Dr Jonathan Downie on Nostr: What strikes me about the way US theologians and sociologists talk about ...
What strikes me about the way US theologians and sociologists talk about #MultiethnicChurch is that there are two embedded assumptions, which are rarely challenged.
1) They always assume that racial and ethnic difference means inherent division. This might be historical but it ain't biblical. Any church that assumes division will create division. Assume the starting point of being one in Christ, of unity in diversity and we assume the best and get places.
2) There is an assumption that numbers tell the whole story. If I church has 20% or 30% or 40% of people from a different race to the majority group, it is multiethnic. Nah, it ain't if the leadership is all the same race or ethnicity and if all the decisions are made by a single group. A church is multiethnic when its leadership is truly multiethnic (no tokenism) and when power and responsibility and service are shared.
1) They always assume that racial and ethnic difference means inherent division. This might be historical but it ain't biblical. Any church that assumes division will create division. Assume the starting point of being one in Christ, of unity in diversity and we assume the best and get places.
2) There is an assumption that numbers tell the whole story. If I church has 20% or 30% or 40% of people from a different race to the majority group, it is multiethnic. Nah, it ain't if the leadership is all the same race or ethnicity and if all the decisions are made by a single group. A church is multiethnic when its leadership is truly multiethnic (no tokenism) and when power and responsibility and service are shared.