Cultural Relevance in a Changing World (part 1 of 3)
The day I returned from Origins in May, I was asked to fill in for someone and represent our church in a presentation on diveristy. I had three days to prepare, the pastor was away, half the staff was out of the office, and I had no idea who the audience was, beyond that our church was invited by the Central Florida Prebytery. Under other circumstances I would have been nervous… but I was just back from Origins. I felt like I had been granted an audience in the court of Agrippa.
It turned out to be a panel discussion at the Presbyterian Church (USA) 2006 National Multicultural Conference. The session, called “Models of Multicultural Worship” was not a breakout, but an open session for the full body of delegates (some 200 - 300 by my rough count).
I thought I would share my remarks with the city of voices. They’re a bit long, so I have broken them into three posts.
Cultural Relevance in a Changing World
May 27, 2006
An address to the 7th Annual National Multicultural Conference of the Presbyterian Church (USA)
Greetings. My name is Keith Whittingham. The video you just saw showed you St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church, in Ocoee, FL, about three years ago. I’d like to talk to you about the St. Paul’s of today, and a vision for tomorrow.
I am standing in today, for a person who was standing in for our Pastor. I was originally sent some slides to show you, which had a series of pictures under the categories of Leadership, Worship and Fellowship. These would have shown that, across these critical areas, we have faces that span the rainbow: white, brown, yellow, red. We span the ages, from cradle to grave. Our community includes the sight-, hearing- and mobility-impaired. Our campus serves as the worship site for, not just St. Paul’s, but for some seven churches, including a Korean church, a Brazilian church, a Haitian church and two African-American churches (one of which is Seventh Day Adventist).
I imagine that those pictures would have been nice to show. That sort of thing may be important. Christ seemed to value difference among the team. I’m just a math teacher who has read a little of the bible, bit if I recall rightly, among the twelve disciples Christ called were four fishermen (right off the boat). He also called a tax collector – a guy who had probably made himself rich off of the poor people while cozying up to the oppressive Roman regime. Then there was Simon of the Zealots. Now it might be a bit strong to call the Zealots the “Al Quaeda� of their day, but certainly here was guy who had no love for the Roman oppressors, or for any of their collaborating lackeys. So between the fishermen, the tax collector and the revolutionary, there was a lot of difference of background and perspective. And that’s just half of the group.
Then we jump forward to Acts chapter 2, to the day of Pentecost. The believers are in the upper room and are touched by tongues of fire. They spill into the streets of Jerusalem speaking in the native languages of the masses of visitors to the city on this big holiday. We see the seeds of the gospel spreading to far-flung lands. Then a few chapters later, Peter has his vision. He sees the sheet come down laden with “unclean� foods, and God says “Eat!� Shortly afterwards, he is at the house of Cornelius, the gentile, and the foundation is laid for the church to expand to all nations and races.
So it might make sense to show you some pictures of diverse groups of people within the St. Paul’s body, along with a list of the programs and processes which we have used over the years to attract all these folks.
Well, I won’t do either. Firstly, I don’t think you would have invited us to address you if you needed convincing of our diversity. So the pictures aren’t really needed. As for the diversity outreach programs, well in my seven years with St Paul’s, the last two as Session Clerk, I have never heard of our church doing any such thing. In a former life, I designed strategic recruiting programs for Lucent Technologies. These were targeted efforts to increase the numbers of minorities among our engineering ranks. I know a diversity recruitment program when I see one, and I have never seen one at St. Paul’s.
This is a good spot for a disclaimer. I’m going to share with you what I understand of the history of diversity at St. Paul’s, and my personal vision and read on the future. Others may share a different story. In my view, St. Paul’s is the beneficiary of a fortuitous intersection of history and geography. Sociologists and others talk about the radical migration that has taken place over the past century.
In the 1970s and 1980s, large numbers of West Indian immigrants settled in the Pine Hills community of west Orlando, where St. Paul’s was founded. For these folks, mainly from Trinidad, Jamaica and Guyana and of African and Indian decent, it was almost a cultural norm for mainstream Christian preachers to be White. St. Paul’s would have been a very familiar option as they searched for new church homes (considerable more so, for many, than the local AME church would have been).
Erwin McManus, pastor of what is arguably the most diverse church in the country, describes the phenomenon of urban drift that his First Southern Baptist Church of East Los Angeles found itself in, as White churches found themselves in Latino communities, Latino churches found themselves in Korean neighborhoods, and so on. Many church bodies closed ranks, insulated themselves from the perceived onslaught, and slowly died. A few, like McManus’ church, grappled with, and finally embraced the new community, and truly became Mosaic, as the church is now known.
One thing that helped Mosaic, and St. Paul’s, was that each already had a spirit of adaptability. As the Mosaic team puts it, “Never strive to make a change; strive instead to create a culture with the humility to embrace constant change.�
(See next post for part 2)
July 3rd, 2006 at 10:56 pm
Sorry that was such a long post. The subsequent parts are a lot shorter and to the point. Beginning in part 2, I share 4 things churches need to embrace to survive and be relevant. As I look back over it, the Origins influence is readily apparant. Stay tuned.