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Multicultural Ministry

Imagine: A New Church for the New Age

2x2 is merging the First and Fifth Estates.The Church of the last five decades is doomed.

But that it is good news.

We have spent these post-World War years of prosperity building a model for success that only a small percentage of congregations can hope to sustain. Many congregations exist and serve amid this atmosphere of hopelessness. It is not uplifting.

There is no need to wallow in this failure, pointing blame at the people, society or the clergy.

It just doesn’t matter. The model of Church as contained in a building and managed by a person trained in theology is about to be replaced. It’s long impending doom is at last being recognized. It was born of an era when the larger church controlled wealth and a feudal mentality, providing for its support, was ingrained.

When we found ourselves living in capitalist, industrial, corporate economies, it all began to crumble. The maintenance expenses exceeded the means of the communities we intended to serve. People became less and less engaged as more and more was expected.

No need to mourn this passing! What is going to evolve is going to be so much better!

The changes will be enabled by the First Estate (the Church) harnessing the power of the Fifth Estate (the web).

Imagine.

Here are just a few ways the Church is going to be transformed.

STRUCTURE

OLD: A hierarchy manages all education, communication and publishing, assuring that doctrine and tradition are maintained.

NEW: Congregations will seek help beyond denominational lines. It will be readily available to them online at a fraction of the expense.

OLD: A hierarchy oversees the placement of qualified leaders, with long “settled” ministries being the measure of success, making sure their salaries and benefits meet prescribed standards. Meanwhile, these desirable, settled congregations are constantly urged to “transform.”

NEW: Congregations will forsake the single pastor model as poor use of their resources. They will seek qualified help for specific short-term challenges and form ongoing relationships with several pastors. Flexible teams of ministers will serve without affiliating with any one congregation.

MISSION

OLD: A centralized office seeks theologically trained candidates, immerses them in a culture, provides additional training, and places them and their families all over the world. Congregations participate by giving offerings. Missionaries return every few years and make a tour of congregations to solicit continued support.

NEW: Individual congregations will begin to make contact with like-spirited Christians all over the world online. Denomination will be reflected in their actions not in their management. Many members will correspond, share and pray for one another with weekly engagement. Members of all ages will be online pen pals with multiple Christian fellowships. Eventually, congregations will raise money to send a few members of the congregation to visit, strengthening bonds begun online. The network of online churches will crisscross the world.

WORSHIP

OLD: Large structures with a dedicated building, common liturgy and accepted “playlist” of hymns is replicated across the country every few miles. One certified theologian is given status to repeat the words of our Lord from the Bible. Church members participate in assigned roles. Their names are listed a month in advance in the bulletin.

NEW: The structure of worship will embrace many cultures. Multiple church members will lead. Sermons will be preached online by the best articulators of the Word. Local discussions will elaborate on the Word. Members will become accustomed to weekly, spontaneous participation. Published liturgies and hymnals will be passe.

EDUCATION

CURRENT: Sunday School begins at age three and ends at age nine with desperate attempts to fill in the gap between childhood and old age with confirmation, youth ministry, singles clubs, and adult forums, following expensive curricula supplied by church hierarchy. Less than five percent of the congregation participate.

NEW: Churches, via their web sites, will link members to meaningful online forums, supplementing them with local engagement either online or in church. Short daily learnings will replace hour-long classes. Congregations linked online will share their resources and traditions.

STEWARDSHIP

OLD: Church members are encouraged to pledge to the maintenance of their building and sustenance of their clergy. Regional bodies, seminaries, and various social service entities within the church beg for additional funds. The national church adds to the appeal for dollars supplied by the same small pool of people.

NEW: Church buildings will have to multi-task their usage in the community to afford their cost. Many communities will rent or borrow appropriate space in the neighborhood. Regional bodies will provide fewer direct services. Their staffs and budgets will be trimmed substantially. Church social service agencies will completely abandon church affiliation as they recognize that cord was cut when they began seeking public funding. Congregations will choose to support service agencies that resonate with their sense of mission, regardless of their affiliation with religion. This will be an opportunity for church members to personally witness in the secular environment.

CHURCH MEMBERSHIP

OLD: Members are expected to attend worship regularly and to live within an easy commute of a church building.

NEW: Members can be anywhere in the world and participate in community online. Online statistics will be published along with membership and giving numbers.

TODAY

Much of this is already happening. 2×2 is part of this evolution revolution and already experiencing many of these transformations.

 

22 Oct 2012

The Virtues of the Modern Evangelist

There was a song taught to children back in the 50s or 60s. It taught us to think of ourselves as missionaries.

Just around the corner lives a stranger child.
Did you smile at him? Were you kind to him?
Did you tell her of the one who loves us so?
Father, Comforter and Friend.

( I updated the lyrics to include the “forgotten” gender.) The question today is “When do we stop thinking of ourselves as missionaries and evangelists and start leaving that to the paid “experts.”

Today many churches and denominations have lost the sense of evangelism. It is just a big word that’s part of a church name. St. Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, for example. Often—despite the name—congregations, regional bodies and denominations forget that their purpose is to spread the gospel to every stranger. It is so easy to become something of a club—one in which you have no right to play if you don’t sufficiently pay.

Fixing this requires an attitude adjustment—an infusion of “evangelical” thinking.

There is good news! It has never been easier or less expensive to fulfill our evangelical purpose. Any church of any size can participate.

Things have changed in the world of evangelism. Decades ago, missionaries had to be carefully trained. They needed to thoroughly understand theology and immerse themselves in a new culture and language. While, this is still helpful, the internet makes it possible for any congregant to interact with any other Christian anywhere in the world. Language barriers are toppling. So are cultural barriers.

There may be some dangers in opening mission work to the less trained, but there is a cure for that. Train us!

Training can begin with the fostering of evangelical traits.

  • Evangelists must be patient. Patience means listening. Patience means allowing for missteps. Patience means taking time—as much time as it takes.
  • Evangelists must be generous. Generosity does not have to mean money. Think first in terms of giving time and attention.
  • Evangelists must think constantly of others. The minute the attention turns inward, toward your congregation and your people or yourself, you will begin to fail.
  • Evangelists must be transparent. Deceitful practices leave lasting scars.There is no room for deceit in preaching the Gospel. Jesus looked for this trait in his disciples and he found it in Nathaniel. “Truly, here is an Israelite within whom there is no deceit.”
  • Evangelists preach a consistent message. We can make the Bible very complicated and confuse even ourselves. If we are confused, our message will be lost on those new to the Gospel. It may help to stick with one Gospel to get started. The Gospel of John is simple and direct, but deep in interpretation that crosses cultural barriers. It is also very inclusive with stories of Jesus’ interaction with men and women, Jew and Gentile, and both the educated and working class.
  • Evangelists cannot be arrogant. God made us all equal in His love.
  • Evangelists cannot be selfish. Our work is not about us.
  • Evangelists must be humble, patient and kind, slow to anger, and steadfast in love and teaching. 
  • They must be curious—full of questions, helping others to discover answers.

Begin your congregational outreach by fostering these traits in your congregation. Start telling the old, old story. Your web site can be your hub. Start publishing mission content and Christians from all over the world will begin to find you.

15 Jun 2012

Redeemer’s 2×2 Website Surpasses 5000 Visitors

Redeemer’s experimental congregational web site just tallied its 5000th first-time visitor.

Little Redeemer reaches more people every week than most large churches reach on Sunday morning.

Redeemer started 2x2virtualchurch.com in late February 2011.

The site was started as a mission vehicle when  Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod (SEPA) of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America seized our property.

Redeemer knows that small churches are capable of big ministry. The internet seemed to be a perfect vehicle for a congregation with no church building.

By the end of summer 2011, 2×2 had only a few dozen visits. We were posting sporadically — a few times a month.

We began posting daily.

We focused on three strengths of the congregation: Social Media, Children in Worship and Multicultural Ministry. The site also includes commentary on issues facing many neighborhood congregations today.

We learned to create content with others in mind.

We write interdenominationally, but we don’t hide our Lutheran roots.

We link to other related sites and engage in conversation in other religious forums—all things encouraged in this new communications medium.

Statistics guide our content development.

At Easter we posted a short play, written and produced by Redeemer a year before our doors were locked. It was downloaded 150 times. We responded to this interest by posting a Pentecost resource for small churches.

Much of our traffic comes from our ongoing exploration of Social Media topics.

Our Multicultural series did not attract as much attention, but it was reblogged — linked from other sites—more often. This tells us that there is intense if not broad interest.

Several seminaries posted articles from our website for discussion. One of our recent posts was broadcast by a retweeting engine.

We now have more than 80 followers who subscribe daily via Facebook, Twitter or direct email feed. An additional 30-80 visitors per day represent every state in the Union and more than 70 countries with just shy of 1000 visitors a month. As that number continues to grow, we expect to have between 12,000 and 20,000 readers by the end of our second year.

Our highest international traffic comes from Canada, France, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Belgium, South Africa, and Australia. Traffic is growing in the mid-East and Africa.

There are interesting, inexplicable spikes in readership. One day we had 26 readers in the Bahamas! The very next day we had 16 readers from the Netherlands.

We hear regularly from small mission congregations in Pakistan and Kenya and support one another with ministry ideas and prayer.

We are encountering Christians from many denominations — some of them represent very large ministries. We learn of interesting projects and try to help by providing links. A college student in Texas, who has created a ministry recycling VBS materials, gets a few daily visitors from 2×2 links.

Redeemer may be one of the most active and growing congregations in Southeastern Pennsylvania—even if we are shunned by our own denomination. SEPA justifies its actions in East Falls with accusations of lack of mission focus. There is no lack of mission focus at Redeemer. We are just using a very wide-angle lens!

We will be glad to make a presentation to SEPA Synod Assembly on our growing experience in web ministry. Just contact us!

Redeemer is not closed;
 we are locked out of God’s House by SEPA Synod.

photo credit: Absolute Chaos via photopin cc (retouched)
17 Apr 2012

When the Church Faces Demographic Change

jesus-and-disciplesImagine this meeting between Jesus and his disciples and the local church development consultant.

Jesus:
Good to meet you, Mr. Consultant. Thanks for your time. Let’s get right to work. I want this fine group of men to go out into all the world and preach the Gospel. We’re hoping you can give us some advice about the best way to do this.

Consultant:.
I’m so glad you came to me, Mr. Jesus. I am an expert at analyzing ministry potential in Galilee. I know my services come at a steep cost, but in the end, I’ll be able to save you time and money.

Jesus:
So, where should we start? We are raring to go!

Consultant:
I’ve finished my analysis. I reviewed the census reports and toured the neighborhood and interviewed a good number of locals. I hate to discourage you but your ministry dollars might be better spent elsewhere.

Jesus:
You’ll have to explain that. We’ve been walking around Galilee for months and we’ve already made progress. All we need from you is advice on how to best spend our time and resources. Money doesn’t grow on olive trees, you know!

Consultant:
Sorry, Mr. Jesus. I wish I had Good News for you. I know how important this is to you — this being your home and all. But the fact is the opportunities for ministry in your neighborhood are very few. The demographics just don’t support ministry — not here, not now.

A Disciple (you can guess which one!)
Jesus, listen to him. Why are we paying Mr. Consultant if we are not about to listen? The expert said we are wasting our time. Let’s call it quits, divide the money we’ve collected and call it a day. It’s been fun, guys, but I’m with Mr. Consultant. He says the demographics won’t support us. Good enough for me! (He walks away).

Remaining Disciples:
Come on! You have to do better than that. We’re from this neighborhood!

Jesus glances proudly at his disciples but quickly turns back to the local business authority. 

Jesus:
I’m prepared to start sending these men out in teams of two starting right now. They are well-trained. Just point us in the best direction!

Consultant:
Again, Mr. Jesus. You are wasting your time and money. First, everyone around here is Jewish.

Disciples snigger uncomfortably. Consultant notices and quickly jumps to his own defense.

Consultant:
All right, I understand . . you are Jewish, too, but you are the exceptions. How many more fisherman and tax collectors do you think you’ll find? The odds are just not in your favor, especially with the opposition of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Disciples:
What about all the people we’ve already met and helped?

Consultant:
Well, that’s true, but they’re not going to help you. They don’t have any money to support your efforts. They’re “takers.” If you want to succeed in your ministry you need to find “givers.”

Peter, angrily:
Are you calling me a “taker”?!

Consultant:
Whoa. I didn’t mean to rile you. I’m just saying . . . you can’t keep curing the lame and talking to widows and expect to have a viable ministry.

Jesus:
So, what do you suggest? I thought about limiting our ministry to my family and Jewish friends, but I have this idea. Lately, I’ve been thinking about preaching to the (hesitates)  …  the Gentiles.

Consultant gasps:
Surely, you are not thinking of converting Romans and Samaritans! That’s a losing proposition. Our studies show NO interest among those demographics. The chance of success with them is about as good as with the know-it-all Greeks. You might as well start knocking on doors in Gaul! You’ll lose any support you ever hoped of getting from the Pharisees. Sounds like a good way to get yourself killed!

Jesus:
But what about all the children? They seem to like following us.

Consultant:
Yeah, children are real cute, but you just aren’t getting it, Mr. Jesus. Children won’t pay the light bill.

Jesus:
Light bill!? Now you’ve lost me.
But I’m listening. You’re the expert. Where should we go with our message of love and salvation.

Consultant:
I’m sorry to be the bearer of Bad News, Mr. Jesus, but my best advice is to go back to the drawing board with your mission plan. Ministry to Jews, Greeks, Samaritans, Romans, children, widows, sinners, poor, sick, and lame, just isn’t the best use of your mission dollars. Much as it pains me to say, I think the time has come to close your doors. Give what’s left of your money to someone with better odds. It won’t be easy, but really, it is for the best. And as for you disciples, I’ll work up a report on where you can go to fit in. Your work was real good and all. Credit where credit’s due. Oh, before I forget . . . here’s my invoice. I take cash.

This little scenario is not as far-fetched as it may seem. It closely parallels a conversation our church had with a church consultant 20 years ago. It is the very rationale that is behind the epidemic of church closings.

It was carefully explained to us that ministry in our own neighborhood was “not good use of the Lord’s money.” The neighborhood had changed. There was no point in continuing.

Others face the same challenge. One pastor summed it up well.

Our old members are very generous. The problem is that the changing neighborhood is bringing poorer people to our worship who are not accustomed to supporting a church. It takes ten of them to equal the support of one of our older members.

The challenge facing the church is that it is these very people whom churches are pledged to serve. That’s the way it was in Jesus day and that’s the way it is today. When we start looking at every church visitor through our green-tinted fiscal glasses, the entire mission of the church is lost.

Church planners often look for memberships that can support the lifestyle and structure to which they have become accustomed. And that’s where Christian mission ends.

06 Mar 2012

Google Insights Can Reveal Ministry Opportunity

As we explore and learn social media, we turned this weekend to a fairly new social media tool, Google Insights. This tool measures internet activity revolving around key words.

We plugged in key words of topics that interest us to see if they interest anyone else.

We searched for interest in “social media ministry.” The graph that pops up with amazing speed reflects our experience. We have long known that our readers are interested in this topic.

Goggle Insights Results for "Social Media Ministry"

We plugged in “children’s ministry” and “family ministry.” The results showed a decline in interest — not dramatic but decidedly so-so. We experienced the same results with our posts on ministry for children. We have also noted that ministry to children is neglected in many of the churches we visit.

Then we plugged in “multicultural ministry.” This is a topic that the our denomination has announced is a priority. The Google Insights graph revealed a flat line with sharp and short-lived spikes occurring about annually. There is only sporadic interest in this topic!

Google Insights Results for "Multicultural Ministry"

What does this tell us? There are a few possibilities.

  1. If multicultural ministry is a goal, groundwork must be laid. The Church is starting from scratch with this concept. Awareness of multicultural ministry challenges and opportunities must be promoted.
  2. Multicultural Ministry will be an uphill effort. Measurable success may be a long way off. Success might be fleeting.
  3. Other things concern congregations more. Any effort at Multicultural Ministry is likely to take a back seat.
  4. Leadership must be developed for this type of ministry.

The data fails to inform in some areas. It measures only interest — not need.

Why are there occasional, sharp spikes? Was there some event at that time that raised momentary interest?

The value of these “insights” is in what the Church does with the data.

  • Opportunities must be identified.
  • Churches and leaders must have some training and leadership.
  • Instant results should not be expected.
  • Since, there is so little interest, there is likely little experience. All ideas and efforts need to be given a chance.
12 Feb 2012

Why Small Churches Will Save Mainline Denominations

The small church has been neglected for quite a while. Tragically, the neglect has been intentional. It is also short-sighted.

Denominational middle management stressed viablity in congregations at a time when the economy was impacting their own bottom line. Small churches became attractive targets for closure. Their weaknesses were highlighted while the denominations’ struggles were hidden from view. The attitude was, “We know what’s best for you. We can make better use of your resources. Praise God for your 100-150 years of dedication. Hand over the keys and where do you keep the money?” No “please”; no “thank you.”

This attitude reflects a dereliction of duty. Denominations exist to serve and once you write off your constituency, ethical dilemmas soon abound.

Suddenly, the failure of small churches becomes a goal — the sooner the better, and please make it easy. Little time and attention are spent on the problems of the small church. Clergy fail to hear God’s call for small parish ministry. Small churches must rely on lay skills and the devotion of retired clergy, whose training and active years predate the current thinking.

This is a shame. Small churches are ideally situated to address many of the problems faced by denominations today.

It’s a David and Goliath scenario.

A Goliath church is large and cumbersome. It looks down on the rest of the world and can be haughty about its wealth and prestige. The budget is top-heavy with professional salaries and property maintenance. Parish life revolves around making these assets function. This makes it more difficult to identify change in the community and refocus on changing ministry priorities. Any priorities to be addressed must fit the skills and interests of salaried leaders. The priority is always paying pastors and keeping up the building. A Goliath church has an army of support. Armies work best when there is someone giving orders.

A David church is small, agile and wiry. It meets the rest of the world eye to eye. It doesn’t have the status of larger churches, but it is likely to know very well where its strengths lie. It has a hard time getting the attention of denominational leadership. It presses forward, relying on members’ talent, fueled by a spirit and devotion that is ready to overcome any obstacle. It does not have much in the way of internal hierarchy to weigh it down. It can change ministry plans and emphases easily as neighborhoods change and new challenges arise. Any member can implement a new idea. A David church is likely to change quickly and the denomination, who may have been paying no attention for years, is none the wiser.

Mainline denominations face challenges today that are ideal for David-sized church ministries. Small churches are likely to interact personally with visitors and less likely to depend on someone else taking the lead. Multicultural ministries can be easily pursued in neighborhoods where populations are changing. The disabled and disenfranchised can be served one on one without unwieldy programs. Families led by single parents can easily find support and acceptance. David churches have been training their own leaders for decades. They have skills and energy that King Saul would not notice — until he is desperate.

Of course, large churches can also address these issues, but there is a greater tendency to create programs led by well-paid experts, while small churches will roll up their sleeves and embrace challenges personally.

The problem is that denominations come to their David churches with Goliath expectations and solutions. Small churches know they cannot afford Goliath budgets. That doesn’t mean that closing David churches and reallocating their assets is the answer. The answer is in finding ways to help David churches be the best they can be with their resources. Use their resources to help them with their challenges.

Wise denominations will look to their small David churches for ideas and energy and stop viewing them as tomorrow’s dinner.

11 Feb 2012

Why Small Churches Are Ideal for Multicultural Outreach

2×2 is polishing the crystal ball. Looking into the future, we see the small urban church as having the best potential to implement multicultural ministry.

Here are the reasons why:

  • Location, location, location 
    Small churches sit in the middle of changing neighborhoods. If multicultural ministry is the goal, the church needs to be where the cultures are!
  • Heritage
    Small churches remain close to their heritage which often had their roots in immigrant ministry. Suburban churches are likely to have had a later historic start and missed that experience.
  • Size
    Smaller groups of people make it easier for newcomers to become involved in influential ways more quickly. They will not be lost in a crowd.
  • Ability to Adapt
    Small groups can change more easily and quickly with the right leadership. There are fewer minds to change. Leaders are easy to identify and motivate.
  • Personal Touch
    Guests stand out in a small church. Visitors readily greet them. This has been very pronounced in our Ambassador visits. Smaller churches meet and greet — before church, sometimes during church, and after church. Medium-sized churches often assume somebody else knows you and may say hello. Larger churches have an invitation to sign the guest book printed in the bulletin.

Small Churches Have the Best Shot of Leading the Way — Except

  • Many small urban churches are targeted for closure.
  • Their ministries have often been neglected with minimal professional leadership provided. Leaders are often assigned as “caretakers,” waiting for congregations to get discouraged and close. While they are providing “palliative care” the neighborhoods around them are changing with no outreach efforts attempted.
  • Interim ministries (the new normal) slow the process of change. While congregations are in a year or more of evaluation/assessment limbo, neighborhoods keep changing. When the congregation finally calls a pastor, they are starting over once again with probably another year before outreach can be attempted. That’s two years of a congregation’s history and resources spent focusing on relationship with a pastor — not outreach. With an average length of pastorate being just a few years, that’s a high percentage of a congregation’s time and resources focused on self.
  • Often, resources are depleted during years of maintaining a status quo and doing NO outreach. People are afraid to spend money, attempting to preserve assets for their current ministry as long as possible.
  • Assets of small neighborhood churches are sometimes eyed by the denomination.
  • Attitudes toward small churches, fostered by hierarchy, make them unpopular places for clergy to seek calls. What energetic pastors want to hold the hands of a congregation that has been labeled caretaker ministries with closure in the near future?

If denominations want to advance multicultural ministry, they must take a fresh look at the neighborhoods where multicultural ministry is most needed and find ways to make ministry possible.

The first challenge to the Church is to reverse the negative attitudes towards small churches as not worth the attention of church leaders. These attitudes squander the resources available for multicultural ministry.

This type of ministry requires special training. Seminaries must stress evangelism skills. The current scenario many small churches face is pastors who charge the laity to do this outreach. The laity have even less training than pastors! This is not working!

New ideas for teaming ministry talent (both lay and clergy), church agencies and resources must be explored.

Failure to address these conditions over the course of many years has created distrust between congregations and regional bodies. Reports from church consultants and online polls are consistently close in numbers. According to them, two thirds of church members have lost confidence in their denominational leaders with an additional 10% or more not sure. This should set off the sirens among leadership circles, but they have been slow to recognize the problems.

Rebuilding trust is a good place to start.

11 Nov 2011

13 Ways to Prepare Your Congregation to Welcome Other Cultures

The success of your Multicultural Ministry begins with preparing your people. You are entering uncharted waters and your people want to know what lies ahead.

People need time to adjust to new ministry initiatives. Expect apprehension.

Recognize that faith is not constant. It is likely that you have members that are in various stages of their individual faith journeys. Faith wavers with age and circumstance. Faith is precious and needs to be nurtured and protected.

  • Youngest children have the strongest faith. They rely on everyone else for survival.
  • Some are confident of their value to the church. They are healthy and prosperous enough that they know their position in the “society” of church is secure.
  • Others may still feel like newcomers and be unsure of their ability to contribute to the ministry. They are weighing what their investment should be in a new direction. They haven’t quite grasped the old direction!
  • Others may feel threatened. Once they were strong leaders in the church but are beginning to step back. Your congregation’s new direction may have them wondering if there will still be a church they recognize when they most need comfort and support.

Change must be implemented in ways that are not threatening and which can be sustained. Unless you want your congregation to become a revolving door of new members — attracted by a fleeting special initiative and gone with the next new initiative — you must prepare your congregation.

Here are important steps to take as you begin your outreach.

  1. Make sure your pastor is comfortable with the outreach initiative. Ask what help or additional training he or she may need. There are few pastors trained in multicultural ministry. It is as new to them as it is to many lay people.
  2. Work with your governing board long before you take plans to the congregation. You need their full support.
  3. Involve as many as possible in creating a plan. When people are part of change they have less to fear.
  4. Get support staff on board. Your church musicians may have to learn some new music. Your visiting team may need coaching.
  5. Remind members of scriptures that charge us to minister to all the world. Hold a special Bible Study. If people won’t come to a Bible Study, build the elements of the Bible Study into worship and other areas of church life.
  6. Address fears and concerns. Make sure that your current members know that their spiritual needs are still important.
  7. Educate. As you develop your plans and decide what groups in your community you hope to serve, help your members learn about the cultures you will encounter. Invite someone to speak. Recommend books. Point members to helpful web sites. Learn music from other cultures. Have a congregational dinner featuring food from the culture. Take whatever time you need to prepare your current members for change. (The children’s sermon is a good tool for change. Everyone is listening while you talk to the children! Teach the children and you will teach the adults.)
  8. Do not abandon your current culture. Make sure favorite hymns and observances remain prominent in the life of your congregation. Add new things. Don’t replace old things. As stated before, you will know when to mothball the old. No need to force it.
  9. Make it fun. If a foreign language is involved, teach a new phrase a week. You can make this part of your Facebook and Twitter initiatives.
  10. Answer questions immediately. Address negative comments immediately. Failure to do this can scuttle your mission project and allow discontent to spread. If you use Social Media, monitor it and respond to both positive and negative comments. Supporters will be encouraged. Those with doubts will know they are being heard.
  11. Make friends with leaders in the culture you hope to serve. Invite them to participate in a project, so that members make friends a few at a time.
  12. Use inclusive language at all times. Remember as you use Social Media that everybody can take part — your existing congregation and the people you want to reach. It will benefit your mission if you keep your multicultural outreach from becoming “us and them.”
  13. Love one another.
10 Nov 2011

Experiencing Multicultural Ministry: Part 1

2×2’s sponsoring church, Redeemer Lutheran Church, has broad experience in multicultural ministry. As we start a new series of posts, we’d like to share our experience. We doubt it is typical or even if there is any typical methodology to multicultural ministry.

(We invite you to share your experiences. This is a fairly new emphasis within many church bodies. We can probably learn more from each other than from books!)

Multicultural Mission Outreach changed our church enormously for the better. It enriched our worship, our sense of mission, our fellowship, our stewardship, our spiritual life and our individual lives.

We did, however, encounter difficulties we never anticipated and which were severe.

We discovered that the greater church does not understand Multicultural Ministry. Its view seems to be “same old church/different people.” While leaders have identified this as a worthy goal (even a necessity), it does not appear to have a plan to achieve the goal or leadership with training to help implement it. In our experience, lay leadership was pivotal to laying the groundwork.

We encountered something very different, exciting and refreshing!

A Little About Redeemer

Redeemer is a small congregation in a well-established Philadelphia neighborhood. East Falls is home to rich and poor. Up until about a decade ago, it was flanked on either end by government high-rise housing projects. These have been destroyed. New single family subsidized housing has been built where they once stood.  The presence of the “projects” in our neighborhood influenced attitudes toward different cultures for many years.

An outsider passing through would see tree-lined streets with well-kept homes. Some of them are sizable estates. Most are modest rowhouses. There are upscale apartments at opposite ends of town.

Redeemer sits at the economic and cultural crossroads of our community. Across the street is the public library and a K-8 public school. Down the hill is old factory worker housing. Behind Redeemer are middle class rowhomes. Above and across the street are the homes of many of Philadelphia’s movers and shakers, including a former U.S. Senator and Pennsylvania’s former governor.

East Falls is a university neighborhood. Philadelphia University, Drexel and Eastern Universities have campuses within our borders. Temple and LaSalle are also nearby. The local public school has struggled with academic achievement. Quaker and Catholic Schools are neighborhood options. Educational opportunities bring many newcomers to our town.

The buildings are of manageable size. A practical church layout, reflects the practical working class people who built it. In addition to a sanctuary/fellowship hall, our members built a seven-room educational building which proved to be an enormous asset to the congregation even after the loss of members following the turbulent 60s.

Redeemer was in a prime position to become a multicultural church, but it didn’t happen overnight.

A decade of poor leadership in the late 80s and 90s, left the congregation divided. We received little help from our regional body as they were having financial problems and any congregational problem was likely to be seen as opportunity to close a church for its assets. We struggled with our denomination for two years in the late 90s.

Eventually, our lay leaders identified a retired pastor who agreed to help. He came into a congregation that no longer trusted pastors. He spent three years with us, slowly restoring our congregation’s confidence with a weekly message of love. He invited many and a good number joined. He laid the groundwork for acceptance as our new members represented many parts of the world.

One family from Tanzania, began inviting their extended family and friends. Over a period of ten years, we developed a small East African community within our congregation.

In 2006, our congregation decided to concentrate our evangelism efforts on growing this segment of our congregation. We asked our part-time pastor to help us find leadership who could relate to Swahili-speaking East Africans. We talked about this for months. The regular report at council meetings: “There is no one.”

When this pastor resigned suddenly, our members within weeks identified two rostered Lutheran pastors from Tanzania. We started working with them.

Our members put every effort behind this outreach. We began by hosting a separate worship service entirely in Swahili. English-speaking members helped with music, putting together a worship bulletin, hosting fellowship and helping with child care. Leadership discussed that attendance at the English service might have to suffer while people, who normally supported it, helped with the Swahili Outreach.

Within a few months 49 members joined through this effort. At the suggestion of our Swahili-speaking members, we united our worship.

We were not prepared for the reaction of our regional body.

To be continued . . . 

08 Nov 2011

Multicultural Ministry Requires Congregational Confidence

Congregations are not wrong to approach a multicultural outreach program with hesitance. It is honest and human. Humans make good Christians!

Multicultural Ministry means things will change. Change opens the doors to the unknown and that can be unsettling.

Any new ministry initiative must start with the people you have. If they feel loved and respected, they will be equipped to welcome and serve new people. If they feel criticized and worthless, they will become resentful and protective. Your congregation will not have an atmosphere that invites anyone — much less those of other cultures.

Begin your Multicultural Ministry by affirming your congregation. Make sure they are confident and have self-esteem. The one thing every member wants to know (without asking) is that they will still fit in when their congregation begins to change. They want to know that in building a ministry around new people they are not valued less. We all want to be loved for who we are — not what someone else thinks we should be. A confident congregation — no matter how small — can grow.

Approach change as additive. You are adding new people, new music, new traditions. You are not replacing or criticizing the people who have worked and sacrificed for your congregation for decades. Your members should not have to change the things that are very special to them. They can sing the same hymns, have similar observances. New hymns and customs should be added to the old. Visitors don’t expect a church to drop everything and do things their way. They will notice that your congregation respects your elders and traditions. In fact, most foreign cultures respect this more than we do!

Take it easy. This is probably the most difficult concept for leadership to grasp. Leadership tends to be eager for quick transformation. Leaders have incentive to look for success in statistics. They have at stake their professional career image and desire for personal achievement. Congregations, on the other hand, have their entire social order at stake. They have their history, their family relationships and friendships, their way of life/culture and traditions. This must not be run over roughshod. It will destroy Christian community. Measurable successes will be fleeting.

Don’t put a timetable on change. Your congregation will know when to mothball old customs. It doesn’t have to be forced.

Celebrate your people. Members need to know that they are “chosen” for this ministry because they are a good community with ministry skills. Stress the qualities that make your congregation welcoming to other cultures. Build on them.

  • Are your people naturally welcoming? Let them know that this skill is now more important than ever.
  • Have your people travelled? Are they knowledgeable about some other culture? Give them a leadership role. Have them talk about their experiences in other countries.
  • Does your church have families that can mentor new families? Multicultural Ministry may mean that you will be inviting immigrant families or families new to your neighborhood. Prepare your families to show them the ropes. Let them know this is valuable service to their church. Train them. Help them find ways to connect with newcomers.
  • Holidays can be a particular challenge to immigrants. Try explaining Halloween to someone who has never experienced it! Yet children will be expected to take part in Halloween fun at school. Your church families can advise parents, answer questions, or even help them put a costume together. Similarly Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny are ingrained in our society. They can be puzzling to newcomers.
  • Are there people with special skills in your congregation that could be helpful to newcomers? Members with experience in real estate, banking, business and legal issues could be helpful in reaching out to people looking for housing, financing, jobs and citizenship. Their special skills can play a big role in Multicultural Outreach.
  • Do you have members who can help teach English?

When your current members know that they are important to your congregation’s new ministry, change becomes exciting. The threat is gone.

In later posts, we’ll give you real examples of how some of these points played out in our multicultural ministry.

03 Nov 2011