Lots of churches have different services in different languages. Is that actually a good idea?

https://youtu.be/ZuELiQErp3w

#churchLeaders #multilingualChurch #MultiethnicChurch

Ever wondered what it is like to help produce a multilingual Christmas service? Here's a special episode of The Church Interpreting Podcast with an answer: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-18-christmas-special/id1657859531?i=1000639111455

#Multiethnicchurch #ChurchInterpreting #church

What are the basics every #interpreter needs to interpret in #church? Find out in this new episode of The Church Interpreting Podcast.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/4iOPlNEJ78lKTRnlwbjHf5?si=b33fde366aed4d1a

Please do boost.

#multiethnicChurch #MultilingualChurch #1nt

I'm becoming more and more aware of how vital it is to deliberately expose myself to Christian viewpoints from around the world. USian accounts of #MultiethnicChurch are so closeted and obviously USian that it is really frustrating at times to see the missed opportunities. Yet, I'm aware that my own views are rooted in Scottish directness and white European values.

The Bible is neither USian nor European and Christianity is global. I'm trying to learn more about the NT world and about #WorldChristianity to broaden my horizons and my thinking.

#Preaching with an interpreter can be uncomfortable. How can preachers learn to work well with interpreters? Find out in this episode of The Church Interpreting Podcast.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/1Vjyq5veTz3jZvHQdV3VzN?si=197ba0b4edc746dc

#ChurchInterpreting #MultilingualChurch #MultiethnicChurch #theologadon

I have literally just submitted a book that tells churches not to treat migrant ministry as something they do for "poor, unfortunate migrants", as it makes things worse. Today, I came across an article with case studies of churches doing just that and guess what? It made things worse.

Sometimes I don't want to be right.

If you are interested in better models than paternalism, my new book is out in the summer.

#multiethnicchurch #multilingualchurch #multilingualism #theologadon

In most books on #MultiethnicChurch (except the ones by Derwin L. Grey) , there seems to be an assumption of racial and ethnic tension, as if the starting point of #MultiethnicChurch is that people of different ethnicities don't normally live together and church has to be the rare place where they do.

I am sure that is the case in many places. What happens, however, is that leaders seem to end up worried about creating a single church identity that people can fit into (see the research of Gerardo Marti on "ethnic transcendance").

I also read one leader who wrote in an excellent book by Mark DeYmaz
about the tension between people having ethnically homogenous home groups in which they could be comfortable while still Integrating into the wider church.

Contrast this with the books by Derwin L Grey in the US and Mario Wahnschaffe in Germany. Their starting point isn't inherent tension of the need to integrate people into existing structures. Instead they start with the Gospel and what God has called the Church to be.

This doesn't deny tensions (Building an International Church by Mario Wahnschaffe actually walks through dealing with them) but contextualises them differently.
In both books, the point isn't about getting people to be together. It's that God has called the Church and many individual churches to the multiethnic because of what Christ has done. We're not trying to get people to be together but we're working on growing more like Christ together.

This means everyone gets to and will be called to change. It means the only acceptable dominant culture is not white or black or English or Spanish but Christ-centred and humble. It's not our church or their church but Christ's church. It's what God is already doing and we get the privilege of humbly being a part of it. We can use demographics to justify it mathematically but ultimately, it's God's idea, not ours; and His church, not ours.