EMQ » July – Oct 2024 » Volume 60 Issue 3
[mepr-show rules=”100329″ unauth=”message”] This content is shown only to authorized members. It is hidden from everyone else.
Multiethnic Missions Mobilization
Summary: I am a White American woman who grew up in a White majority church that emphasized global missions. Eighteen years ago, I moved to New York City to serve as both a missionary and a mobilizer for world missions. I desire for Jesus to be known and worshiped among all peoples. So why did I often find myself cringing when I shared missions mobilization materials within a diverse, urban, multiethnic, and international environment?
By Valerie Althouse
I grew up in a conservative, suburban, majority White church that had a strong emphasis on global missions. That early influence was part of what mobilized me into missions and propelled me to move to New York City 18 years ago. Ever since then, I have worked among and partnered with the city’s diverse people in sharing the news of Jesus with all nations.
Most missionaries realize that deep and long-term relationships and experience living among those from other cultures provide opportunities to see your own culture more clearly. This was true for me as well. Eighteen years in this city that I love has changed me profoundly.
As White American woman who is both a missionary and a mobilizer for world missions, I desire for Jesus to be known and worshiped among all peoples. So why did I often find myself cringing when I shared missions mobilization materials within a diverse, urban, multiethnic, and international environment?
Missions Mobilization Screenshots
I love using screenshots. This handy, digital option on our devices allows us to grab a piece of information or insight that we have discovered and save or use it later when we need it. A meme, an article, a restaurant we want to try – all are easily saved in a screenshot for later review.
I have saved many “screenshots” within my mind over the course of almost eighteen years of working in and mobilizing within a diverse community. Allow me to share some of these.
Screenshot #1: Church classroom space in Queens reviewing a missions mobilization video with a diverse group of church leaders. This particular material had only one instructor featured: a male, White American.
The feedback I received from my focus group was this: Whites are a minority within our church. Many within our church represent first- or second-generation immigrant families, while others represent Black or Latino families who have been in NYC for generations. We cannot present material on global missions taught only by someone who does not look like or represent the people within our congregation. When the material comes from only one ethnic and cultural viewpoint, it implicitly communicates that others are that other voices are not at the forefront of this work. Wider representation would communicate that everyone has a place in global missions.
Screenshot #2: Church classroom space in Queens reviewing another missions mobilization video. It showed a White woman expressing her surprise at discovering a community of color dealing with poverty within her own neighborhood, and how she then sought to help.
The diverse group of church leaders reviewing this material were aghast at this video: a comfortable White woman discovers how the rest of the world lives and is shocked? And this video is a formal part of a global missions study? What about the strong believers of color within our congregation who are wrestling with poverty – do they have no role to play in global missions but only to be receivers of help?
Screenshot #3: Global missions classroom in Manhattan sitting in the back while a suburban background White male lectured a room full of first- and second-generation immigrants on the importance of reaching internationals. My immigrant friend of color was sitting next to me, making quiet but sarcastic remarks to me during the length of his presentation.
As I listened to my friend’s comments, I could hear the instructor’s words and their meaning through her ears and her experiences. She had immigrated to the US, was a strong believer, and was already active missionally. The instructor had not adapted his material for this audience, and his speech conveyed his assumptions that arriving international people were not yet Christians or had little access to the gospel. Yet, the room was full of those who had arrived as Christians. His presentation missed their stories completely.
Screenshot #4: Church office space in Queens interviewing focus group leaders. They noticed that the missions material they reviewed showed international people as being primarily receivers of help but not ones who were also taking up the mantle to reach all nations.
The leader who caught this irony within the material was White, and his American-born-Chinese co-leader nodded his vigorous agreement. They communicated to me that the material presented seemed to indicate that international people were worthy of our service but not of joining in the work together, alongside one another in equal standing. It seemed to communicate that White people were there to welcome and help, but that people of international background were to be helped.
Screenshot #5: Sitting in my office reviewing survey results for my dissertation on multiethnic and multicultural missions mobilization.[i] I discovered that the group most strongly impacted by the missions mobilization material I had tested were Filipino.
A few months later I was on Zoom, discussing multiethnic missions mobilization with a mobilization team for an American-based sending agency. I asked: Among whom are you mobilizing? Their answer: Predominantly among White demographic churches and Christian colleges. I asked: Have you ever considered stepping into a sending partnership with a church of another ethnicity such as Filipinos, Hispanics, etc.? Their answer: No. We have never thought of that.
Screenshot #6: Zoom conversation, discussing global missions with a strong African American church leader. She was concerned about the message of colonialism when she heard the term missions.
While I have many African American friends who are active in global missions and who understand the various nuances within the terminology, this conversation was a reminder for me that wounds from the past still exist that have not yet been healed among communities negatively impacted by (often White) foreigners. As a White woman, I had not realized this previously. Some missions language is considered triggering by communities of color.
Screenshot #7: Attending a missions mobilization conference, listening to a White pastor present missions to his majority American audience as if no one else was doing the work, and that the people would not be reached unless they themselves decided to go.
I sat there thinking of my Filipino friends in NYC who are actively missional among Muslims. I thought of the sending power of Latin America, and of my Colombian friend who is preparing to serve among Muslims and mobilizing others to do the same. I thought of my Guyanese friends who have led over 90 people to Christ in China. I thought of my friend from India who has tirelessly worked among both Hindu and Muslim peoples within Queens neighborhoods, and my Bangladeshi friend who leads an online house church that has led perhaps hundreds to Christ. Are their stories also being told?
These screenshots, and many more, remain within my mind every time I now view missions mobilization material.
Identifying Global Shifts Impacting Missions Mobilization
Christianity has spread across the globe. And while the Western church continues to decline,[ii] the church in the Global South is outpacing it in its growth. In his book, The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity, Philip Jenkins said that “the era of Western Christianity has passed … and the day of Southern Christianity is dawning.”[iii] The decline of Western Christianity continues.
In tandem with the decline of Western Christianity is the rise of the Church in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Along with this rise are the growing numbers of missionaries being sent from these regions. Missions is no longer from the West to the rest, but from everywhere to everywhere.
Furthermore, these global Christians (missionary or not) and their compatriots are moving everywhere. Migration is the most tangible, human expression of globalization.[iv] In 2016, Pew Research stated that “if all of the world’s international migrants (people living in a country that is different from their country or territory of birth) lived in a single country, it would be the world’s fifth largest country, with around 244 million people.”[v]
Urbanization represents another steadily rising global trend. Migrants tend to move from rural areas into cities due to the higher number of available jobs and social networks.[vi] The migration data portal estimates that 55 percent of the world’s population lived in urban areas in 2018 and projects that percentage will rise to 60 by 2030.[vii] Urban centers are more likely to contain immigrant church communities who possess cultural and lifestyle proximities to least reached people group populations.
Today’s mobilization work involves raising up workers and resources from both the Global North and Global South and inviting them all to join God what he is doing. Fulfilling God’s mission is now understood to be the “whole Church taking the whole gospel into the whole world.”[viii]
North American Missions Engagement Realities
While the United States remains the world leader in sending missionaries, a large gap between the number of potential missionaries versus the sending power of our actual evangelical population still exists. Even more poignant, the 2017 edition of the North American Missions Handbook shows a 7.5 percent decline in North American long-term workers.[ix] Canada follows the same trends.[x] The decline of Western Christianity invites us to consider reimagining the future of the North American church in global missions.
The population of Whites in the United States is decreasing and will lose its distinctive majority status in the coming years. Some estimates show that by 2050 the population will be made up of 47% White, 29% Hispanic, 14% African American, and 9% Asian.[xi] The US Census Bureau predicted that this would take place by 2044.[xii] Yet a recent Barna Research indicated a decreasing interest among white Christians in addressing racial injustices.[xiii]
The United States has more immigrants than any other country in the world. The foreign-born population of the United States reached 45 million in 2015, or about one-in-five of all international migrants (19%) live in the US. [xiv] And their number is projected to increase to 78 million by 2065.[xv]
Many assume that the large majority of immigrants entering the United States are not Christian, but that is far from true. According to a 2015 article in the Washington Post, about 43 million residents in the United States were born overseas, and 74% of these adhere to the Christian faith. In 2019, the United States admitted 30,000 refugees. Only 16% of these refugees were Muslim, while 79% were Christian (23,800).[xvi]
“Immigration to the United States is having its most dramatic religious effects on the Christian population of the country,”[xvii] according to Wesley Granberg-Michaelson. “Fresh spiritual vitality in both North America and Europe is being fueled by the process of global migration.”[xviii]
It is not only the ethnic demographics of the United States that are shifting, but also the religious fervor and expression of the Christian church. Again, Michaelson comments: “As millions move from the Southern Hemisphere to the Northern Hemisphere, and from less affluent to more affluent societies, their Christian faith, with its cultural modes of expression and affiliation, comes with them. Thus, the religious landscape in North America and Europe is undergoing quiet but consequential change.”[xix]
These trends point toward a US church that is no longer predominantly white or Western. And at the same time, our Western mission agencies’ mobilization efforts, curricula, and media often remain trapped within a Western, North American, and White cultural framework. What is wrong with this picture?
Recommendations Towards Multiethnic Missions Mobilization
The biblical mandate remains unchanged: to bring the whole gospel to the whole world. However, our context for doing this important work has shifted. It is time to transform the language and imagery surrounding much of our mobilization materials to match our current realities. Here are several ways missions mobilizations and church leaders inviting others to join in the Great Commission can do that:
Increase diversity experience and understanding among majority culture missions leaders and mobilizers. Mission organization leaders and mobilizers themselves must first seek to be a part of spaces where they are not the ethnic majority. Some insights can only be gleaned when someone is regularly in community with and learning from those who are unlike themselves. It is also essential to include intercultural awareness and training for missions mobilizers and organizational leaders. This is no longer optional, but a compelling imperative.
Represent the Global Church. Integrate non-North American global missions instructors, testimonies, and examples. Include those from a least reached people group background. Bring their voices forward by inviting them to share their own testimony of coming to Christ and how they share him with others. Include stories of those who have immigrated to North America and are intentionally sharing Christ with other international friends, utilizing their bi-cultural abilities and global networks.
Represent the diversity of the North American church. Actively seek out and partner with churches of diverse and immigrant peoples. They may prove to be those who are the next sending force from North American soil. Include stories of African American and Latinos who are intentionally reaching least reached peoples, whether at home or abroad.
Develop mobilization material that tells both stories: the demonstrable good of what missionaries have accomplished in years past,[xx] and the honest reflections mistakes and unintended consequences. Barna research has demonstrated that if we are to see a new generation involved in global missions, we must address this question more comprehensively.[xxi]
Include stories of bi-cultural and hybrid peoples who use their inherent, God-given abilities to cross cultures as messengers of Jesus. Include stories of people involved in the Great Commission who fall outside of the majority culture norms in the areas of economics, education, citizenship status and more. Develop missions mobilization tools that are accessible to all, no matter the cost or education level.
The Next Era of Cross-Cultural Sending
I am excited to be living in an age of global partnership and am honored to be working alongside diverse co-laborers in the Great Commission. As a White American, I have come to see deep blind spots within the North American Christian missions world. It is my hope that as we look at our frameworks, we will be guided toward the next era of cross-cultural sending.
In this season, we have been invited to call forward new stories and new messages portraying the already existing and expansive work of God among the nations. I am glad to report that the organizations that produced the mobilization materials I studied, made significant changes to their mobilization materials. Now they more fully represent the global body of Christ at work.
As we mobilize the next generations into God’s mission, how can we look at our materials with new eyes? What messages are we presenting? Who is included or excluded? How might God be calling us to expand the demographics of who we want to catalyze to join the next generation of missionaries? God is already working in the world around us as it is right now. It is my prayer that we will seek to keep pace alongside him.
Valerie Althouse (valthouse@isionline.org) serves as the training director for International Students Inc. She currently leads the NYC Area team and serves on the board of the NYC-based Heart for Muslims conference. She has earned both a BS and MS in biblical studies from Cairn University, and a DMin in leadership in the global context from Alliance Theological Seminary.
[i] Valerie Althouse, “MomentumYes and New Life Fellowship Church: A Case Study in Multicultural and Multiethnic Church Missions Mobilization,” D.Min. diss. (Alliance Theological Seminary, 2021).
[ii] Pew Research Center, “In U.S., Decline of Christianity Continues at Rapid Pace,” Pew Research Center, October 17, 2019, https://www.pewforum.org/2019/10/17/in-u-s-decline-of-christianity-continues-at-rapid-pace/.
[iii] Philip Jenkins, The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, Inc., 2011), 3.
[iv] Fritz Kling, The Meeting of the Waters: 7 Global Currents That Will Propel the Future Church (Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 2010), 94.
[v] Phillip Connor and Gustavo Lopez, “5 Facts about the U.S. Rank in Worldwide Migration,” Pew Research Center, May 18, 2016, https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/05/18/5-facts-about-the-u-s-rank-in-worldwide-migration/.
[vi] World Migration Report, International Organization for Migration, 2015, https://publications.iom.int/system/files/wmr2015_en.pdf.
[vii] Urbanization and Migration, Migration Data Portal, last revised October 21, 2019, https://migrationdataportal.org/themen/urbanisierung-und-migration.
[viii] “The Cape Town Commitment,” The Lausanne Movement, accessed October 1, 2023, https://lausanne.org/statement/ctcommitment.
[ix] Mark Stebbins, Evangelical Missions Quarterly: “Innovations in Mobilization Collaboration,” 42.
[x] Michael Lipka, “5 Facts about Religion in Canada,” Pew Research Center, July 1, 2019, https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/07/01/5-facts-about-religion-in-canada/.
[xi] “The United States: The Next Decade,” The Begin-Sadat Center For Strategic Studies, last revised December 31, 2019, https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/united-states-next-decade/.
[xii] “Projecting Majority-Minority: Non-Hispanic Whites May No Longer Comprise Over 50 Percent of the US Population By 2044,” United States Census Bureau, last revised 2014, https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/newsroom/releases/2015/cb15-tps16_graphic.pdf.
[xiii] Barna Group, “White Christians Have Become Even Less Motivated to Address Racial Injustice,” Barna, September 15, 2020, https://www.barna.com/research/american-christians-race-problem/.
[xiv] Connor and Lopez, “5 Facts.”
[xv] Abby Budiman, “Key Findings About US Immigrants,” Pew Research Center, August 20, 2020, https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/08/20/key-findings-about-u-s-immigrants/.
[xvi] Budiman, “Key Findings.”
[xvii] Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, From Times Square to Timbuktu: The Post-Christian West Meets the Non-Western Church (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2013), 81–82.
[xviii] Wes Granberg-Michaelson, “Think Christianity is dying? No, Christianity is shifting dramatically,” The Washington Post, May 20, 2015, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2015/05/20/think-christianity-is-dying-no-christianity-is-shifting-dramatically/.
[xix] Granberg-Michaelson, From Times Square to Timbuktu, 5.
[xx] Andrea Palpant Dilley, “The Surprising Discovery About Those Colonialist, Proselytizing Missionaries,” Christianity Today, January 8, 2014, https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2014/january-february/world-missionaries-made.html.
[xxi] Barna Group, “The Future of Missions,” 2020.
EMQ, Volume 60, Issue 3. Copyright © 2024 by Missio Nexus. All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced or copied in any form without written permission from Missio Nexus. Email: EMQ@MissioNexus.org.
