“I wouldn’t join a Puerto Rican church start-up…”

August 22, 2011 “I wouldn’t join a Puerto Rican church start-up…”

A few things sparked some of my recent thoughts on why I believe exclusively ethnic church starts (or planting as it is called in church circles) is short-sighted. First was an NPR piece I heard on the radio on multiculturalism. Second was a friend’s response to it. Third was an article I read about why an African American was “leaving the black church”– an article I neither bookmarked nor can find on Google. Sorry. (Although I will say that article was much more theologically based, while my thoughts are more cultural). And fourth was a lengthy conversation I had recently at a university coffee shop about ethnic mapping and church planting.

Let me just start by saying a few things:

1. I am not disavowing my cultural heritage. I love my history, language, and Latin flavor. I will also point out I’m writing this from a 2nd generation urban Latina perspective.
2. I grew up in and I am currently a part of a predominately Latino church. I love my church family, but it’s changing. More and more people are coming who either do not speak Spanish well or are not even Hispanic (and yes, I use the terms “Hispanic” and “Latino” interchangeably. I’m aware of the dispute of the terms, I just don’t care to go there).
3. I am not personally putting my foot down on this issue indefinitely. If God calls me to be a part of a predominately Puerto Rican church plant, then I’ll go. But here are some of the reasons I say I won’t:

My faith and my culture should not be synonymous. This has been a problem for generations now. I can see the benefit in linking faith with culture. It provides a community or a support system to identify with. But this does an incredible disservice to the second generation who will inevitably grow up with a blended culture. Tying faith and culture together facilitates leaving the faith as we move away from our parents’ culture and into our own.

In this model, faith can now be seen as something my parents did– along with the foods they eat, the language they speak and the traditions they hold dear to. And while I embrace many of these traditions, I also eat burgers, speak English and can sing Jingle Bells along with those villancicos.

I will blend both my cultures, and thereby blend my faith, with whatever my other culture dictates. What tends to happen is that my Christian faith becomes a lovely version of tolerance, moralism, and cultural identity instead of the power of God to save… but more on that below.

New England Youth Camp Staff 2011. I'd join this "church".

For better or for worse, the world I grew up in was and is multicultural. This opened the doors to learn new cultures but has closed my generation’s eyes to legitimate threats…

North America, like most of the free world, is becoming increasingly diverse. The United States continues to be the nation of immigrants we’ve always been but one game-changer has been added to the mix. In the 20th century we openly welcomed multiculturalism. The idea of multiculturalism is generally defined as the appreciation, acceptance or promotion of multiple cultures.

Diversity is becoming a welcomed reality. But before that can happen, we need to identify a common culture and provide the means to integrate into it. This is where education is pivotally involved. Integration involves a degree of assimilation but total assimilation is not the goal. Integration requires a mutual degree of acceptance– not the blind acceptance of multiculturalism– but an analytical and critical acceptance based on common values. (Multiculturalism demands insurmountable levels of tolerance and relativism that simply cannot and should not be accepted. Some things are wrong.  Period. Going on a shooting spree is wrong. Strapping a bomb to yourself is wrong).

Now, even though I’m alluding to those “legitimate threats” as being terrorists ones because it’s a reality today, we need not go there. There are aspects of my own culture that threaten my capacity to showcase the glory and grace of God. If culturally, I am expected to aspire towards very high levels self-reliance, this can prevent me from accepting or sharing grace. I’d have the potential to become the most disciplined religious person who ever lived, but in the end, I will have accepted a gospel that glorifies self, masks sin, nullifies the cross and is powerless to save.

Heterogeneity, not homogeneity, challenges us more to genuine community. This was an interesting point in the conversation as to why we don’t seek to work with, much less live in community with, people from other cultures. Working with people of other cultures requires a lot of patience. Westerners crave efficiency over relationships. Much of the world doesn’t function this way. It’s racist to say we will not work with one another for the sake of homogeneity. It’s much safer to say we will not work with one another for the sake of efficiency. Neglecting relationship building because of its inefficiency is pretty common and, unfortunately, exclusively ethnic/homogeneous churches facilitate this mindset.

The Gospel restores the brokenness of ALL peoples and all cultures. I love the way Tim Keller puts it in his book The Reason for God:

Biblical texts such as Isaiah 60 and Revelation 21-22 depict a renewed, perfect, future world in which we retain our cultural differences (“every tongue, tribe, people, nation”). This means every human culture has (from God) distinct goods and strengths for the enrichment of the human race. As [Historian Andrew] Walls indicates, while every culture has distortions and elements that will be critiqued and revised by the Christian message, each culture will also have good and unique elements to which Christianity connects and adapts… [In short], Christianity has taken more culturally diverse forms than other faiths…”

Before the Gospel draws us together in community, it shows us who we really are: not Puerto Ricans, Italians, African Americans, Koreans, Brazilians– but sinners. Will I find it easier to identify with like-minded sinners? Yes. Unfortunately, the Gospel isn’t easy news, it’s good news. If the gospel and its commission are what fuel church planting and God is the Gospel and God is love, then the only thing that should compel our church planting is love, not ethnicity.

Do I believe there is a place for ethnic minorities to gather in gospel community? Yes, and this can be expressed in numerous ways, including church planting. But I’d recognize that culture is fleeting and ever-changing. The Church should consider this when planting in culturally rich soil.

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