I have enjoyed your works immensely over the past couple of years. They have inspired me to become a better person and...
...a better follower of Christ. For this, I want to thank you. A couple of years ago I sent you an email, you were kind enough to respond to. For this I thank you as well, and please feel free not to respond to this.
I live in Toronto, Canada which is billed (overbilled?) as the most Multicultural city in the world. I am married to a Bengali woman who was adopted by 2 white parents along with her twin sister. Our church tends to shock visitors. We are incredibly and beautifully many different colours and nationalities. At last count over 60 countries are represented at XXX Baptist Church. To use a label we are quite modern. It is foreign to me when you use words like African-American Church or Asian Church as those correctly describe us.
Lest I paint an unrealistic picture, we are quite modern and quite conservative. My question revolves around our Youth Ministry in which I am a leader. It is predominantly white, and our leaders are predominately white. We are moving towards a much more spiritual wholistic picture of the Gospel. Unfortunately, we have not been able to make inroads with our Brown, Black and Asian brothers and sisters. I'm wondering if you could offer any advice to become more relevant to the many cultures XXX Baptist.
Thank you again for your freeing words. They have inspired a disillusioned Christian to continue to follow Christ.
Answer: This is such an important question; I think the best thing I can do is refer you to people better qualified than myself to answer it. I’d recommend my new friend Randy Woodley’s book, “Living in Color” (IVP), and Richard Twiss’s excellent book, “One Nation, Many Tribes.” As well, my friend David Anderson leads something called the Bridge Network, which you can find online.