Covenant and Community The way we conceive of God’s covenantal relationship with God’s people is not separated from the way we think of how God’s people conduct their relationships among themselves and with the rest of the creation around them.

The Melting Pot

The Salad Bowl

Existing Models of the Church Assimilation Separation

Challenges How to deal with difference? An obstacle or an opportunity? Boundaries? Necessary? Who, how, where to draw them?

An Intercultural Covenantal Community I want to suggest that the church is called by the Spirit to live as a covenantal community that cultivates a decartelizing unity and fosters a just diversity. In this covenantal community differences are received as a gift, not a threat; and boundaries are not rigid, but rather porous and mutually negotiated.

An Intercultural Covenantal Community When individuals and groups in the church learn how to claim and be critical of who they are, when they learn how to offer to and to receive from one another, the church embodies an alternative beyond the models of assimilation and segregation. When the church becomes an intercultural covenantal community, thus moving beyond being a monocultural or multicultural church, it proclaims a message of hope in a world that is polarized and divided.

Monocultural, Multicultural, Intercultural Monocultural: preserving a culture Multicultural: side-by-side cultures Intercultural: interaction between cultures

Intercultural Covenantal Church First Principle The Church is God’s Project The Centrality of God The Lordship of Jesus The Freedom of the Spirit

Intercultural Covenantal Church Second Principle The Need is Mutual Content to be human Risk of giving and vulnerability of receiving

Intercultural Covenantal Church Third Principle Conversion is Mutual Changing Worldviews Fluid Boundaries It is a process in which we learn and grow

Intercultural Covenantal Church Fourth Principle Fellowship is Vital Sharing Stories From Pain and Shame to Justice and Healing Food as an essential way of building a covenantal community

Intercultural Covenantal Church Fifth Principle Healthy Boundaries are Necessary Attending to the work of the Spirit in/through who we are and in/through who we are becoming A Just Diversity Equality in negotiating boundaries

Intercultural Covenantal Church The Church is God’s Project (Worship) The Need is Mutual Conversion is Mutual (Mission) Fellowship is Vital Healthy Boundaries are Necessary (Communion)