Building a multiethnic church is no easy task in America. In a country with so much racial friction stemming from many different issues, it can be hard to desire unity. But Christians have hope in a God who desires unity for his people through Jesus Christ (John 17: 20-23).
All of the issues pertaining to race and ethnicity have created a culture that says, “I will stay with my people, and you stay with your people.” You could write a whole article on these issues, but the reality is that they have made it difficult to build a multiethnic church.
I am a black man, but I was born and raised in Toronto, and that matters in this context. In Toronto, I grew up around many Indians, Chinese, and white people and was drenched in Caribbean culture. My mom is from Barbados, and my dad is from England. Toronto is also considered one of the most multicultural cities in the world. My upbringing forced me to have a cross-cultural experience both in the church and throughout my life. Then, when I was 18, I received a scholarship for track and field at Iowa State University, a predominantly white institution.
All of the multiethnic experiences I grew up with began to feel useless because everyone stuck with their kind. The Chinese kids only hung with the Chinese kids, the blacks with the blacks, and the whites with the whites, and that was ok with everyone. But it was weird for me.
I thought that going to the church would change this fact right? Because of, well, Jesus right? I thought that If any place could break down these walls it would be the church. The problem is that the church has even more issues with race. It’s like we skipped right over the book of Ephesians. Building multiethnic churches requires a lot of intentionality and prayer to overcome the obstacles.
10 Things to Consider to Build a Multiethnic Church
1. Comfort is Not The Goal with the Multiethnic Church
One of the biggest problems with church in America is that people want to go to church where they feel comfortable. The experience is about how you feel, and if it does not feel good, then people will go elsewhere.
The issue is that The gospel is not about what makes us comfortable and all warm and cozy. There is so much in the Bible that is not comfortable, and as Christians, we need to get used to this.
- The first will be last, and the last will be first – Matthew 20:16
- Blessed are the lowly in spirit – Matthew 5:3
- We must suffer for Christ’s sake – Philippians 1:29
- You must love your enemy – Matthew 5: 43 – 48
- Jesus washing the disciple’s feet – John 13
The greatest of them all is Jesus dying on the cross. Jesus was obedient to the point of death on the cross. He loved us so much that he was willing to give up his life so we could have eternal life with the Father.
What Does Being Uncomfortable In The Multiethnic Church Mean?
- Music will always be different
- Preaching styles will always be different
- The colors of the faces will be different
- You will attract many different ages
- Response to a message and worship will be different
- Connection groups will have to adjust to a variety of people
- Uncomfortable conversations will happen regularly
What happens in a cross-cultural church is that you have to let go of your preferences. People leave churches over the music all the time. Some want hymns, others demand gospel, and still others think you only need a guitar.
The point is that there is no way to do this cross-cultural thing right unless you’re willing to make everyone uncomfortable to invite different people to hear the Gospel.
2. The Default Always Goes Toward The Majority
One of the hardest things about normative culture is that it becomes what is right often, even when it’s not Biblical. I think this same thing can be said in any part of the world towards whoever is the majority culture. I was raised in Caribbean culture, so if churches there wanted to invite white people in, they would need to recognize their default in the same way. What is hard in America is that the country has been one of the most powerful in the world, and a lot of the wealth is held by white people. This plays out because white people tend to have more evidence that they are doing things right through worldly success.
For a church to become a cross-culture church, people must consistently ask the question, what do I assume is the right way that is not biblical?It’s a hard question to ask, leading to more uncomfortable conversations. The truth is that the more you do this, the more you create spaces that allow other cultures to shine.
Revelation 7 describes how people from all nations, tribes, and tongues will be represented in heaven. No one culture can fully represent Jesus in the same way that no member of the body can fully represent Christ. You need every member of the body to play their role, and we need every culture to bring its best as well. You have to look at the voiceless in your church and community and intentionally listen to what they have to say if you want to reach more of them.
3. People Have to Move Toward Jesus in the Multiethnic Church
One of the tough things about building a diverse body of followers is that most people don’t want to be around different people. If you have not noticed, our default is to want to be around people like us.
We want to be around people the same:
- Class
- Age
- Race
- Ethnicity
- Hobbies
In the United States, for example, there is a large percentage of white Christians who go to mostly white churches, and they are totally ok with that. They do not desire change because they are comfortable with how things have been. I want to be clear: this makes sense if you live in a white neighborhood. Where this gets complicated is when you see churches in diverse neighborhoods that still end up being white.
Some people go to black churches who don’t desire to go to a church with a lot of white people. Whenever you want to bring cultures together, it means that people will need to give up a lot of their comfort. You begin to desire change because you understand that heaven itself will be diverse. When you understand that, you start to realize that no one culture, race, or ethnicity group can come close to fully knowing God.
The whole design of the Body of Christ is that we NEED others. We need other cultures and ethnicities to be in the body, and when we don’t have that, we miss them.
Revelations 7: 9-10:” After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
4. Everyone Needs Jesus!
One thing I learned living in a poor neighborhood compared to a wealthy one is that wealthy people have enough money to cover their sins. That is the only difference. We need to stop believing the lie that poverty equals more brokenness than wealth. It’s not true because sin is sin. Maybe in a rough neighborhood, you will see more crime, but in wealthy neighborhoods, people will have the ability to hide their crimes, and if they get caught, they can pay a good lawyer to help them.
The point is that we all need Jesus!
1 John 1: 7-10: “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make a liar, and his word is not in us”
John 15 5-6: “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers, and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.
Luke 19: 10 “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
We must always grip with the reality that we all need Jesus. Jesus came for sinners, and you and I are both sinners. The more you grapple with this, the easier it is to be loving and see the dignity in all other humans. If you are NOT a sinner, then you don’t need a savior.
When you start seeing yourself as being better than you are apart from Christ, you start thinking that you are the one who can save people.
Everyone needs Jesus, no matter your class, race, age, ethnicity, or any other factor that can be used to divide humans.
5. We Are Called to Love Our Enemies
Matthew 5: 44-47: “But I say to you, Love you enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward for you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?”
Let’s get something straight: the call here is not easy. It’s easy to hate people who hate us, but we are called to something more. No matter how divisive the world is around us, we must be willing to love those society calls our enemies.
We have to be willing to love those whom we feel justified to hate. Jesus loves us even though we are far from righteous. Since he loves those who once were fully opposed to God, we need to extend that same grace to others.
6. Everything About Leadership Needs to Change in the Multiethnic Church
The one trend we see often within the church and corporate culture in America is white leadership trying to figure out how to become more “diverse.” Some are only doing it to show they care, but there are others who genuinely want to accomplish this.
Here is the problem: Many people who want to see the bottom change don’t want to see the top change. You need to bring diverse perspectives to the top of any church to see the congregation change.
How often do you see a church with an all-white staff, an all-white elder, and a deacon team trying to figure out what people different from them would want? It does not work! The same thing applies to poverty. You can’t ask what poor people need from many wealthy people. You must go to the people you want to serve and ask them for their perspective. You need to be willing to put someone who looks different and lacks the “normal” education and disciple them into being deacons and elders.
Subtle messages are sent when a church has all leaders in one particular group. That message is that no one else who is biblically qualified (1 Timothy 3) around here could lead this church. The church needs to be much more intentional about who leads. It’s not about picking for color but about recognizing that you will not become a Revelations 7 Church by only affirming one group of people as leaders. If you never have one difference in your leadership pipelines, ask why.
7. The Environment Must Welcome All For The Multiethnic Church to Be Built
Here is the problem: if you have hostility in your church in any way, the environment that flows from that will not be inviting. Race has caused so much hostility, and it automatically blocks people out. You will have a black church angry towards white people, you will have a white church that refuses to change anything to be more welcoming towards black people. Then you get Asians who are caught in the crossfire and who don’t feel welcome from either side.
The goal should be to create a church that is inviting to anyone who decides to learn more about Jesus. That means you can be poor, rich, black, white, or any other color. You have to be intentional about this, or else you will end up slowly building a culture that is accepting of one type of people because deep down, you believe that the one way is the best.
Ephesians 4: 4-7: “There is one body and one Spirit – just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call – one Lord, and one faith, one baptism, one God and father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gifts.”
8. Lean Into Those With Multiethnic Experience
One of the toughest obstacles to overcome in building a multiethnic church is learning to listen to different people. For so long, leadership structures have sought the same types of people. The reality is that leaders need to talk with whoever people are following. That is the sign of a strong leader. If someone is leading a gang, for example, they have people following them. To say they are not a strong leader because they are doing wrong is not true. If you can convince the leader of a gang to follow Christ, you can likely get some of the people who follow them to do the same.
To build a multiethnic church, churches need to lean into people who have experience in multiethnic contexts. You will be able to tell who does this by the fruit you see in their lives. Their way of life will always focus on diversity because they value what it brings to the table.
Churches should be disciplining these people to be:
- Elders
- Deacons
- Connection Group Leaders
- Ministry Leaders
- Using Their Spiritual Gifts to Build The Kingdom
9. Every Culture Has Strengths and Weaknesses
In 1 Corinthians 12, we clearly see that the Body of Christ needs everyone to play their role. You can’t just have a head and a hand because they will be useless without organs.
Romans 1: 24-25 – “Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator who is blessed forever! Amen.”
Christians accept that people are broken, but often, cultures are not. Cultures are often broken in different ways as well. There is not one culture that is perfect and without sin, because cultures consist of groups of people.
That means cultures must work together and understand that no one has everything right. The white church is not the right way to do church; there are things that represent God’s holiness that it is missing. But that is also true of every other culture and church.
The only way to fix this is to focus on working together. Too many cultures and countries want to create distance between each other instead of seeking to learn.
Revelations 7 describes how every nation, tribe, and people of all languages will stand before the throne and before the Lamb. That does not mean one culture; it paints a picture of how every culture will play a role.
10. You Have to Trust in God’s Timing When Building a Multiethnic Church
Proverbs 21:3 “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the heart.”
Ecclesiastes 3:1: “For everything there is a season, and time forever matter under heaven.”
One of the biggest pitfalls to building a biblically diverse church is that most people are not patient enough to do it.
We all have our own ways and ideas and want things to happen quickly. When that does not happen, people leave!
You have to be ready to be in this for the long haul. This is especially true if you are not starting a church from scratch. If you are trying to transform a church that has been dominated by one people group into a diverse one, you have to trust in God’s timing, not your own.
The Hard Reality of The Multiethnic Church
The hard truth is that being a Christian is not easy.
Anything that paints a picture of heaven the devil wants to destroy. He has one job: tear down what God wants to build. Although the victory is already won in Jesus’ name, until he returns, things will still be hard.
1 Peter 5:6-10 – “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.”
If God desires to have all nations, tribes, and tongues praise him together, then he will do everything he can to create division and hate amongst different people groups.
The fact that something is hard does not mean that it is not worth doing. We are called to pick up our cross and follow him. Jesus was perfect, he did not sin even once, and the result was that we killed him. He faced so much hate and conflict even though he was completely righteous amongst unrighteous people.
1 Peter 3:13 – “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something stranger were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.”
