Missional in a Multi-Ethic Context The Need for Positive Partnerships Mark Naylor

…first choice for life-changing ministry leadership development …partnering with churches for a global impact …bringing God’s word into the heart language of the Sindhi people

How can the preservation and validation of culturally distinct expressions of church be coupled with the seemingly unavoidable break down of cultural barriers if we are to create intercultural unity in Christ.

Attractional Making the gospel relevant within others’ natural space or context Accommodation and Service Inviting others into our context Power and Control Missional church community

Missional Church Intercultural Community Cross-cultural

Definitions  Church: Christ- centered believers with a common identity and kingdom purpose who serve and worship together.  Ethno-specific or monoethnic: identity with one ethnic group  Mono-cultural: acceptance of one set of cultural expressions as the norm.

culturally distinct expressions of church Commonalities create intercultural unity but undermine significant cultural expressions

dialectical tension between our context and the biblical text Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals (Gen 2:19,20).

culturally distinct expressions of church breaking down of cultural barriers in order to have unity in Christ distinctives cause “strange making” that undermines unity Commonalities create intercultural unity but undermine significant cultural expressions

Cultural Identity Distinctives “strange making” Unity culturally distinct expressions of faith

Questions

Navigating the Multicultural Maze: Setting an Intercultural Agenda for FEBBC/Y Churches (Naylor 2007) in Being Church: Explorations in Christian Community (Langely:Northwest) Online: (Google: Intercultural Agenda Northwest).

Ethno-specific Monocultural Key word: Stability Dangers: Spiritual sterility Irrelevance Obsolescence Unity undermined

Sister Churches Significant Commonality Key word: Cooperation Dangers: Stereotyping (strange making) “us” / “them”

Multiethnic Monocultural Key word: Integration Dangers: Perceived loss of cultural identity

Multiethnic Multicultural Key word: Accommodation Dangers: Fragmentation Loss of cultural expressions Dominance struggles Time consuming

Intercultural Church Models Ethno-specific Monocultural Sister Churches Multiethnic Monocultural Multiethnic Multicultural Increasingly homogeneous Increasingly multicultural 1234

Intercultural Agenda Each church maintain a creative tension between (1) maintaining cultural distinctives and (2) developing synergy through intercultural interactions

Missional in a Multi-Ethic Context The Need for Positive Partnerships Mark Naylor