different from the others. In fact, in every you were called—one Lord, one faith, communicate with all people. I chose the
country, there are regions with different one baptism; one God and Father of all, last option. I admit that not all pastors or
cultural concepts. Furthermore, the multi- who is over all and through all and in preachers have the capacity of handling
cultural church needs to avoid the com- all” (vv. 4-6, NIV). themselves both in English and Spanish.
mon mistake of considering other cultures In other words, regardless of cultural Our biggest Hispanic church in Charlotte,
as inferior to or worse than others, using diversity, the Church must remember North Carolina, has many people who do
as a measuring stick their own culture. that what unites it is not its traditions, not understand Spanish, but attend the
Just like the rainbow is formed by the personal preferences, or opinions, but the services faithfully. The pastor, who does
merging of several colors to express the fact that it exists as “one body” and that not feel comfortable speaking English,
beauty of nature, the multicultural church it has “one God and Father of all.” Multi- has an individual on the platform trans-
needs to appreciate and love each and cultural churches that desire to win peo- lating into English.
every culture represented in its congrega- ple of different cultures must remember I know one church in San Antonio,
tion if it desires to have a beautiful rainbow that God did not call them to make oth- Texas, that has grown greatly in the past
of God’s people in worship. The best way ers conform to their image and likeness, years. There are numerous groups—the
to accomplish this is to become immersed but to the image of Christ, who gave His majority of them from Hispanic fami-
in the different cultures, understanding not life for all races and cultures. lies—who either do not understand Span-
only the words of their language but also ish or prefer English. Their pastor, who is
their significance and cultural values.
Accept the Reality of
Hispanic and bilingual, has an English
Generational Diversity
service early on Sunday morning. Then,
Maintain Unity in the Midst
At the end of the 1970s and begin- the second service is conducted in Span-
of Cultural Diversity
ning of the 1980s, I served as pastor of a ish. I had the privilege, some years ago, to
The apostle Paul, a pioneer of the Hispanic church in Rosenberg, Texas, preach in this church in English to about
multicultural missionary ministry, wrote, near Houston. During the major part of 200 people—the majority Hispanic. The
“Make every effort to keep the unity of the five years of my time as a pastor, I parents and grandparents of many of
the Spirit through the bond of peace” preached in two languages (Spanish and them probably attended the service in
(Ephesians 4:3, NIV). Many confuse unity English) every Sunday morning. For the Spanish that same morning. This experi-
with uniformity. Uniformity, according to adult Sunday school class, we used the ence was to me a confirmation of how
the dictionary, describes “two or more student and teacher manuals in Spanish. important it is to accept the generational
things that have the same form” or that For the children’s and youth classes, we diversity of the Hispanic community and
are “consistent in conduct; similar.” Uni- used the student and teacher materials in to look for a way of ministering effective-
formity focuses on the external and English. The church was composed of ly in our multicultural world.
demands that others be equal to them— about 40 families. The generational lines The components of the multicultural
think like them, dress like them, sing and were clearly defined: The children and church are brothers and sisters in Christ.
pray like them. Uniformity does not youth still in school did not speak or This implies that the church must be will-
allow others to express their individual- understand Spanish; the majority of the ing to accept and implement changes.
ism. It is inflexible. Unity, in the words of parents of these children understood and
the dictionary, is the “quality or state of spoke both languages; the majority of the
1
being made one.” Unity is different from elderly understood little English and pre-
Donnie Smith, “Mountain West Model,”
uniformity; it allows others to express ferred to use Spanish, while some could
Ministering to Culturally Diverse Populations, ed.
Homer G. Rhea, Church of God School of Min-
their individualism without damaging or not speak or understand English.
istry (Cleveland, TN: Pathway Press, 2004) 33.
destroying the essence of the whole. It is Also, some of the members of the 2
Minutes of the 64th General Assembly of the
a group of individuals working together congregation were married to a person
Church of God (Cleveland, TN: Pathway Press,
for a common goal. who spoke only English. My options were 1993) 17.
Then, how can the Church, as a mul- clear: I could have said (like many of our
3
Donnie Smith, 25-32.
ticultural community, maintain unity in churches used to say), “This is a Hispanic
the midst of diversity? It can do it by congregation, here we worship and
Dr. Samuel Robeff serves as
concentrating on its similar elements and preach in Spanish,” or I could accept that
director of State Cross-Cultural
not on its differences. Paul explains it this language is simply a means given by God
Ministries for Western North
way: “There is one body and one Spirit— to announce the good news of the
Carolina.
just as you were called to one hope when Gospel, and use the necessary means to
EVANGEL • FEB 2009 13
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