I'm attending the Multicultural Church conference in San Antonio. I like to share with you the following comments made last night at the conference by the Rev. Jin S. Kim, founding pastor of the Church of All Nations, a multicultural PC(USA) congregation in Columbia Heights, MN.
“The multicultural church movement must not be one more desperate attempt by white churches trying to co-op ethnic minorities for its own institutional preservations,” Kim said. “We do not confer dignity on ethnic minorities if we say, ‘OK, we’ve tried white flight in the suburbs, we tried first steps and mailings and friendship evangelism and every possible thing. OK, so since the wedding banquet is still empty, now let’s go get the lepers and the blind and the poor and the lame and see if we can preserve our white churches.’”
Kim said Christians “in turn for eating the crumbs of white privilege” have turned their backs on groups such as African Americans and Native Americans who have been historically oppressed in the United States.
And in order for the multicultural movement to truly take hold, he said, “we really must make the multicultural church movement a genuine expression of the ministry of reconciliation in our time.” (The quotes are from Presbyterian News Service)
Rev. Kim's words are powerful, insightful and prophetic. Developing multicultural congregations and ministries is not simply a matter of just opening the church's doors and welcoming "new folks," but about possibly stepping aside if not stepping back and learning how to share leadership, power and authority with our brothers and sisters. Food for thought.
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