Reflections on Multi-ethnic Ministry
This is a ministry concept paper reflecting on David Claerbaut’s Urban Ministry in a New Millenium.
I’m a bit embarrassed to say that one of the most significant ideas from David Claerbaut’s “Urban Ministry in a New Millenium” was his insights into minorities, particularly, African Americans. His insights were particularly sharp in light of a very recent conversation I struck up for the urban ministry project where a Caucasian community resident suggested that blacks ‘ruin it for the rest of us’ including ‘hard working’ minorities like me. To which I said nothing and shifted the topic of conversation.
Although I’m loosely acquainted with the African American story, it never connected with me until Claerbaut stated that unlike every other minority, they did not come here by choice. It had never occurred to me that for the most part African Americans have been characterized simply by three major epochs of slavery, segregation and ghettoization the past four hundred years.
I come from a moderately successful immigrant story and can tend to perceive all other minorities as having the same or similar limitations, but that just isn’t true. The truth is I have no idea what it is like to have my roots in generation after generation of slavery, rape, and outright inhumanities because of the color of my skin. Claerbault’s summary is fairly short and succinct but I really had no idea that it was a capital crime to teach a slave to read or write. I had no idea that slaves were tribally separated when shipped to further isolation.
Reading this made me feel a wreck about a person’s sense of place in this situation. Even if my immigrant parents were a complete failure, there would be some sense of dignity in living and dying by their decisions. I’m at a loss at how an entire people group might feel about having such basic rights stripped for generations. Claerbaut suggests that two-thirds to four-fifths of blacks today have Caucasian biological ancestry due to rape. This brings up an alienation of not only where you are from, but of whom you are of.
Stating how the civil rights legislation ended segregation only four decades ago also provides startling perspective. I use to dismiss my parents for warning me that I could get kicked out of the country or sent to a concentration camp should geopolitical issues arise in the world. I still don’t take much stock in it, but I can see how incidents only a generation away can dramatically shape how we interact with the world.
I’ve definitely experienced the awkwardness or mere tolerance that comes with being a visible minority, but it seems far from the hate or disdain that African Americans experienced during segregation. I find it hard to comprehend what it might be like to go to public places knowing that, even if quietly, you’re not really wanted there.
Claerbaut reveals how practically segregation also led to other white groups during the nineteenth and early twentieth century to move in and take unskilled labor opportunities in the new land. Though there may be legal equality now, the opportunities for progress are simply different. Today, unskilled labor opportunities are rare, land is gone, taxes are high and the cost of living has skyrocketed.
With a history of slavery, segregation and surmounting odds against blacks it is very difficult to compare them to other minorities today. It truly is a testament to be handed such a legacy and display such strength and perseverance, remaining intact and continue to impact culture in many diverse and positive ways. I can’t help but wonder how much more I might be able to learn from the strength of character of blacks and the black church that has in many ways been forced to be holistic in ministry.
I haven’t had the courage to dialog enough with my black friends about issues of ethnicity. I’d also like to know more of how being black but yet not being directly tied to the African American slave movement impacts lives and mindsets. Claerbaut excites me when he describes how the “seeds of racial reconciliation are found in the gospel of Christ”.
Also stressed is how with minorities, the universality of Christ’s atonement must be communicated. My struggle with this continues to be how this translates practically in my current ministry setting. Despite my words and convictions, the reality is my leadership and congregation continues to be fairly mono-ethnic. How do I tangibly show the beauty of racial reconciliation found in the gospel in this environment?
A leader recently told me that it’ll be extremely challenging for me to lead a multiethnic ministry going forward as a minority. However, after reading the historic chasm between whites and blacks, I really wonder if it’d be an easier if I was white. There seem to be barriers on both sides. Though there may not be as much historic racist conditioning in Canada, there are definitely cultural and personal stigmas that remain that I need to really begin working out.
I’ve always said that the reality is in ministry I’ll likely attract those who I am most like. Maybe by learning, expanding who I am, and my capacity to identify with more people, I’ll be able to connect with a greater range of individuals and people groups. The least I can do is intervene in the slander that says that every ethnic group ought to be the same.
Claerbault quotes N.K. Clifford who writes how the evangelical protestant mind has always tended toward an oversimplification of issues. My guess is that this was because evangelical protestants were traditionally white evangelicals. I’m very excited about what the future might hold as we move away a reduced oversimplified gospel, to a richer and wider gospel as deeper racial reconciliation takes root within the church.
