Emerging church in multicultural society
Interesting post over at under the acacias on Emerging church in multicultural society 2
‘How do we do church in a way that is relevant to the cultural identities of all the different groups in our society? How can we be church in a way that will be outreach-orientated, permitting people to meet God within their own cultural context? These are questions that are as relevant in post-modern UK and US, as in pre-modern Burkina Faso.
In response to the traditional “one size fits all” approach to church, some “church growth” and “emerging church” thinkers have proposed the doing church separately for each cultural sub-group in a society. In Gorom-Gorom, this would mean a church for the Mossi, and a separate church for the Fulani. In post-modern western cities, it may mean a church for youth, a church for post-moderns, a church for Asian immigrants etc.’
Good to see these questions getting tossed around in some different contexts. I’ve noticed in the last 6 months here in Australia that a larger variety of people are asking questions about church. Interestingly I’ve been bumping into more people in rural areas and in multicultural settings exploring it. Nice to see. I’m excited to see what emerges out of all the talk.
January 20th, 2005 at 11:31 pm
Yeah this is a great topic. Australia, in particular Melbourne, is such a multicultural society. It’s really not that easy to be church to reach out to these different groups / tribes / cultures. I have been in a traditional chinese church in Melbourne for more than 10 years now. Having wanted to be involved in the English service (with multi-cultural congregation). I really wonder how emerging church will work in multi-cultural settings. This is something that I am seriously and prayerfully working through and exploring.