Multicultural Ministry Handbook

Connecting Creatively to a Diverse World

David A. Anderson, Margarita R. Cabellon, David A. Anderson, Margarita R. Cabellon, Dr. David A. Anderson

• Publisher: IVP
• Year: 2010
• Print ISBN: 9780830838448
• eBook ISBN: 9780830867516
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Ministry

Outreach Magazine Book Award winner

The world is becoming increasingly diverse. More and more of our neighbors are from a variety of cultures, ethnicities and cultural backgrounds. But most churches are still culturally homogenous and do not represent every tribe and tongue. What can we do to minister more effectively to our multicultural society?

David Anderson and Margarita Cabellon bring together an experienced team of practitioners to share best practices for multicultural ministry. First they lay out the biblical rationale for multicultural community as God's vision for his people. Then key leaders share personal journeys and practical ideas for multicultural leadership development, worship, children's ministry, outreach and much more. Drawing on the pioneering expertise of Bridgeway Community Church and BridgeLeader Network, the contributors present a holistic and multifaceted portrait of what a dynamic, grace-filled and diverse ministry can look like.

Our tribalized world is crying out for healing. Discover how you can minister to others as agents of God's reconciliation and hope.

1

The Building Blocks of a Multicultural Ministry

David A. Anderson

It was just shy of twenty years ago when I, along with a small team of people, parachuted in with flares to Columbia, Maryland, to start an intentionally multicultural, nondenominational, contemporary style, performing arts church that would cause people to long to return to church the next week. We have come very close to such a dream. We are far from perfect, and we have had our challenges along the way, which you will read about throughout this handbook, but the dream is very real and many of us count it a privilege to be a part of it.

If you were to walk into Bridgeway Community Church today, you would feel the presence of God manifested throughout the church. Not in an eerie kind of way, but in a very real and joyful way.

You would be in awe as you scanned the congregation, wondering if the chocolate black faces you saw in the foyer were African Americans from Washington, D.C., or Africans from Lagos, Nigeria, or Nairobi, Kenya. You would wonder if the caramel brown Hispanics were from Mexico, Puerto Rico or the Bronx. You might look twice at some of the Asians, attempting to figure out if they are Korean or Chinese. After a warm greeting from a smiling Asian woman in the lobby, you would come to realize through conversation that she is neither Korean nor Chinese, but a second generation Filipina who considers this church a family and not simply a group of distant acquaintances who share the same faith. This woman’s name is Margarita Cabellon. You will meet her later as one of the contributors to this book and coeditor with me.

“Welcome to Bridgeway” is a common greeting you will hear from the white and black men holding the doors open for you as you enter the building, and from the greeters who will usher you to your seat. It is very possible that you might be the recipient of a warm smile from Lethia, an eighty-something black woman who is sure to remind you that she has more energy than most young people. Kelly, a forty-something white woman, may hand you the morning flyer with an infectious look that warns, “You have no idea what God is going to do in the service you are soon to experience.”

While I am at it, allow me to introduce myself to you because you may bump into me on your way into the auditorium where worship services are held. I’m David Anderson, the founding pastor of this crazy place called Bridgeway. I enjoy standing in the lobby and greeting folks as they walk in. I’m an African American male who stands at 6' 3" and delights in high fives, fist bumps, hand shakes, and one-armed bear hugs as I clutch my Bible in my other hand. I’m not easy to get around, so you might feel compelled to smile and greet me on your way in. If by chance you miss me, you might catch Pastor Dave Michener’s gracious smile and firm handshake as he uses his left foot as a door stopper, holding it open for you to pass. Dave, who we all call Mich, is the executive pastor, who happens to be a white man with red hair. I assure you that red hair was not on our affirmative action recruiting list, yet our congregation enjoys its abundant share of reds. Some natural, some not. Some we will never know.

Whether you bump into me, Mich, Margarita, Lethia or Kelly, I am confident you will feel a sense of God’s presence beginning to shift your mind from the preoccupations of your busy morning to the loving dynamic that so obviously bubbles up through the diverse gathering of this Spirit-anointed body at Bridgeway. The transition begins somewhere between the first wave you receive in the parking lot or the first greeting at the front doors, to the buzz in the lobby or the welcoming words of one of our Spirit-directed worship leaders.

Emnet, a young Ethiopian woman, sits behind the Welcome Desk to greet worshipers. It is possible that she will point young families with children toward our BridgeKids ministry, where the little ones can learn about Jesus in fun, interactive ways. If you’re not greeted by Emnet, two white gentlemen sporting ties, Peter or Don, will greet you with a big smile and sincere handshake or a pat on your left arm, inviting you in through our wide glass double doors.

Then there’s Jim, an African American male from Philadelphia who moved to Columbia to join Bridgeway as a minister. He’s often found floating in the lobby to minister to those in need. If for some reason you miss Jim, you surely won’t miss Joseph, a Korean brother with a lively laugh, who is one of our contagious ministers. He will most certainly be staked out near Henry, a black brother full of the Holy Spirit, at our Missions Café. Our café is a place to purchase a cup of coffee, hot chocolate, a muffin or piece of fruit, knowing that every dollar of profit contributes to missions locally and around the world. The café team will not only serve you something to eat or drink but they will minister to your spirit as well. Henry, Joseph and the entire Missions Café team will greet, pray with and encourage you on your way into or out of the weekend services. A part of their routine encouragement is to introduce people to our Life Groups ministry, which is strategically staked out in the middle of the lobby. Life Groups are co-led by Chad, the offspring of a Native American mother and an African American father, and Chris, a white brother who I had the privilege of marrying to a woman who has a Jewish father and a black Hispanic mother. Talk about diversity!

Just like you, each of these people has their own story. No doubt they came to or through Bridgeway because of God’s timing and plan for their lives, but still, how is it that they are all here?

How is it that an Ethiopian woman, a racially mixed Native American man, a black-Hispanic-Jewish woman married to a white man, a Filipina woman, a Caucasian woman in her forties, an African American woman in her eighties, a Korean man, and white and black men can all consider Bridgeway Community Church their church home? And why will you encounter these wonderful people before you make it into the sanctuary for worship?

The answer at Bridgeway is clear. Without an intentional vision to start and sustain a church culture that welcomes, accepts, respects and values people from various colors, classes, and cultures, the natural environment—racial exclusivity—would not be conducive to the burgeoning of multicultures. The only way that my executive assistant, a white woman who grew up in Scotland with a Presbyterian background, could find joy and solace for herself and her beautiful redheaded daughter (along with the other reds I have already mentioned) in a place like Bridgeway is because four building blocks of a multicultural ministry were in place: (1) personal calling and commitment of the leader to multicultural ministry, (2) clear vision and staffing for multicultural ministry, (3) intentional pursuit of multicultural ministry and racial reconciliation, and (4) a unified philosophy of multicultural ministry.

Building Block 1: Personal Calling and Commitment to Multicultural Ministry

Every leader has a story. Whether male or female, those who are in ministry have their own God story and, I would suspect, their own race story. In order for a multicultural church to have the drive, the values and even the stomach to make tough choices, the leader has to be called and committed deep within to multicultural ministry.

When I was eighteen years old, I surrendered my stubborn will to the lordship of Jesus Christ. I pulled my car over to the side of the road in Prince George’s County, Maryland, where I wept like a baby as I invited Jesus into my life. The Holy Spirit overwhelmed me and captured my full attention as I cried out, “Lord, I’m yours!” After a series of events in my life months prior, under conviction of my sinful ways I finally gave in to Christ on that Sunday afternoon while driving home from church. I asked Jesus to forgive me and save me.

During that time of conviction on the side of the road, I sensed a new direction for my life that was so much different than my aimless pleasure seeking and double-minded living. I wanted to reach as many people for Christ as I could from the moment of my conversion. This compelling desire led me toward becoming a pastor. I began to plan how I could be educated for the task. At the same time, I was envisioning the kind of ministry I wanted. Having grown up in the traditional black church, but living in the racially mixed suburbs of Washington, D.C., I was vexed with a new vision that was undeniable. It was a calling, a compulsion, a “must” in my mind.

I wanted, no, I needed to pastor a church that was racially mixed so all people could come. While I had not seen this kind of ministry before, I could not imagine pastoring only one kind of people, even if they were “my own people.” I am sure that my upbringing and a series of unfortunate racial events as a youngster played into my passion to build bridges of reconciliation. (See the books Letters Across the Divide and Multicultural Ministry for my race stories.) Intuitively I knew my gifts were so much broader and my heart so much bigger than a ministry to a specific people group. For some reason I felt like unicultural ministry would be too confining for me, and I had a deep aversion to limiting my ministry to one race of people.

To this day I still find great comfort in the traditional black church, and it truly feels like the house I grew up in—familiar and foundational. But now I was being called out of the nest, maybe for good.

As I went to Montgomery Community College in town and then transferred to Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, I painted the picture to everyone I knew about what a racially integrated church could and should be. I often received smiles and well-wishes that had the background noise of “That’s nice, young man. Good luck,” with the subtext, “It will never work.” While in Chicago, I served as an assistant pastor for a few years in the poor projects of Cabrini Green, a notorious low-income housing project that was all black at the time. After graduating from Moody, I served as a pastoral intern at a predominantly white church in a Chicago suburb that was affluent and completely opposite of the “projects.” Both environments were racially exclusive back then. Yet, I still continued to paint my ideal picture with speeches, conversations and presentations everywhere I went to anyone who would listen.

Starting a racially mixed church was in me, and I was prepared to die trying. I was committed to bringing this vision to pass regardless of the scores of professional voices that warned me of failure because of the sociological and homogeneous principles that had defined church planting for generations past.

What About You?

What is your racial story?

When did you know that you were racially different?

Have you ever envisioned a church that was beyond a single race of people?

Is there a people group you have received pain from or you just don’t like?

Are you currently in a predominantly single-race church by design or by default?

Why did you pick up the Multicultural Ministry Handbook?

Practical Application

Write a paragraph defining what you think your church would be like if it were multicultural.

Building Block 2: Clear Vision and Staffing for Multicultural Ministry

My wife, Amber, is a mixed-race Korean and Irish woman who I’m sure married me by faith. What an adventure it would be. She had no idea. Neither of us did, really. I would often tell her during our courtship at Moody about my desires for planting a multicultural ministry. Her school major was in American Intercultural Ministries, so we were thankful there was some synergy. She was always supportive of the vision, but, having grown up in Korea and then being adopted as a teenager by a Caucasian family in a racially segregated America, she too was buying into nothing more than a well-worded ideal. Yet, her faith in God was strong. Her faith in me has always been risky. I am so glad that she took a risk with me, because Bridgeway would not exist today without Amber’s wisdom, support and sacrifice. She would agree that it has been a dream most of the time, a nightmare some of the time, but definitely an adventure all of the time! She was my first team member and eventually my first church member. The two of us together were the initial making of a multicultural church.

When I began painting the picture of a multicultural church to college mates, church friends, family members and even strangers, it was clear that I would have to recruit some white folks to start the church with me. I was on the hunt for whites who had the same vision. Thankfully, I found Rich Becker, a white, single, college-age man who was dating a white woman named Beth. They met at the singles group I was pastoring as an intern in the suburbs of Chicago—Willow Creek Community Church.

I promised Rich and Beth three things if they joined me. I promised them that starting Bridgeway would be fun, fulfilling and frustrating. They soon married, and without pay they moved from Chicago with Amber and me. I have more than delivered on all three promises! To this day, Rich is the executive director of the creative arts at Bridgeway, and Beth is a worship leader and actor.

Locally, I met an African American brother, Chance Michael Glenn, who was a vocalist. We met on a basketball court playing pickup games. I heard Chance humming a familiar Christian tune and from there the friendship began. Only God would know that he would be our first worship leader, setting the course of multicultural worship and praise at Bridgeway. Chance was married to Marsha, a Bahamian woman. She added a touch of the Islands to our mix.

I also received a phone call from a white keyboardist, Brian Johnson, who ran the music department at the local college and was interested in our church plant. They all bought into the vision. Chance led the worship while Brian led the band with some of his college students, including a Filipino drummer and a Filipino bassist. Brian brought on a white lead guitarist named Phil, who often sported a ponytail while making his guitar scream. Brian, his wife Eileen, the Glenns, Beckers and Andersons were a team of early developers who planted a multicultural seed that would one day spring into a harvest for generations to come.

To have a racially mixed core team from the beginning couldn’t have made me happier. With the exception of Chance, his wife Marsha, Amber and me, the group was predominantly white. After a year, the Filipino brothers and others began to stick. This was a good and instructive beginning as more staff would come and go over the years. Each time a leader or staff member left, we were racially challenged as the composition of our leadership shifted. I still view such challenges as a good problem to have, one that many churches do not have the privilege of facing.

Staffing Around the Leader

It is imperative that the leadership team supports the vision of multicultural ministry. They need to know that the leader is completely committed to diversity. The team must know that the strategy employed will be racially and culturally inclusive. While everyone on the team may not be as committed to multicultural ministry as the leader, it is important that they understand the vision clearly and are willing to grow in th...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• 1: The Building Blocks of a Multicultural Ministry
• 2: Relational Training for a Multicultural Church
• 3: Lessons Learned by a White Pastor in a Multicultural Church
• 4: Pastoral Care and Education
• 5: Creative Arts and Multicultural Ministry
• 6: Multicultural Worship
• 7: Multicultural Prayer Ministry
• 8: Multicultural Children’s Ministry
• 9: Multicultural Student Ministry
• 10: Community Outreach
• 11: Going Further
• Notes
• Contributors
• About Bridgeway Community Church
• Other Books in This Series
• About the Editors
• More Titles from InterVarsity Press