4 Ways A majority culture Church Can Be More Sensitive Towards Its Non-majority culture Members

A diverse church is a beautiful picture of the gospel. 

But most diverse churches have a majority and a minority culture.

The reality is achieving multi-ethnicity is easy, but being multi-cultural is really hard. The prior can happen incidentally and rapidly, but the latter only happens intentionally and incrementally. 

In this post, I lay out 4 ways the majority culture of a church can be more sensitive towards its minority members and leaders: 

1. Consider the Direction of Assimilation   

The average white American would feel like fish out of water if someone dropped them off in a church in Japan. But in America, reality is water for the average white Christian. This means that minorities who attend diverse churches in America can at times feel like a fish out of water. From conversation etiquette to sermon illustrations, things are often said and done out of a majority culture flavor. 

So just as the white Christian in a Japanese church would hope for empathy and sensitivity as he or she works extra hard to understand and assimilate to the culture, minorities in a diverse church naturally desire the same thing. Therefore, it’s loving and appropriate to consider and acknowledge the extra step minorities have to take to make their diverse church feel like home. This also provides the context for why minorities can feel extra stung by insensitivities.  

2. Be Curious About a Culture’s Values Rather Than Merely Consuming Its Benefits

It’s one thing to love hip hop and rap, but it’s another thing to understand the values of black culture. It’s one thing to love Mexican food but another to learn the communal strength of Hispanics. It’s one thing to love Korean BBQ, but it’s another thing to understand how Koreans interpret age and respect. Cultures are so much more than the benefits it provides in music and food. 

As a minority, I love it when someone tells me they’ve tried Korean food and loved it. But I feel understood when they ask me why I do something the way I do and light up when I talk about Korean culture. It tells me that my ethnic identity (which is second to my identity in Jesus) is more than just food or Korean drama, but something they see in me. I am seen as the full person God created me to be. 

3. Pursue Actual Relationships

I wonder if we need fewer sermons on race and “diversity training” and more time investment for face to face relationships. I believe this is one of the great losses happening in our Twitter conversations on race where everyone is speaking at and past each other.

David Brooks, a New York Times columnist once wrote, “People change when they are put in new environments, in permanent relationship with diverse groups of people. Their embodied minds adapt to the environments in a million different ways we will never understand or be able to plan.” He alludes to Gordon Allport, a social psychologist who wrote about the contact hypothesis, which said that minds are changed, prejudiced is reduced, and that new emotional bonds are formed when people actually spend time together. I believe he’s right. 

4. Empower Minorities Into Real Leadership Roles 

When I watched the sitcom “Kim’s Convenience” about a Korean-American family in Canada, it made me laugh and tear up in ways I never had before about any other sitcom (outside of The Office - the greatest sitcom in history). This is because there were certain nuances that I understood as a Korean American. I was seen and heard. I wonder if this is how minorities feel when they see leaders of their own ethnicity empowered to lead, sing, and teach in their diverse church context.

Sure, that doesn’t mean you pick any person who fits the profile and throw them on stage. But it also doesn’t mean you just leverage a picture for social media or hire an intern to check off the mark either. There’s a lot of in-between such as entry-level positions and development.

Concluding Thoughts

I’m at a diverse church that I’m really proud to be a part of. Though no church is perfect, I am grateful for its people who embrace the Kingdom vision of “every nation, tribe, and tongue” who are seeking to grow little by little. 

If you’re a majority culture member at a diverse church, please know that minorities aren’t afraid to engage in questions or curiosities you may have. And please don’t be quick to write off everything as “sensitive” when you see minorities hurting due to insensitivities. Instead, reach out engage in conversation. Listen, find out why, learn, and grow.

If you’re a majority culture staff member at a diverse church, please consider diversifying your team for gospel strategy. In other words, hire to advance the gospel best. Don’t hire reactively to race conversations on Twitter. Do it strategically. Also, please do not say, “There aren’t any _______ preachers and leaders.” It means you haven’t really done your homework. 

Minority members and leaders, we have the awesome privilege of helping exemplify the gospel of Jesus with all of its radical implications. There are times when it can feel frustrating. But if Jews and Gentiles came together for the vast majority of New Testament churches, I’m convinced the present day diverse church can too. So double-down on the gospel in your own heart. There are no apologies or explanations needed for that. 

The watching world is ever before the Church. May the church shine the light of Christ well in a fragmented and divided world.