Our last post in our series on encouraging diversity in your local church focused on educating your church on other cultures. That is, special educational sessions could be held by church members and non-church members within your church where a different culture could be shared and experienced. Doing so helps your church to “get their feet wet,” so to speak. Educating your church opens the general church body up to experience even more within the church service and throughout many different church functions.
Once education of other cultures has begun in your church, allowing for times that stimulate diverse expressions of those cultures are more easily accepted. Some of these diverse expressions will occur naturally as your church becomes more comfortable with them. However, there may be times where the church leadership needs to take the initiative in sparking these expressions.
One simple way to encourage diverse expressions of culture is through worship. Some cultures are more expressive than others. Some cultures dance more. Some are more reflective. If, in your learning of other cultures, you come across an expression of worship that is different than yours, then take a Sunday to worship within that expression. Allow time to prepare your congregation for it by mentioning it ahead of time and writing a short explanation along with a guide for worship. We were all once new to our present-day worship expressions, so don’t worry if some people may feel weird because of the unknown. The more you stimulate diverse expressions of culture in your church, the more your church becomes comfortable with multiculturalism.
What do you think? We only covered worship in this post. What other ways can a church stimulate diverse expressions of culture in its walls? Let us know in the comments below. Also, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us if you wish to bring a multicultural worship event to your church.
