Jeff Adams


Benefits of Multiculturalism

October 12, 2008

The term multiculturalism means different things to different people. To some it is a politically-correct world view that blindly shuts its eyes to abuse and sin. If someone is from a different culture or ethnic group, we are to blindly and lovingly accept anything and everything in the spirit of fairness and equity. Those who disagree with this point of view often see multiculturalism as a threat to what is known and comfortable.

The Bible offers a different view of multiculturalism, teaching that God himself divided the peoples of the world according to language (Genesis 11), and yet he loves them all equally. Throughout scripture God expresses concern for all the peoples of the world. In Matthew 28:18-20 the Great Commission is to make disciples of Jesus Christ of all the ethnic groups in the world. This is our mandate. Jesus Christ is the Savior of all the peoples of the world. He is Lord over all.

The Bible addresses sin wherever it is found. Every culture has elements that fall short of God’s truth and need to be changed. Multiculturalism is not blind acceptance of everything different, but a biblically-bred tolerance of people from all backgrounds with the goal of banding together under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Ephesians 2 teaches that he is our peace who has broken down the walls that separated us. He doesn’t ask us to deny our cultural heritage, but to submit to him and his truth and allow that we are one with all believers regardless of background or language.

One of the greatest thrills of my life is to be part of a church that is genuinely multicultural. We didn’t set out with some grand plan and strategy to make this happen. God just decided to do it. We decided to embrace it. Some people are simply uncomfortable being around people who are not like them. This does not make them bad people; it makes them human. We all share a tendency to feel comfortable around those who look, talk, dress and act like us. Those of us willing to be stretched beyond our comfort zone, soon learn that the different peoples of the world have far more in common than the features that make us different.

Here are some of the benefits of being part of a multicultural church:

  • We are a model of what the church will look like in the future and what we should strive for today (Revelation 5:9-10; 7:9-10).
  • We learn how to view people as God sees them, learning to look at people on the inside, not the outside (1Samuel 16:7).
  • We learn to prepare ourselves and our children for the coming reality in our country. By 2043 non-Latino whites will be a minority in the Unites States.
  • We enrich our lives by learning different points of view, different customs, different ways of approaching the circumstances of life.
  • We learn to overcome our ignorance, stereotypes and fears of people who are not like us, seeing them instead for the individuals they are.

I’m listing these benefits off the top of my head. Perhaps you can add some I am overlooking. Cheryl and I host a monthly reception in our home for new members to our church. Almost every month someone mentions that one of the characteristics of our church that drew them was our diversity. I especially hear this from people who are wanting to raise their children in a diverse environment.

Andy Castro is a young man in our church who is a recruiter for the Univeristy of Missouri in Kansas City. Last week he made a post to his blog about this very subject that I found interesting. I mentioned this briefly in my sermon this moring. If you would like to read the entire post, you can find it here.

  • http://www.guardiancockups.com Ralph Musgrave

    A litany of false logic above, as is normal from the advocates of multiculturalism. For example:

    Jeff Adams tells us that one of the “benefits of being part of a multicultural church” is that “We are a model of what the church will look like in the future”. This is begging the question. Put another way, whence the assumption that the future (multicultural) state of the church is a desirable state? If Hitler had said in 1935 that building a few trail gas chambers was a virtue because this would have been a foretaste of things to come, I wouldn’t have agreed. Do we take it that Jeff Adams WOULD have agreed?

    Jeff Adams also tells us that “We enrich our lives by learning different points of view, different customs, different ways of approaching the circumstances of life.” This much cited alleged advantage for multiculturalism is the central claim in a full length book entitled “Re-thinking Multiculturalism” by Bhiku Parekh. Trouble with this argument is that the vast majority of peoples’ cultural intake comes from books, school, university, TV, radio, etc etc. In contrast, how much do you learn about Chinese history from your local Chinese restaurant: probably nothing.

    Moreover, it is precisely the relatively unsuccessful cultures that export large numbers of migrants to Europe and North America. The relatively successful ones dont: their citizens have no motive to migrate. By way of illustration, I have studied unemployment in depth. I’ve read dozens of books on the subject. It is widely agreed in economics that the group of countries with some of the best labour market practices and systems are the Scandinavian countries. But these countries do NOT sent the UK (where I live) migrants in large numbers, because the former are prosperous successful countries. The moral is: if anything, IGNORE immigrant cultures and look at the cultures which DONT send immigrants in large numbers.

    As for Jeff Adams’s claim that “We learn how to view people as God sees them, learning to look at people on the inside, not the outside”, this is a debating technique commonly known as “erecting a man of straw”: i.e. attributing a nonsensical argument to your opponents, demolishing it, then claiming you have demolished your opponent’s argument.

    What makes Jeff Adams think that the opponents of multiculturalism judge anyone by their “outside”? Where are these people who judge INDIVIDUAL people by their outside: they scarcely exist! The average six year old has worked out that there are intelligent Chinese and people and stupid Chinese people. Therefore (revelation of the century) you cannot judge someone by the fact that they have slitty eyes. Amazing!

    In contrast, and as regards forming judgements on entire races, I dont regard Australian Aboriginees as an inferior race because they have darker skin than me and snubby noses. I regard them as inferior because they achieved nothing: no literature, no inventions (and the levels of rape, domestic violence and child abuse in Aboriginal societies are catastrophic, and always have been).

  • http://www.kcbt.org Jeff Adams

    Great question, Linda. Thanks for asking it, as I am sure others have the same question. The reason that the phrase “non-Latino whites” is often used is because there are so many Caucasian Latin Americans who come from a similar ethnic background as many white North Americans. But, since they are considered to be part of the Latin American classification in the United States, there is often a distinction made. The point is that by 2043 current projections suggest that Caucasian US born citizens will be a minority. Mike Perry is teaching with me right now in Mexico City and yesterday shared another interesting stat. Currently in the US, of those over 70 years of age, 4 out of 5 are white. Of those under 25, 4 out of 5 are non-white. Finally, you’ll be glad to know that you are biblically normal! Helping people see people as people first, not ethnic or demographic categories is something that the church can and should do.

  • Linda

    Jeff,

    You said………..We learn to prepare ourselves and our children for the coming reality in our country. By 2043 non-Latino whites will be a minority in the Unites States.

    well it must be early because I cannot figure out what non-Latino white really means. What caught my eye is the date. I really hope the year 2043 will be during the millennial reign.

    And last is there something wrong with me when I go into an all white church, I feel really weird? Like why is every one white ( I’m a white woman ) and why are all the black people going to a seperate church? I do feel more
    comfortable in a multicultural church.

    Thank you for a great post but could you go back and change the date 2043?

  • Ninette

    Great post!!!!!!!! Have a good time in Lima!

  • Mona

    One of the great things about raising your kids in a multicultural church is that it eliminates racism in the kids. When the people who love them and teach them about God each Sunday come from different racial backgrounds, they learn to love back.
    Another great advantage to being exposed to multiculturalism is that if you really learn to understand anther’s culture, you can sometimes put their way of thinking to work for you. Sometimes when I find myself facing a very American problem that I can’t solve, I try to look at it from the view of an African or an Arab – many times, changing the view changes the problem.

  • Monnie

    Jeff this isn’t scriptural I know, but I like trying different food.