What It Takes to be a Multicultural Church

In today’s episode, I am going to be talking about, what it takes to be a multicultural church.

Transcript

In today’s episode, I am going to be talking about, what it takes to be a multicultural church.

Of course, I know that there are major practical challenges and difficulties when it comes to having a multi-cultural and economically diverse church. If you are a follower of this podcast, you know I have addressed the issue multiple times. The traditional church model can be difficult when attempting to reach several different groups of people in your city because of language, culture, and economic status, but I believe it can be done and should be done. But it is going to take boldness, imagination, creativity, flexibility, and sacrifice. 

Boldness 

How are you going to take that first step in reaching the unchurched? You have to choose to go to them. 

Imagination 

How are you going to get unchurched people to come to your church? You might need to go to the nearest low-income apartment complex and invite every single person by knocking on doors, passing out flyers, and even using social media.

Creativity

How are you going to host unchurched people at your church when they have never been to church? How are they going to understand what is happening in your church? You might need to hold a separate gathering for seekers. 

 Flexibility 

Are you willing to be flexible when it comes to everything going smoothly? Are you willing to be flexible when it comes to people who do not know anything about Jesus or church? Are you willing to be flexible with your church service? You might need to change around many things to accommodate the unchurched. 

Sacrifice

The sacrifice I am talking about would mean, first of all, our time and effort. Time and effort to pray for the unchurched. Time and effort to plan to reach the unchurched. Time and effort to go out and do the work to connect to the unchurched. And then time and effort to build relationships, disciple, and deal with problems that may come up in the person’s life, just like you would with any other church member.  

The second part of the sacrifice would be the tension it would most likely cause your existing members. It may make some of your church members uncomfortable or even angry causing them to leave your church. Members might even try to replace your pastor or leadership. These are very real issues that could happen. I have seen it happen first hand when I was bringing our refugee friends to a church that I was attending years ago. Ideally, you want your existing members to be happy and excited about bringing the unchurched into your church, but if that doesn’t happen, you have to ask yourself, do you value keeping existing church members happy over reaching the unchurched and the unreached? 

A few great questions any Christian or Church can ask themselves when it comes to reaching the unreached and the unchurched are these: What is it going to take to reach the unchurched in your community? What sacrifices do you need to make? What changes do you need to make? 

The mentality that we don’t want to have is this:

“I just don’t have the bandwidth to reach out to unreached people.” “I am too busy.” “I don’t time for another relationship.” “I am scared to reach out to people I don’t know.” “I don’t want to be around ‘those’ type of people.” “I don’t want my kids to be around ‘those’ type of people.” 

For a church it might be: “I don’t want to upset our existing church members.” “I don’t want to interrupt our church service.” “I don’t want to have to deal with people’s problems.” “Everything is going smoothly, I don’t want to complicate things.” “I don’t want to lose the money coming from our church existing church members.” 

Oh Church, do we think Jesus had this attitude? Of course not. He literally gave His life to reach us. To reach all people. Does He not expect the same from us? Let our only response to Jesus be, “We will do anything for the sake of others knowing you.”

When is it ok not to be a multicultural church?

The question that we should really be asking is this, “Are we attempting to reach all people?” That is the question that Jesus is asking us. Are we following the mandate to make disciples of all nations according to Matthew 28:16-20?

I think it is ok not to be a multicultural church in certain situations, but it is important to ask God what He wants out of your church. He might have a different plan for your church because He has a heart to reach a specific group, and in that case He might not want you to have a multicultural church. If this is this case, I think it’s ok to have a church of the same culture, race, and background, IF, and this is a very BIG IF…If that church is genuinely reaching the unreached and the unchurched for that specific culture. For example. Indian Christians reaching Indian Hindus. Afghan Christians reaching Afghan Muslims. Thai Christians reaching Thai Buddhist. African Americans reaching non-believing African Americans. White Christians reaching white non-believers.  You get the idea. 

I wouldn’t think it would be ok to not be a multi-cultural church, if everyone is from the same background and culture, and they are not reaching out to the unreached and unchurched in their culture, and it’s mostly filled with Christians who transferred in from other churches, which is the norm. Again 96% of church growth is due to transfer growth.

If your church aspires to be a multicultural church, it’s important to remember that the goal is not having a multicultural church. The goal is being filled with the unreached and the unchurched. If you do have a multicultural or diverse church, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you are reaching the unreached or the unchurched. It might mean that your church is just doing a better job at bringing in Christians from diverse backgrounds and accommodating that diverseness. Being a multicultural church is not the goal. Reaching the lost is the goal. That is the mandate of Jesus.

I believe traditional churches can do this, and it is my heartfelt prayer that more and more churches will attempt this. I long to see more multicultural churches. I long to see churches filled with all people. Maybe it’s not realistic in your church and you might need to find another church, but it can be realistic in your life right now. You can reach all people. That’s a choice. You can do it. Even if your church doesn’t. The right answer is always to love and reach all people. 

If you have any questions, you can contact us through our website at lovingallpeoples.com. And please remember to follow our podcast to receive upcoming episodes. Thanks for the listen everyone. This is the Loving All Peoples Podcast.