Redemption Boulevard A Multicultural Worship Ministry » culture

Is the multicultural church unintentionally promoting assimilation?

Peter Park — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:00:42 +0000

Cultural assimilation: the process whereby a minority group gradually adapts to the customs and attitudes of the predominant culture and customs.

I think we can all agree that assimilation is not a good thing in that some of the wonderful things about a culture, which can be God honoring, is lost.

But I think even a well intentioned church desiring the call to be multicultural can unintentionally ask assimilate into their way of doing things. This can especially true in churches where there isn’t a lot of diversity in the church or the people in the congregation don’t really understand why it’s important to be multicultural.

However, a good pastor friend of mine said that when there isn’t a dominant ethnic culture, it’s much easier, in some ways, to not have it be about the dominant culture’s preferences. I think that can certainly help, but there may be two more important factors to recognize.

Love and Honor

Romans 12:10 says:

Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.

I think in practical terms if people in the church are willing to learn from one another and fight for one another’s “preferences” we are at least in a better position to live out this passage of Scripture.

I’m not saying that we need to eradicate church leadership and submitting to leaders of our church if they sense a different direction than we do. But I am saying that we need to make an intentional effort to build a bridge to one another.

I think the most fun I’ve had so far at my time at Aldrich Presbyterian is the process in which the song “Come by Here” came to our church. The short version of the story is that an African American woman on our team and I spend a lot of time talking through the tragic history of the song. We wanted to invite the congregation to let this new version that we’ve been doing as a song of reconciliation, confession, and forgiveness.

I believe we were able to do that in a church that isn’t necessarily ethnically diverse at this point. But God helped us build a bridge to the people in our congregation to reflect God’s heart for redemption.

Blog post by Peter Kihyun Park

Our identity is in Christ alone

Peter Park — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 13:00:31 +0000

When you’re building a bridge to other believers in Christ it’s absolutely important to recognize race, ethnicity, class, gender, etc. This is also important in figuring out how we can serve and work together. But when it comes to our identity…our identity is in Christ alone.

Can pain become a badge of honor?

Peter Park — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 13:00:06 +0000

What do I mean by today’s question? Sometimes we can hold onto pain that’s directed at us, at our ethnic group, church, etc. It can sometimes play an important role in allowing people in the church to have a common bond, but it can also become an idol.

For example, when I grew up I experienced two very hard church break ups. And many times when I would bring up those stories it was almost as if I was looking for sympathy or even attention.

In a lot of ways God has healed me from that hard time, but the story has in some ways become a thing where I think, “See! I’ve had a hard life too.“ To me…that just doesn’t seem like something Christ intended for us.

Now, many of us are familiar with Matthew 11:28 which says:

Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.

I believe Jesus can and will give us peace from our burdens and our pain. And when we take a look back at our history, which includes challenges/pain/trials, I believe we need to do so testifying of the faithfulness of God. I believe we need to ask: What did God want to teach me?

Otherwise, we move from being a Christ-centered Multicultural Church to one that’s a self-centered Church.

Blog post by Peter Kihyun Park