Serving Bread

See larger image A Transforming Vision: Multiethnic fellowship in college and in the Church (Paperback) By (author) Paul V Sorrentino List Price: $12.95 USD New From: $6.68 In Stock Used from: $4.93 In Stock

A friend of mine put it well when he observed that I’m in some sort of “theological transition.” I think that’s a fair observation regarding my take on multiethnicity. For years, I valued forming and being part of multiethnic fellowships, where issues of race and identity are at the forefront of our witness on campus. I held on to Revelation 7.9 as my vision–”a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.” Because I believe in praying God’s Kingdom to be present on earth as it is in heaven, Revelation 7.9 is not a pipe dream, but a reality to be sought and prayed for.

This theological understanding of multiethnicity would thus stand in contrast to ethnic-specific Christian communities. In the past year, I have challenged my theological perspective. I find myself with little conclusions and many questions about how to value and drive toward multiethnicity in our Christian communities.

With this in mind, I was glad to pick up A Transforming Vision: Multiethnic fellowship in college and in the Church. One of my InterVarsity colleague edited the book and invited the students who were a part of this community to testify of how they grew their community to be a multiethnic witness on the college campus.

The book offers a concrete vision of how the campus ministry at Amherst college grew in its conviction for multiethnicity and how they went about to achieve this vision. In reading the book, I have made several observations that are helping me along in my “theological transition”:

• The leadership of this community recognized who was being reached and who was not being reached by the fellowship. The strength of a college ministry is that the mission field might be easier to define than that of the local church–we are called to reach the entire campus. It takes spiritual leadership and humility to recognize the people who are missing in our communities.
• I am impressed by the leadership and discipleship of the students (and now alumni). Regardless of whether someone may agree with the vision and practice of this community, we can’t argue of the quality of discipleship, love for Jesus and the Scriptures, that is evident in the lives of the individuals who were a part of this community.
• Authentic multiethnicity requires structural changes. I have been a part of a couple of communities who boast multiethnicity as a core value yet have failed to address the structures that do not make space for a multiethnic vision. This community looked at how it does worship and created new structures to create space for people to honestly talk about being a multiethnic community.
• Authenticity requires honesty. The leaders pressed people to be honest about their feelings with one another–nothing was to remain hidden.
• Multiethnicity cannot really be measured. While the community was diverse, it’s difficult and somewhat futile to create a formula that says that we have achieved multiethnicity. Multiethnicity is more of a value that we press to instill in our community rather than a number we measure.
• Multiethnicity is context-driven. Some campuses and churches in the United States will never be able to do what this community did because of the lack of diversity in their neighborhoods and communities. Because of that, it’s hard for me to know how to believe in multiethnicity as a universal truth for every community of faith when the vast majority of the world does not have the luxury to pursue such a vision.
• Discipleship is the key to keep the vision going and passing it on from one generation to the next. The value for cross-cultural relationships will die unless people are being discipled into these values and passing on these values to the next generation.
• Racial Reconciliation is an important discipline within multiethnicity. We cannot be authentic unless we recognize the divisions.
• Multiethnicity can (more often than not) be a prophetic voice. The fallen nature of humanity drives us away from reconciliation and friendship across racial lines. Choosing to build community cross-culturally will be a prophetic vision to those outside and inside of the community.

A Transforming Vision gives a fair and helpful picture of what happened at Amherst college in the 90s and 2000s. And it should inspire ideas and vision for churches and fellowships in other parts of the country. However, what happened in that small liberal arts school may not translate exactly to our specific context. It’s the vision and principles and practices of those communities that can inspire us to examine how we think about race and how we are sensitive to racial dynamics in our communities.