Who Shall Separate Us?

The issue of separation of cultures is not a new phenomenon in the United States. From its inception as a nation to this current day, the country continues to struggle with issues of discrimination, racism, bigotry, and prejudice. The residuals of these dynamics result in clearly drawn lines within the cultures. As a result, a sort of class distinction limits society to understanding cultures in the contexts of race, ethnicity, and social standing. Failure to understand the aforementioned dynamics that resonate within the cultures, can force separations among the members of American society, and unity among the cultures is lost in unseen cultural warfare. Instead of a country positioned in the world as a melting pot of cultures, lack of unity among the cultures could result in a cauldron of division impacting the social health of an entire nation. If this is true, it could be argued that the same social dynamics found in society, could also impact the social and cultural health of all society’s institutions – including the institutional church.

Beyond the importance of meeting spiritual needs, the Church historically has been a type of social barometer for determining the types of national values and morals needed within the various cultures in most western societies. If one of the purposes of the Church is to provide the spiritual utility by which these values and morals are created, it becomes vitally important for the Church to exude the kind of spiritual health worthy of emulation by the rest of society. The cultural health of the Church then, would also provide the template by which a society measures not only such spiritual growth, but also provide the impetus for the type of cultural health that promotes unity among all groups in society.

If the Church in the United States is to come to terms with the lack of unity among the cultures in the social context, the impact on the spiritual welfare of the Church will have long lasting consequences on the health of society socially and spiritually. It is incumbent upon the Church, therefore, to address the social issue of cultural division and separation, to meet the mandate prescribed in the Great Commission. A small part of accomplishing this mandate is to better understand the nature of the multicultural phenomenon. In essence, the Church must understand the importance of diversity within the culture of the Church. Given this logic, it would be difficult at best for the Church to understand that diversity, if the Church is not diverse.

Examining the issue of healthy cultural diversity in our society, particularly within multicultural churches is a daunting task. Blending cultures has been a challenge for many societies over millennia, because the issue appears to be more intrinsic that external. History has shown that no human document or movement can actually force this need to intrinsically change or alter social and spiritual change, in the context of human relationships. When dealing with the issues of diversity in cultures, even democratic governance does not necessarily align itself with equal governance. If, however, a given society lacks the ability to understand the negative impact of cultural divisions and separations, the impact on the social health of that society could be devastating. To this end, can the lack of this intrinsic inclusivity be considered the lack of cultural health needed for a society? Can the answer for this intrinsic inclusivity be found in the multicultural Church? In order to influence present day cultures toward multicultural health, the Church must be positioned to alter the dynamics that underscore cultural separations entrenched in societal thinking and understanding. In essence, the Church must now be able to put forth a social and spiritual agenda which promotes a multicultural construct influencing society towards both social and spiritual health.