it is not safe to ask questions of our church culture and its embedded values. And even if those questions were to be asked, and discussed, to actually create change and transform an institution like the church is seemingly impossible.

So these (almost) prophetic truths are great to surface, expose, and discuss. Yet, could it be that we in the American church has been too enamoured with pragmatic results in church growth and evangelistic zeal? Could it be that by upholding values of excellence, efficiency, and effectiveness, we have lost sight of the more obviously Bibical values of justice, dignity, and diversity — God’s love of the whole world?

Rah’s The Next Evangelicalism has much more to say, and as others join the online conversation of the blogosphere, I’ll add more of my reactions to the book. [update 5/8 great discussion about Rah's book over at julieclawson.com, including comments from the author; cf. Greg Boyd's review "Only WHITE American Christianity Is Dying"; book review at Theological Grafitti; Soong-Chan Rah's blog is http://scrah.xanga.com]

I’ll end this post with one lingering question: the power dynamics of “white cultural captivity” is way more difficult to tackle than a prophetic suggestion to lay down power. There’s no easy way to just lay down power– could you imagine a senior pastor or seminary president resigning and naming his successor as someone who is non-white? In most if not all organizations, the pastor or president wouldn’t have the power to do that anyways. And, wouldn’t the organization go into a tailspin without a duly diligent process to make that transition of power?

(my tentative thought at this moment is that it’d take a non-white leader who has the gifts and capacity to lead both white and non-white people to effect long-term institutional change)

Jesus shows that being spiritual is being engaged in the real world. A real Christian faith is so much more than prayer, Bible reading, attending worship services. And, the Christmas story ought to bring peace and good will to all kinds of people.

Yet, only 7% of U.S. churches are racially diverse.[*]

Q: Why? What are the reasons for its being so low?

A: There are three things, and it depends on the group that we’re talking about, but there’s history, there’s culture, and then there’s social networks. [emphasis mine]

Social networks. The sociological factors that affect church life often go understated, often rationalized in theological constructs. Watch the entire interview from PBS Religion & Ethics:

[*] Religion and Ethics interview with Michael Emerson, author of People of the Dream: Multiracial Congregations in the United States; researchers regard a “mixed” congregation as one with at least 20 percent of its members providing racial or ethnic diversity

Aside: for fans of The Office and/or those who can laugh at their own religions, watch the God, Inc. series over at YouTube; note the difference between “really Christian” and “sort of Christian”]

What would you like to ask Ed Cyzewski? Add a comment below, and since the blog tour is here today, he’ll respond!

Here’s my exclusive interview with Ed Cyzewski –

djchuang >> Having studied theology and thought about it a lot, I’m so glad that you’ve noted other ingredients that shape our theology besides the Bible, namely, tradition, God, and the global church. Some people say they have “no creed but the Bible.” What would you say to them, since I don’t think they’d read your book?

Ed: I’d tell them that my book is even better than the Bible… Sorry, couldn’t resist. I’d ask them where they got the idea that the Bible is their only creed. Did they think of that themselves, completely on their own, or are they part of a tradition supporting that view? This supposedly “high” view of scripture comes from tradition. So we can either act like our traditions don’t affect us, blinding ourselves to their influence, or we can recognize that doctrines and beliefs have been passed down to us and shape who we are, moving on with that awareness. The reality is, we’ll have a clearer understanding of scripture when we recognize the factors influencing how we look at it, taking them into account and perhaps opening ourselves to fresh perspectives–that may end up being even more biblical–outside our own traditions that have heretofore been guiding us.

djchuang >> I’m most interested chapter 10 in the book’s about the global church. I find that much of systematic and historical theology has been done in the Western world. What perspectives could church leaders outside of America give to the American church, as church attendance is plateaued and proportionally declining?

Ed: I wouldn’t profess to be an expert in global theology, but I’d say theologians outside America have a lot to teach us about balancing theology with social action and the place of the Holy Spirit in the church. I think theologically Conservative American Christians have a hard time integrating these two aspects because they fear losing their biblical foundation. After all, they may say, liberals supposedly abandoned the Gospel for social justice, and the charismatics are chipping away at the authority of scripture since they believe God’s Spirit is speaking and working today just like the times of the NT. I know I have a lot to learn from Christians outside of the west in these two areas. And if we can address these two areas, we may find out ways to effectively connect with our communities and to minister in the power of the Holy Spirit.

djchuang >> As an Asian American with bi-cultural background, I think it’s obvious that the multiethnic / multicultural context of the United States could be more of a context for a more racially and ethnically diverse theological discussion. Sadly, 11:00am Sunday morning is still the most segregated hour in America. What would it take to change that?

Ed: I’m a big fan of simple church. I understand that may not work for everyone, but in my own case, I needed to start over with church on a blank slate. I think Organic Church by Neil Cole is one of the most helpful books on ecclesiology out there, but then I’m betraying my simple church/low church bias. Anyway, if we take Cole’s more mission-minded approach that makes it possible for Christians to leave their churches and do their theology out where they minister, we’re taking the first step of getting Christians out of their homogenous circles. And while it’s not a sure thing, I’m hoping that once we’re going out to minister, we’ll start doing more theology in the mission field and we’ll also become a more diverse church. I saw this on some small scales when I lived in the Philadelphia area. Now I’m living in Vermont, which is just about as white as it gets, so my exposure of late to matters of diversity is nil!

However, the internet is probably our best hope for greater diversity accross racial lines when talking about theology. Accessibility is essential, and having blogs and other web sites from theologians different from myself is a tremendous blessing.

djchuang >> Based on the feedback you’ve received from this book, what do you think would be an ideal follow-up book?

Ed: There are two study guides that are meant to be follow up books. So far I’ve received a lot of positive feedback from people who find my take on contextual theology helpful. In light of that, I think it’s a pretty natural step to pick up the Bible Study Guide since it walks readers through the exact method I talk about in Coffeehouse Theology. The other is the Contemporary Issues Study Guide which looks at some of today’s pressing issues with an approach rooted in contextual theology.

Having said that, I think the next step for me after helping Christians with contextual theology, is helping my own tribe, American Evangelicals, sort through who we are, what our message should be, and how we can be the hope for our world. If we know something about our theology in this context, we now need to talk about how we offer the hope of the Gospel to those around us. With so much talk about hope in this election, I just don’t see enough of it coming from the church. So my next book will dig into what it means to be Evangelical today and how we can stop shooting ourselves in the foot by dividing, judging, etc. I ended Coffeehouse Theology with a challenge to unite around the Gospel message that God the Father loves us, God the Son saves us, and God the Spirit empowers us. I want to help Evangelicals unite around that message and help us live in its truth and power. If all goes well, I should be able to say more about it soon!

Thank you, Ed, for the great interview! How do you think your experiences, context, and community has shaped your theology?

You can read the book’s introduction online. The blog tour continues on Wednesday the 15th at Scott Berkheimer’s theopraxis.net.

To those who are committed to the vision of the multi-ethnic church – To those who want to plant, transform, or revitalize your church toward cultural diversity (but may not know how):

• Do you want to be a resource to others seeking to change?
• Are you tired of doing it alone?
• Do you, your staff, and/or key leaders need to be re-filled with the vision for the multi-ethnic church?
• Do you want to connect with other like-minded leaders?
• Do you need some practical equipping?

Whether you are from the northwest or other part of the country, consider joining us for the Mosaix Portland Conference on Friday November 7 & 8.

Hear from:

• Pastor/author/professor Rodney Woo of Wilcrest Baptist Church in Houston. Rodney has quite a testimony how this church was revitalized into a dynamic missional multi-ethnic church;
• Pastor/researcher/professor Dr. Richard White of Portland State University who shares how multi-ethnic churches can have transformational impact on their communities; and,
• Fifteen excellent workshops related to the multi-ethnic church (for details see mosaixportlandconference.blogspot.com )

To register for the conference, go to www.mosaix.info – click on Upcoming Events and then click on the cart button for Mosaix Portland Conference.

• Deliver Us from Me-Ville by David A. Zimmerman
  I’ve met David on several occasions, fascinatingly creative guy, and the colorful book cover shows that he can draw both comic books and tell a story
• Six Prayers God Always Answers by Mark Herringshaw and Jennifer Schuchmann

  

  Took me reading through 75% of the book before I got it; this is a book about the kind of prayers that people pray, and how God does answer those prayers. Perhaps not the way we want them answered, but God does answer them in many unexpected ways. While there are many books that talk about prayer, as in how to pray (like prayer were some kind of incantation or wish power), and what prayer has accomplished, or what God expects in a prayer that He would hear or answer, this book’s got a more people-based perspective, and I find that to connect with me as a reader in a way that other prayer books haven’t. No, I haven’t read Prayer of Jabez.

• Crossing the Ethnic Divide: The Multiethnic Church on a Mission by Kathleen Garces-Foley

  

  An insider behind-the-scenes look at Evergreen Baptist Church of Los Angeles, an 80+ year old church that’s successfully adjusted with the times from being an intergenerational Japanese church to a pan-Asian church and now to being an intentionally multiethnic church

• Make the Impossible Possible: One Man’s Crusade to Inspire Others to Dream Bigger and Achieve the Extraordinary by Bill Strickland
  This was a gift book that I surprisingly got from an anonymous friend in the mail, with a hand-written note. Looks like another book with a powerful inspirational story. The hand-written note really touched my heart more.
• Just Courage: God’s Great Expedition for the Restless Christian by Gary A. Haugen
  Gary is more than an incredible visionary, but also a most courageous warrior. Fighting the darkness of injustice, here’s a guy that’s mobilizing our generation like no other on this front. I don’t know if this is a sequel to his first book, Good News About Injustice: A Witness of Courage in a Hurting World, which also has the word “courage” in the title. I wonder if the book would do better if it were a one-word title, COURAGE, instead.
• The New Conspirators: Creating the Future One Mustard Seed at a Time by Tom Sine and Shane Claiborne
• I Once Was Lost: What Postmodern Skeptics Taught Us About Their Path to Jesus by Don Everts and Doug Schaupp
• True Story: A Christianity Worth Believing In by James Choung
  James’ Gospel presentation sure kicks it up another notch, by giving us a fuller dimension to the Gospel, and how it is so much more than just crossing the line to have eternal security. James blogs occasionally at jameschoung.net. See the YouTube video of The Story, even in a Southern Style. Here’s James drawing in the sand, kinda like Jesus maybe.
  
• Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God by Francis Chan and Danae Yankoski
  I’ve heard that Francis is quite a gifted communicator, and that kind of delivery comes through the pages. I started to read this on the beach a couple weeks ago. Was distracted by people watching, so I didn’t get very far. Loved how this book had links to the book’s website, and referred to it for the multimedia portion as an integral part of the book.
• Holy Fools: Following Jesus with Reckless Abandon by Mathew Woodley
• Subverting Global Myths: Theology and the Public Issues Shaping Our World by Vinoth Ramachandra
  This one looks really heady and academic. In the global village and multi-national world we live in, we need more books like this to give us a real world perspective that’s not so driven by media sound bites or vide appeals.
• The Almost True Story of Ryan Fisher: A Novel by Rob Stennett
  Hmmm, how a novel snuck into my stack I don’t know. I’m much more of a non-fiction guy, if you haven’t figured out by now.

I have several other stacks of books, and I’ll get around to mentioning those too; no promise on when I’ll get them online.

djchuang’s reply ::

As for becoming a multi-ethnic church, there are a couple of books that most clearly lays out the ingredients for such a church: David Anderson’s book Multicultural Ministry and Mark DeYmaz’ Building a Healthy Multi-Ethnic Church. And my web page at djchuang.com/multi has a lot of resources and articles and books that inform my thoughts about developing an intentionally diverse church.

So, in short, my answer is “yes” — it does take intentionality to become ethnically and racially diverse. It doesn’t happen by accident. If it just “naturally” happens (i.e. without intentionality), we’d see a lot more diversified church, wouldn’t we.

According to one study, more than 92% of all churches in the U.S. are segregated, with more than 80% of their membership representing a single race or ethnic group. I think that 92% is including Catholic and Protestant churches; less than 5% of evangelical churches are diverse, less than 2.5% of mainline Protestants. And, it’d be too overly simplistic to say that prayer and Bible study will diversify a church — most evangelical churches do that, and most are not diversified.

Now, what that intentionality looks like may be different from church to church, and depends on the cultural context of where the church is located.

Those are my top-of-mind thoughts. What would you add?

[update] also see (somewhat) related comment thread “Why are Asian American church leaders so obsessed with multi-ethnic church?” [@ randplaty.com] and “Is diversity a taboo subject within the church?” [@ daveingland.com]

So, you (and your friends) can ask your burning questions about how to transition from a church that’s mostly homogenous into one that’s diversified and has all kinds of people worshipping together.

Dear Friends:

My senior pastor, Dr. Jay Pankratz of Sunrise Church in Rialto, CA would like to help churches deal with some of the questions, issues, and or problems they may be facing as they prepare for, or are in the midst of transitioning from a mono-cultural to a multi-cultural ministry.

Please send me a list of any questions, issues, or problems that you would like to receive some input from a leader who successfully transitioned a traditional white Baptist church of just under 400 (98% White) to a progressive, multi-ethnic and multicultural congregation of 4,000 (30% White, 30% African-American, 30% Hispanic, 4% Asian).

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Your servant

Art Lucero

* add a comment here or email Art directly at alucero@sunrisechurch.org *

For 60 minutes, join NextGenerAsianChurch.com as we talk over Skype about this burning question: “What role could / should / does ethnicity play in the Asian American church?” This isn’t like Cramer’s Lightning Round or Rush’s Open Line Friday or Hannity’s Insanity to Trash the Lines. We’ll have a moderated conversation where everyone participates, and who knows, it may just get a bit lively and exciting.

[update 9/04] Skypecast didn’t work, so we improvised and used a free conference call service and brought 4 of us together (David Park, Josh Deng, Joshua Settles, and myself) for an hour discussion. Listen to it below or download the MP3 (27 MB) — it took me a bit of rambling to get the conversation rolling, and it gets good towards the 2nd half.

Use the free software Skype to join the skypecast on Sun 9/2 at 9:00pm Eastern / 6:00pm Pacific. [update] Skypecast isn’t working; we’re using a free conference call — dial-in to 218-486-1300, conference bridge # is 890537 (long distance charges may apply, or use SkypeOut, or better, use your free weekend minutes on your cell phone).

Here’s 4 sound-bite kindlings to get your mind revved up::

• Long time no talk
• does ethnicity matter in church?
• multiethnic churches saying and doing different things
• Follow-up to Race and the Emerging Church – Conversation in Atlanta

This book unpacks theological and practical principles for local churches interested in truly serving their neighboring communities in an increasingly diverse America. It paves the way for the future of the local church and the next generations of its leaders.

And just in time for the book release, Mark DeYmaz is blogging now at www.markdeymaz.com . Mark is a part of the Mosaix Global Network, which has 4 regional conferences this October and November chock-full of inspiring speakers and workshops to explain and show how to build a multiethnic church. Details for the Northeast regional conference in Pennsylvania is online at mosaixglobalnetworkne.blogspot.com.

David Park and the Atlanta Emergent cohort had some very intense conversations about racism that lasted for hours, even past closing time of where they were chatting.

Racism and the church isn’t supposed to be an easy topic. So while I was pleasantly surprised to see 9 Marks Ministries dedicate its entire Sept/Oct 2007 issue of its eJournal to discuss issues related to the problem of racism. The 13 articles and book reviews are organized under 3 headings: Is there a race problem? Reflections on the problem, and Overcoming the problem.

I found most of their articles to barely scratch the surface of the embedded problem of race within the American church. While upholding the imperative to think theologically about all things, and perhaps due to the limited space of addressing such a complex and multi-layered problem, all the energy gets spent on theological abstractions and doctrinal priorities with little consideration for strategic moves to make long overdue systemic and structural changes. So let’s get to the fresh thinking about racism already, rather than concluding with the same song to get more theological and get more thinking about the racism problem. And let’s really dig deeper and recognize how culture shapes theology, and the lens by which theological constructs were put together may need re-examination and itself re-considered in a more multicultural context.

Note the 3 Asian voices in the mix: Sam Lam wrote about 10 lessons he got from reading Frank Wu’s Yellow, and Jeremy Yong & Geoffrey Chang both wrote book reviews on Growing Healthy Asian American Churches.

What I’d like to see: someone from the “gold-standard” Reformed theological camp write a book that does articulate how a Reformed kind of Asian American church would look like and address that cultural milieu. And, why is it that just thinking rightly about theology, the Gospel, and the cross, and supposedly living out of that faith, has not resulted in Reformed churches being any more ethnically-diverse than non-Reformed churches.

[update 8/31] Good grades means less friends for Blacks and Latinos. cf. The Fryer-Torelli paper, An Empirical Analysis of Acting White (PDF), has gained much attention and buzzworthiness among scholars in The Academy as of late, which found an inverse relationship between good grades and popularity among Blacks and Latinos. [ht: 8asians.com]

[update 9/4] The Baptist Standard weighs in race issues in the church too:

• Race: The final frontier
• Baptists active on both sides in the Little Rock integration battle
• Opportunities, challenges confront increasingly multi-ethnic congregation
• Minorities are flocking to multi-ethnic campus groups for Christian fellowship
• Aging minister recalls price paid for recognizing God’s image in all people
• BOOKS: When All God’s Children Get Together–A Memoir of Race and Baptists

And, Ed Stetzer has a good discussion going at his blog post titled Racism and 9 Marks.

You can join the call by using Skype, a free download and a free call. For the curious, the Skype outage that lasted for almost 2 days last week had been resolved, and the network is more reliable than ever. You can read their techie notes on what happened and further clarification about the Microsoft connection or lack thereof.

This month’s conversation topic: What role could / should / does ethnicity play in the Asian American church?

In addition to the quotes already posted as conversation starters, I’d add this reflection from David Park:

In our churches, we emulate White America to the extent that if I closed my eyes and went into any given EM in the country, I wouldn’t even know that it was a non-white congregation. None of the content or presentation is tied to our ethnic identity. To add to the madness, if we actually take what we’ve learned to heart and abandoned the ethnic church to attend white churches, it becomes a huge crisis in our parents’ churches while at the same time we get token seats for increasing diversity at newly minted “multi-ethnic” churches. But at the same time, our white friends will say something as inane as, “I don’t even think of you as Korean.”

So many of us have been slaves for so long, we’ll take any master as long as he doesn’t look like us because we can hardly stand to be ourselves, much less to be concerned for ourselves. Why? Because every good slave knows that a child of the master is more valuable than the child of another slave.

In my work and hobby of networking with Asian Americans, there are some who believe ethnicity plays absolutely no role whatsoever in the church. And ironically, those who say that ethnicity plays no role would tend to attend a church that is majority Asian Americans.

And a timely echo of the above notion is this new book scheduled for release in February 2006: Growing Healthy Asian American Churches. The publisher’s description mentions an all-star cast of key leaders [hat tip: Jon Ng, who has worked on websites like goodpersuasivespeechtopics.com]:

The Asian American church is in transition. Congregations face the challenges of preserving ethnic culture and heritage while contextualizing their ministry to younger generations and the unchurched. Many Asian American church leaders struggle with issues like leadership development, community dynamics and intergenerational conflict. But often Asian American churches lack the resources and support they need to fulfill their callings.

Peter Cha, Steve Kang and Helen Lee and a team of veteran Asian American pastors and church leaders offer eight key values for healthy Asian American churches. Drawing on years of expertise and filled with practical examples from landmark churches like Evergreen Baptist Church of Los Angeles, NewSong Church and Lighthouse Christian Church, the book provides soundly biblical perspectives for effective ministry that honors the Asian American cultural context. Insights from such pioneering leaders as Ken Fong, David Gibbons, Grace May, Wayne Ogimachi, Steve Wong, Nancy Sugikawa and Soong-Chan Rah make this an essential guide for Asian American church leaders wanting to help their congregations achieve health and growth. (Produced in partnership with the Catalyst Leadership Center, a resource organization for Asian American church ministry.)

Growing Healthy Asian American Churches can be pre-ordered at amazon.com for pre-delivery before it shows up in any brick-and-mortar book store, delivered right to your home or office without having to fight traffic or waiting for a parking space.

More older finds:

This Sheep & Goats article on Ethnos in La Jolla, California, provides multicultural training as a part of membership (September 2005):

Central to Ethnos‘ vision is to reach a variety of ethnic communities. “In the UTC area, there are 40 languages spoken at the local elementary school,” said Pastor [Yucan] Chiu. “We want to help people realize that Jesus is unique and culturally relevant to all people.” Chiu said he is intentional in his outreach to numerous cultures. In Ethnos’ membership class, time is spent on multicultural training.

Crosswalk.com picked up on what the church ought to do about racism post-Katrina, in Racism & Katrina: How Should Christians Respond? and Examining the Church’s Role in Racial Reconciliation, Part 2 (September 2005).

And, this excerpt from A Pentecostal Vision for the Church: A Reflection on Acts 2:1-11, by Jin S. Kim (2001), distinguishes multiracial from multicultural:

A clear distinction must be made between a multiracial church and a multicultural church. A White church with a spattering of minorities is nominally a multiracial church because the membership consists of people from more than one race. It is not a multicultural church, however, if there is room for only one dominant culture, and all others are marginalized. I hear this lament often from my colleagues: We open the door and welcome the minorities in our community, and they will visit, but they will not stay. Little do people realize that most congregations exude an ?understanding? that there is one dominant culture operative in that congregation ? the White culture ? and all non-Whites are expected to check their cultural assumptions at the door. This is no less true for an African American church, or other ethnic churches. In a Korean congregation, for example, a few White, Black, or Hispanic members may be scattered in the pews, but everyone understands that the prevailing culture is Korean, the dominant language is Korean, the leadership is Korean, and most impacting of all, the gospel will be interpreted through the lens of the Korean experience. Most multiracial churches are, in fact, monocultural.

Hmm, maybe I need to rename this series from multiracial to multicutural.

The issue remains, it seems to me, how to make it happen, not just to raise awareness about it. I think there is fairly broad consensus that the church is for all people, and it’d be great to have a multiculturally diverse church. Granted, there is still a place and need to get more dialogue going, to increase understanding, to enjoy talking with people who are different, to grow new relationships and friendships, and all that is foundational, even for the non-foundationalists. Emergent (the conversation revolving around the church that is emerging) has launched a place on the web at www.emergentdiversity.com to start that conversational stream, and to coordinate a f2f event about it. Along the lines of : something is better than nothing.

As an aside, some very basic practical questions may still trip people up, like what do you call them? Latino or Hispanic? Asian or Chinese or Korean? Black or African American? Here’s one of my recent AIM excerpt [edited for legibility]:

djchuang: Should I be using Latino or Hispanic [to refer to the largest minority group in America]?
genxlatino: just use whatever the person you are speaking to uses
djchuang: ok, latino man!

Other finds on racial diversity; it even is an issue among academia >> Generous Orthodoxy posted Practicing Pentecost, linking to Anthony Smith’s paper Practicing Pentecost: Discovering the Kingdom of God Amidst Racial Fragmentation (pdf), excerpt:

Practicing Pentecost is about participating in the shalom of God that is producing local ekklesias that will embody a racial and cultural unity while also resisting death-dealing Powers in their profound rebellion of influencing ways of doing church that perpetuate racial divisions and hostilities that are ultimately an affront to God’s intent for a new creation that is to be found in Christ’s Body.

And, this awkward racism at an academic conference, described in this post: Power of words . noting two posts by Phil Sinitiere that set the stage for these thoughts: Accosting White Privilege, Interrogating Racism and Practicing Pentecost, and Accosting White Privilege, Interrogating Racism and Practicing Pentecost, Part 2; cf. Race and the Emerging Church.

At the end of Between Hauerwas and Constantine, cont’d, the author said Anthony has convinced him that racism needs to be a new and central issue Radical Orthodoxy agenda.