Conference Summary

We'd like your reactions, especially your stories of how you are changing as you encounter multiethnicity in your ministry.

Thanks to the 4 speakers who made some bold statements today.

Soong-Chan Rah pointed out that just as the early Church had to be freed up from being a subset of Judiasm, so to does western Christianity need to be freed up and disentangled from western and American culture.

Mark Harden challenged us to do reconciliation in a certain way he calles "constructive inclusion", and also helped to explain how these complex issues are being redefined as various sorts of "-isms", or the "haves and have nots" in other words.

Rick Mattson spoke lovingly, but bluntly, to the dominant culture Church and white evangelicals. "We don't have a theology of multiethnicity". We don't talk about it because we are either a) afraid the issue of racial justice leads down the slippery slope towards the social gospel, or b) we are so focused on other highly politicalized issues that we don't see it in the Bible when it addresses justice.

Wrapping up, David Myles humorously, but truthfully talked about the reality in local churches. What would happen to a marketing executive if 25% of his/her market changed but the marketing approach stayed the same? They would be fired. We expect consumer markets to adapt to change, why don't we expect the same of churches as their communities and neighborhoods change. He predicted that in 20 year there would be two kinds of churches; those that saw what God was doing and began making mission-critical changes, and those for whom it is now too late and wished they would have started changing back in 2009 (while they sign over their deed to make way for the next condominium project.)