The ‘God Size’ Event is May 18, 19
On Monday 15 people will meet with me for the Multi-Ethnic Ministries Round Table that I have been planning for the past 5 months. Many others showed special interest in this discussion forum indicating that there is a sense of urgency and it is like a hunger to learn more about how our churches can welcome people who are of a different culture into our fellowship. Will you PRAY?
Those attending are educators, pastors, missionaries and church planters plus they represent several different ethnic backgrounds. It is an answer to prayer that we can have this variety of experiences to openly discuss the opportunities, challenges and plans to enter this specialized field of ministry.
1Co 12:13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
1Co 12:14 For the body is not one member, but many.
These verses lead me to think that all (all nations) who trust Jesus Christ are joined into one body in God’s eyes. But it seems that our cultural boundaries limit us in how we practice this in our local churches.
The test of faith for us is to learn how to “go to” the mission field that has moved into our local church neighborhood with the message of freedom from sin and death. We have the answer that overcomes the fear of appeasing unknown gods; the message of One Creator God, One Redemption by faith in the One Savior, One Body for fellowship and One Hope of eternity that allows for peace and joy.
Pray that as we meet to discuss and plan on how to help churches transition into this multi-ethnic ministry we will also be able to offer helps for planting multi-ethnic churches and establishing partnerships between English speaking churches and non English speaking churches.
I feel this is the biggest project God has given to me in my 58 years of being a pastor, camp director and organizer of Closed Door Ministries, Inc. I have experienced many special demonstrations of God's work and I believe Ethnic to Ethnic Ministries, Inc. is another opportunity to Watch Him Work.
Some believe that the survival of many churches depends on whether we can refocus to include this multi-ethnic and multi-cultural potential. One third of our nation is non Anglo (white) and more than 10% of our 300,000 USA residents are foreign born. This is BIG and it requires SPIRITUAL SENSITIVTY. Are we ready?
P.S. YOU CAN JOIN US. I am confident that God can you use you to help move this ministry along as you pray. Check out www.EthnictoEthnic.org. Also can help if you go to http://ethnictoethnic.blogspot.com/ and sign in as a follower. It seems the more followers a blog has the more likely others will discover it.
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Hi Eldon. Aren't you the inspiration, running a blog and starting a new mission enterprise? I think you are on the right track here, not only in terms of another needed effort to reach the unreached peoples of the world, but also in terms of the survival of the Church in North America. Wouldn't it be like God to make it so you can't have one without the other? A perfect case study might be Newhall Baptist Church, here in Wyoming. They just closed and turned their facility over to a Christian crisis pregnancy center. Their last pastor was a successful missionary from the Philippines who tried to reach the neighborhood which has changed a great deal since the church was founded. Post mortem: the neighborhood changed, the church didn't. Question: how can an acclaimed "missionary minded church" not reach its own neighborhood? I would suggest that in the majority of our "successful" churches we have a culturally calcified ministry model and when the culture changes we witness systemic failure to adapt. We love and cling to our little cultural havens, growing ever more insular. All the while we say to ourselves, "I am rich, I have need of nothing." My vision for the multi-cultural body of Christ has been strengthened by a new friend, Alton Hardy. I have put a message by him on my website for you at http://web.me.com/davedecook/Ministry/Current_Sermons/Current_Sermons.html
It's funny that while I have a strong interest in this, God has placed me in a monocultural country church struggling for survival. I am sure He has something up His sleeve...
Yours, Dave DeCook
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