Forcing This Issue Is a Waste of Time

Should Churches Pursue Multicultural Worship?

Darrel Rowland reports differing views on whether churches should actively pursue multicultural worship settings. Brian Jones argues that forced racial reconciliation efforts can distract churches from their mission, while Fernando Soto emphasizes the importance of sharing the gospel in people’s native languages and cultures.

• Some church leaders question whether intentionally multicultural worship should be treated as a universal goal.
• Brian Jones argues churches should focus on being Christlike rather than staging reconciliation efforts.
• Fernando Soto says language and culture are deeply tied to identity, worship, and prayer.

By Darrel Rowland

Different Views on Racial Reconciliation

We don’t all agree that God wants his churches to be multiculturally diverse, even in communities where such a goal can be achieved.

“I think the issue of racial reconciliation is borderline irrelevant,” said Brian Jones, founding pastor of Christ’s Church of the Valley in suburban Philadelphia. “Forcing this issue, trying to create forced ‘reconciliation gatherings,’ is just a waste of time and 99 times out of 100 stems from white guilt.”

Fernando Soto, Hispanic minister with First Christian Church in Anaheim, said the vision of whites, blacks, Hispanics, Asians, and others coming together for church services every week is simply “too idyllic.”

“We have criticized missionaries going to other countries and making ‘Christian-Americans.’ It is the same here. The people are coming here, and we’re trying to make them Christian-American here. (We tell them) you came here because you like us, so you have to be like us, learn English like us, worship like us.”

Jones said that while “racial discrimination is a sin, plain and simple,” worship gatherings are still mostly segregated “not because of race, but because of geography, culture, background, ‘comfortability,’ etc. People like hanging out with people who are similar to them in outlook, lifestyle, etc. That’s just life. And church is just one area where that is reflected.”

Jones is confident this aspect of human nature isn’t a sin, unless some sort of discrimination or prejudice caused the divide.

“I’m firmly convinced that you can have two churches separated by a half mile, one be predominantly white, the other predominantly Indian, or black, or Hispanic, and God is totally cool with that. Nothing sinful caused that other than just, well, life—different musical tastes, orientation of community, leadership style preferences, etc.”

Jones, who has served churches in four states in his 23 years in ministry, said all of his best friends growing up in suburban Columbus, Ohio, were black and still are.

“Yet there was never a time in my life where I said, ‘I’m going to be racially diverse in the selection of my friends,’” he said. “In the church I now serve we have a higher percentage of ethnic minorities represented than in the community, not because we’ve attempted to reconcile anyone or anything, but because we’re just being Christlike. People who fit, stay. People who don’t, leave. It’s that simple. For most people that choice has had very little to do with race.”

So how is a church to attempt racial reconciliation?

“My answer—don’t attempt racial reconciliation. It’s an utter waste of time. Just be the church—seeking the lost, embracing everyone, hiring the most qualified and called people for ministry roles, being real and transparent. Anything else borders on the contrived and ultimately distracts the church from its real mission.”

Language, Culture, and Worship

Soto, who is from Chile, said forcing a multicultural church setting along with an unfamiliar language is making things too difficult.

“I think we need to reach people with the gospel first, and to reach them with the gospel it has to be in their own language,” he said.

“I have heard a saying that no matter how old you are, there are two things you are going to do in your native language: One is count money, and the second is pray. Because that’s so close to your identity.”

Soto says it’s true. If he tries to count money in English, he often blunders.

Much the same happens when he prays or praises. “To me it has more meaning if I sing it in my own language.”

At the Anaheim church, the Hispanic service is in the gym with about 100 while the Anglos are in the worship center with about 220.

“We call ourselves a church that worships in two languages, but it’s one church,” Soto said. The finances and leadership (including one Hispanic elder) are combined. Classes through high school are taught only in English.

He points to a Christianity Today column last July about the need for more “monocultural ministries” by the leader of an Asian-American outreach who asserted “multicultural ministry is not more biblical, let alone always most effective.”

Soto said, “I think in Heaven you will distinguish the Japanese from the Kenyan from the Indian. We will not all dress the same way or sing the same language because it says (in Revelation 7) every nation and tribe and language.”

He pointed out if he wants to become a Muslim he must change his diet, revamp his worldview, recite sayings in Arabic, and face Arabia to pray. If he wants to convert to Buddhism he’ll shave his head, dress in orange, and be a vegetarian. Or if he joins the Mormons, he’ll be expected to dress a certain way and read and live a book written to America, no matter where he’s from.

“So they’re changing me into their culture,” Soto said. “My point is, Christianity is different. Christianity comes to your culture and allows you to be a Christian in your own culture.”

Darrel Rowland is an adult Bible fellowship teacher at Worthington (Ohio) Christian Church and public affairs editor of The Columbus Dispatch.

Author: Darrel Rowland