“Do not mistreat an alien or oppress him, for you
were aliens in Egypt.” (Exodus 22:21)
GOD’S MISSION FOR ISRAEL was to
be a city on a hill, drawing the nations to the
knowledge of God. To prepare them for this
mission God allowed them to experience 400
years of slavery in Egypt, an experience they
were never to forget. Five times in Deuteronomy
God says, “Remember that you were
slaves in Egypt.” These commands to remember
are preceded by instructions to treat aliens,
widows, and orphans with compassion and
justice. The reminders of Israel’s experience
in Egypt are “why I [God] command you to
do this.”
The Evangelical Covenant Church has
become one of the fastest growing denominations
in America. One of the key factors in
this rapid growth has been the planting and
adoption of ethnic churches. From 1993 to
2003 the Covenant grew at an unprecedented
rate of 51%. During that same decade, ethnic
churches within the Covenant grew at more
than three times that rate! By 2003 ethnic
churches made up 19.3% of Covenant
churches. Why is this happening? In the
article Chaos or Community, written 20 years
ago, Vernon Wettersten noted that there was a
“small but significant number of non-Anglo
members in the Covenant,” according to a
survey at that time. Wettersten also mentioned
that the denomination had decided to develop
programs for black, Hispanic, Korean, and
Eskimo groups, because they “are seen as
significantly large enough to play a role in the
further growth of the Covenant.” With the
immigrant experience of being the outsider
seared into its DNA, the Covenant Church
saw non-Anglo outsiders as a spark to fan into
flame. This intentional welcoming of ethnically
distinct people into the Covenant has set
the course for a multicultural future that will
be both challenging and rewarding.
Wettersten described how Covenant
churches served “latent functions” for Swedish
immigrants to the United States, enabling
the young immigrants to converse in their
native tongue, share information about jobs
and housing, and meet potential marriage
partners. In this way, the church became an
aid to assimilation. Within less than two generations,
English was adopted as the language
of worship, and most Swedish immigrants
were able to assimilate into Anglo society.
While this immigrant experience is common
to most Americans, there are some important
distinctions.
First, not all Americans are immigrants. As
survivors of generations of ethnic cleansing,
Native Americans are the most glaring exception.
Similarly, most black Americans can only
be considered immigrants in the broadest use
of the term. Some have more recently come to
America from various regions of Africa looking
for a better life. Some, like the Sudanese,
have come as refugees. However, most black
Americans are descendants of captives. Like
the Samaritans of old, black Americans are a
blending of various tribes forced together by
violent relocation. The unique history of each
ethnic group in America impacts their ability
and willingness to assimilate into the dominant
Anglo society.
For many, the talk of assimilation (the process
of cultural values and behaviors becoming
like that of another culture) is anathema.
For others, generally from the dominant
culture, to resist assimilation seems ludicrous.
They ask, “Why would someone come to the
United States if they did not want to fit in?”
(Lane, 2002:23). In the African American
community, calling someone an “assimilationist”
is an insult suggesting that they have
rejected their own culture and sold out to the
oppressor. Likewise, the process of forced
assimilation for Native Americans has resulted
in an irretrievable loss of history and culture.
Even for those who desire to assimilate
into Anglo American culture, several factors
reduce the ability or tendency of an ethnic
group to do so. Distinctive appearance is arguably
the greatest impediment to assimilation.
If an immigrant group is similar in appearance
to members of the new host culture, it
is much easier to blend in. Other factors that
reduce the tendency of a group to assimilate
include close-knit families, strong ties to
one’s homeland, and self-sufficient economic
structures.
These different characteristics of ethnic
groups are important to keep in mind as the
Covenant Church looks to the future. Wettersten
states that ethnicity will only be important
temporarily, as “ethnically homogeneous
churches provide a refuge” for newcomers
to a seemingly hostile land. This assessment
fails to recognize the tendency of some ethnic
groups to remain distinct or isolated over time
for the reasons stated above.
An even greater distinction exists for the
African American community. According to
a 2002 U.S. Census Bureau report, 87.5% of
African Americans in the U.S. live in metropolitan
areas. Of this number, 48% live in
neighborhoods so isolated they are considered
“hypersegregated.” Another 21% live in
highly segregated areas. Sociologist Douglas
S. Massey noted, “Ironically, within America’s
large, diverse and highly mobile post-industrial
society, blacks living in the heart of the
ghetto are among the most isolated people on
earth.” Under these conditions it would be a
mistake to suggest that the need for predominantly
black churches will diminish any time
soon. Continued segregation brings with it a
host of social ills. Our challenge as a denomination
is to plant and support churches
in these communities that address people’s
needs, and to partner across geographic and
cultural lines to bring greater access to resources
and greater residential mobility.
Many predominantly black neighborhoods
are undergoing a shift with the influx of Asian
and Latino immigrants, presenting another
type of opportunity. Even apart from gentrification
these neighborhoods are becoming
multiethnic. In such instances, predominantly
African American churches have an opportunity
and a responsibility to reach out to their
ethnic neighbors by becoming intentionally multiethnic, or by planting another church.
One of the most effective church-planting
strategies the Covenant has employed among
Latinos is to find an Anglo host church. In
some cases the youth and children’s ministries
are combined to accommodate the
English-speaking second generation Latinos.
This same strategy can be employed with established
African American churches in areas
with growing Latino populations.
The Covenant’s strategy for the future
with regard to ethnic churches should be
three tiered. 1) Even churches in homogeneous
neighborhoods should form cross-cultural
relationships with ethnically different
congregations nearby, as mandated in Romans
12:16. As we get to know people of other
cultures, their concerns become ours and we
can unite to address injustices. 2) We should
continue to plant and welcome ethnically
distinct congregations, whether from new immigrants
or established ethnic groups. Some
will gravitate toward such churches for generations
to come. 3) We should also encourage
and assist as many of our churches as possible
to become genuinely multicultural, a Third
Culture Church, a secret weapon in God’s
arsenal for reaching the nations.
The term Third Culture was coined by
anthropologist and sociologist Ruth Hill
Useem in the 1960s. Dr. Useem described the
unique characteristics of American children
who spent a significant portion of their childhood
years outside of the U.S. and who came
to be called “Third Culture Kids.” Likewise,
the children of immigrants form a unique
third culture as they seek to make sense of
the new host culture and the culture of their
parents. They may have to translate for their
parents or help them interpret cultural norms.
Common experiences like these can give a
second generation Latino a sense of connection
with a second generation Korean. Each
of them has had to develop the skills to cross
cultures. The good news is that anyone can
intentionally develop these skills. Intentionally
becoming people who effectively cross
cultures is what Sherwood Lingenfelter and
Marvin Meyers referred to as becoming a 150
percent person.
The goal of every missionary and possibly
every Christian should be to become a 150
percent person. It is probably humanly
impossible to become 100 percent incarnate
in another culture...So the goal of becoming at least partially incarnate in the
culture of those to whom we minister is,
by God’s Grace, within our grasp. (Lingenfelter
and Mayers 1986:121)
This is not only in keeping with the mandate
of Scripture, but it is a strategic advantage
for evangelism and future growth. Jesus
prayed that His Church would be united
across all barriers as a strategy for evangelism.
“I pray also for those who will believe in me
through their message, that all of them may
be one, Father, just as you are in me and I
am in you. May they also be in us so that the
world may believe that you have sent me.”
(John 17:20, 21)
I have had the privilege of seeing this
lived out powerfully at NewSong Church, a
multiethnic Covenant church that now meets
in four locations: Irvine, Los Angeles, North
Orange County, and Bangkok, Thailand.
When Pastor Gibbons and the original team
started NewSong it was almost completely
second generation Korean. It quickly attracted
Anglos and other second generation Asians.
The vision was always to unite people of
all cultures, and today NewSong is broadly
multicultural. There are about fourteen Asian
groups represented along with Anglos, African
Americans, Latinos, Eastern Europeans,
and many others. Among the NewSong staff
and teaching team are people who are African
American, East Indian, West Indian, Mexican,
Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Japanese,
South African Afrikaans, and Swedish. Apart
from having more fun than anyone should be
allowed to have, we’re finding that pre-Christians Christians
are attracted to the church because they
see reconciliation in action.
What if the Evangelical Covenant Church
intentionally set out to become a Third Culture
Church? What if we were that willing
to develop sensitivity and the skills necessary
to cross any cultural barrier for the Gospel?
We would live out what Paul declares in 1
Corinthians 9:19-23, and we would fulfill
the prayer of our Lord to reach the world
through our inexplicable unity. The Covenant
Church has been uniquely groomed by
our history to move in this direction. This is
the challenge before the Covenant Church of
the future. It is our opportunity to seize. That
is why ethnicity matters.
REFERENCES
Lane, Patty. Crossing Cultures. Downer’s
Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2002.
Lingenfelter, Sherwood G., and Marvin K.
Meyers. Ministering Cross-Culturally. Grand
Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1986.
Massey, Douglas. “Introduction: The Continuing
Reality of Racial Segregation,” in The Next
American City no. 9 (November 2005); see
www.americancity.org/article.php?id_article=
131.
McKinnon, Jesse. The Black Population in
the United States: March 2002. Washington,
D.C.: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population
Reports, Series p20-541, 2003.
Statistics on Covenant Church growth are
taken from the Covenant website: www.
covchurch.org/cov/cge/planting-main.html.
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