Kelly was getting her student leaders ready to do a major outreach on campus. They had large, colorful posters and spiritual surveys ready. Their fellowship had spent many months talking about ethnicity, race, the Black Lives Matter movement, and racial injustice. They were going to ask people on campus what they thought about race relations on the campus and in the country. Kelly was hopeful that the room of around one hundred Asian, white, Latino, and black American students would be a powerful multiethnic witness to the campus. Kelly asked the leaders how they felt about starting such conversations, and many shared honestly about their fears and excitement. A young, white, first-year student named Mandy shared, “I’m scared and not sure if I know how to do this well.”
Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, one of the black leaders declared, “How am I supposed to trust this room to have the right conversations with black students on campus?” Pointing at Mandy, the black leader exclaimed, “She doesn’t even know what she’s talking about!”
Time seemed to stop for Kelly, who had been praying for her community to be able to reach out to a campus that was hurting because of racial conflict. She thought they were ready, but an unexpected crosscultural conflict had erupted. What to do?
This conflict would plunge Kelly and her leaders into deeper listening and knowing of each other. It exposed the reality that several new leaders were unfamiliar with the months of conversation and trust that had been built previously. They needed to pause and figure out what was happening. It forced them to have conversations that they hadn’t known they needed to have, addressing fears and division. In the end, the dialogue, apologies, and reconciliation that resulted made them even stronger. Conflict didn’t negate the realness of their multiethnic community. They’re not perfect, and their community continues to be a work in progress. But these types of conversations help them address new realities, barriers, and opportunities that come with being a growing missional, multiethnic community.
Many organizations, churches, and universities use a stereotypically predictable image for their brochures and websites to convey the great diversity of their community: a photo of smiling white, black, Asian, and Latino Americans enjoying a conversation or laughing together. Organizations and universities use these types of photos to convey that they are a diverse environment, keeping with the times. But this is often little more than multicolored attendance.
A bunch of people from diverse backgrounds sitting together for an activity (be it a class, worship service, or conference) is not automatically a multiethnic community. Many of our colleges, organizations, and even churches have a multicultural space celebrating cultural diversity, but very few have spaces that are able to endure together racial and crosscultural conflict, both internal and external to the community. Many universities have an office for multicultural affairs but not one that addresses racial relationships. The rainbow of cultural colors is often little more than a false or shallow understanding of multiethnic community.
A multiethnic community is defined by relationships that are marked by trust and commitment able to persevere through conflict. On the other hand, multicolored attendance is a shallow celebration of the visual semblance of togetherness. When tensions arise, holding hands and singing “Kumbaya” is not enough to hold together a hollow, multicolored attendance community.
There are few things more painful to a Christian community than a church spilt, and in Acts 6, we see the potential beginnings of one. We read, “In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food” (Acts 6:1).
In our American Western context of abundance, this can be misread as a small but embarrassing logistical oversight that could be fixed by providing more food at the next potluck. But we need to understand the cultural context to know what’s at stake.
Six centuries before Jesus was born, Israel was conquered by the Assyrians and Babylonians, who were then conquered by the Persians, who were conquered by the Greeks, after which the Romans took over. When the Greeks ruled, Israel’s culture and spiritual lineage were attacked. Antiochus, eager to find financial means of offering tribute to the powers that be, sold the high priesthood (a title that Jews reserved only for descendants of Aaron). A man named Jason bought the priesthood for 27,000 pounds of silver and forced a Hellenistic lifestyle onto the Jews by implementing Greek gymnasiums, Greek educational systems, and the worship of Greek gods (see 2 Maccabees 4:7-14). Antiochus slaughtered a pig at the altar in the temple, pocketed temple money, and put many to death, including punishing mothers who had circumcised their babies by killing the babies and hanging the corpses around their mothers’ necks (see 1 Maccabees 1:47, 60-61). The Jews found relief in the Maccabean family, who helped to end Greek rule. But eventually, Israel was humbled by the return of Roman rule, which amplified much of the Greeks’ cultural and educational practices and publicly crucified thousands (robbers and freedom-fighters alike). Jesus’ crucifixion was a commonplace execution, one of many for failed leaders of revolts. The early church grew out of Jewish roots in a world that had been Hellenized for centuries.
Hellenistic Jews had adopted Greek language, customs, and culture. Hebraic Jews retained Hebrew customs, language, and culture in the face of hundreds of years of persecution, torture, and death. This tension is at work in Acts 6. When both the Hellenistic Jews and the Hebraic Jews became Christ followers, they brought this history of conflict with them.
In this culture, widows needed alms and protection from charitable individuals to survive. So in Acts 6:1, the complaint is not just about needing food for a one-time meal. It’s about people wrestling with daily poverty.
Acts 6 represents a potential church split due to crosscultural tension and distrust, a ministry leader’s worst nightmare. What would you do if you were in this situation? If you represented the Hebraic Jews that were being well served, how would you expect the offended Hellenistic Jews to respond? Updating it to today, how would you respond if black members of your mostly white church raised concerns that most of the Bible studies and church sermons seemed catered toward white people?
Here’s the next part of the story:
So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”
This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them. (Acts 6:2-6)
Instead of becoming defensive, avoidant, or combative, the Twelve disciples gather the leaders of the church together and are willing to hear the concerns and pain of their community. They respond by identifying new leaders who are marked by obedience to the Holy Spirit and pray over them to confirm that these are the right people to lead.
The specific men chosen as leaders is significant, as they were all Hellenistic Jews. These men were to be in charge of feeding not just the Hellenistic widows but all of the widows. In the secular world, and even in the church world, this may be considered ludicrous. Wouldn’t the Hellenist men just even the score by giving their community more food than the Hebraic Jews? Instead, the leaders trust the seven men, who set about the tremendous task given to them. Will the Hebraic Jewish widows and community trust them? Is this enough to repair the damage that has been done?
A fear that comes up for many ministry leaders is that becoming more diverse will cause people to leave. I was a part of a Korean Christian Fellowship that was debating about becoming more pan-Asian in name to reflect the Chinese and Taiwanese non-Christian friends we were trying to reach. Many people were concerned about the Korean people feeling uncomfortable, and indeed, some people did leave. But our Christian communities should not be about feeling comfortable. As we learned how to be more inclusive, the community grew. In multiethnic missional community, everyone ends up being a little uncomfortable for the sake of making room for the other.
If you lead your ministry out of a place of fear of what people think, remember that ultimately you answer only to the Lord. And if you have concerns about how people will get along, remember that you can and should teach them how. You can’t just throw them into a room together and hope for the best (like throwing a couple of firecrackers into a room with a lit match and crossing your fingers). We don’t know for sure, but given these dynamics, my guess is that the leaders in Acts 6 gently reminded the group that Jesus welcomed all, Samaritans and Gentiles alike, and therefore they needed to do the same. So what happened next?
After the decision is made to appoint new leaders, the church continues to grow: “So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith” (Acts 6:7).
We could suppose that the problem with the widows was just a logistical hump for the superstar apostles to get over so that they could focus on their mission-advancing preaching, but notice the last part of the verse: “A large number of priests became obedient to the faith.”
Priests were a part of the temple system and understood Hebrew customs and traditions. As the leaders of the Hebraic Jews, they knew the kind of community that Yahweh had taught the Israelites to be: united as one, feeding widows, caring for orphans, and quick to resolve differences. Could they have seen the solution with the widows as an example of united witness, trust, correction, and partnership in feeding the poor, and thought, These Christians are able to do what living by Torah alone could not? Here, they saw a community of God persevere through cultural tension and conflict that separated so many Jews. The response of the Acts church strengthened their witness to the Jewish community.
By caring for Hellenistic Jews, the Acts church saw Hebraic Jewish leaders become Christians. Crosscultural conflict and chaos became an opportunity to invite in the Holy Spirit and live united. Later in Acts 7 and 8, the seven new leaders are not just responsible for the widows but also become part of the rapidly expanding ministry of the church.
In Acts 6, God turns a chaos moment into a kairos moment. The believers are marked by a deep trust of each other and of God, which in turn yields a willingness to work through conflict, making room for new leaders. Multiethnic community drives the mission forward to all communities that could be blessed by the church.
What can we take away from Acts for our current context? Oftentimes, ministries and churches settle for multicolored attendance and avoid talking about crosscultural conflict and racial tension—or avoid attempting to diversify the ministry altogether. But it’s a lie that you must sacrifice white Christians in order to reach more people of color. It’s also a lie that you must sacrifice people of color in order to reach white Christians. Fear and anxiety should not limit our mission fields.
It takes discernment, prayerfulness, and a willingness to learn intentional hospitality for a multiethnic community to reach all people more effectively. So when crosscultural conflict occurs, we can apply the following four strategies.
As much as you might want to be valued based on your merits alone by someone of a different ethnic background, you do represent the history of a macro-ethnic people group. Be aware of the history of interactions between your ethnicity and others and take care to honor those who have been dishonored by your people. Extend an intercessional apology where appropriate.
Clement, a Taiwanese American, was visiting his brother’s majority white church. To his chagrin, the church used Chinese-like music (gongs, pentatonic scale jingles, high-pitched martial arts yelling) and ninja references based on stereotypes in a video and sermon. While everyone around him laughed, Clement felt like he wanted to be invisible. When Clement encouraged his brother to write the pastoral team about his concerns, they responded, “We asked an Asian person if they thought it was okay, and they said it was. So we don’t think it was a problem.”
Instead of listening, the pastoral team responded with defensiveness and denial. They lacked an understanding of how hurtful Asian stereotypes have been for Asian Americans. They asked only one person about it, not realizing that the person wasn’t racially aware enough of the history of their people to be able to give proper feedback. The ministry leaders should have asked several Asian Americans who were more knowledgeable about the larger context. Instead, the church created an inhospitable space for Asian Americans.
If you are a white man mentoring a younger black man, you need to be aware of the historical interactions he and his family might have had with white men and women. You need to check your interactions with the young man and make sure that you’re not behaving in a way that enforces falsehoods based on his ethnicity and cultural expression of the gospel.
If you want your community to be more welcoming to people who are in the minority, you need to equip your team to be hospitable. Extend kindness and intentionality that is countercultural to what the secular world offers. Pray and ask God for help, and ask him to provide people who are knowledgeable and can teach you.
When you hear that a community is reeling from a hate crime or when national crises regarding race fill your news feed, don’t ignore it. Silence can look like complicity, where you’re saying either it’s okay or it doesn’t matter. Make space to acknowledge the pain and pray for the victims and perpetrators involved. The reality is that we are not in a post-racial, colorblind society. A number of nationally publicized deaths of black men, women, and children have occurred in the past few years, and the ugliness of the 2016 election exposed some shocking racialized attitudes. We should acknowledge that we live in a context very similar to the Acts 6 church and be marked by their same sensitivity to the Holy Spirit.
The apostles were not defensive or argumentative when the Hellenistic Jewish community raised their concerns about the widows. Instead, they made space for people to feel heard and convened a prayer and leadership meeting based on those concerns. When tension comes up on your team or ministry, make space to listen to the community and respond thoughtfully. Listen to the Holy Spirit in prayer; the Spirit will guide you about next steps, about where to apologize, where to change course, and what to say next. It’s hard to hear Holy Spirit’s voice if you’re weighed down by fear, shame, or anxiety, so confess those feelings and ask the Lord for guidance. Read Acts 6:1-7 to remember that God is bigger than the conflict in your team and that he deeply cares about the local or national crises in your midst. Ask him to repair and restore trust that is broken, and invite your community into reconciliation and united witness.
When crosscultural conflict or a racial tension arise, it’s an opportunity to ask the Lord, What would you have me do? Don’t avoid or minimize the situation, but be willing to stand alongside the hurting and broken. Show humility in asking for feedback about how you could change to be more inclusive and effective in your interactions with more people. Be willing to prayerfully partner with those whose cultures and communication styles are vastly different from your own.
Different ministry leaders have asked me how to help those under their leadership respond to the pain experienced by the black community in the aftermath of the recent highly publicized deaths of several black people at the hands of police. In my experience, you can preach about systemic injustice and white privilege, but I don’t think this is the most effective way of inviting people to care. If you teach people about theory and concepts, overloading them with facts, they stay only until they’re tired or burned-out.
The most loving thing to do is show up and listen, without judgment. We can ask leaders to make space to care for the hurting. Our communities need to steward Christ’s call to be a caring member of the body of Christ. Stewardship of leadership is a concept that is immediately applicable. As people hear others’ stories, they start to see patterns of systemic injustice that affect communities of color. Because they’ve had real conversations with real people and friends, they stay for the long haul. What would you not do for your friend, whose heart you know so intimately that when it bleeds, yours aches too?
If you’re the one bringing up the conflict, the following general principles are helpful. A general rule of thumb in conflict is to use “I” language instead of “you” language. Avoid globalizing and accusatory language such as “you never” or “you always.” It’s one thing to say, “You never acknowledge people of color!” while it’s another thing to say, “I have noticed that we don’t do the best job of acknowledging people of color in the room.”
The Situation-Behavior-Impact (SBI) tool is also helpful to use in conflict.1 It helps us ground our discussion of conflict in concrete situations and specific details instead of in generalizations and assumptions that can be hard to follow and understand, especially across cultural differences.
Situation: Describe the context/situation where the observed behavior occurred.
“When our team met yesterday to plan our conference . . .”
“When we were hanging out yesterday . . .”
Behavior: Describe the specific behavior that was hurtful, insensitive, or problematic.
“I noticed that all but one of the speakers were white.”
“You made a passing joke imitating a bad Chinese accent.”
Impact: Describe the impact it on you and/or others (as well as possible future impact).
“I’m concerned that we’re not being more intentional in diversifying our leadership for this important event. I don’t think it feels hospitable to people of color who are considering attending.”
“If Mei Lin was in the room, I think she would have been hurt. I think it would have been offensive to her.”
Finally, offer an alternative.
“I know we want to see our organization grow and reach more people. Could we consider incorporating more diverse leadership?”
“You’re my friend. I know you don’t want to hurt people. Can we avoid those kind of jokes in the future?”
Most importantly, pray. Prayer helps us hear from God in the midst of conflict. If both parties are praying, the chances of God speaking and bringing resolution are much higher.
In Acts 6, the apostles immediately respond to their community by putting a plan into action. Their behavior shows that they recognized something was wrong. We can imagine that there was probably far more to their meeting than what’s described in Acts 6:2. Maybe they reflected on what Jesus had done and told them to do: go out and make disciples of all nations. Perhaps they discussed and concluded that it was not Christ-like to show favoritism to the Hebraic Jewish widows. They may have apologized to those who had been hurt particularly by this oversight.
The secular world does not expect leaders to ever admit to being wrong. When they do, it is often revealed by force, and they are made to step down. There are some cases of serious sin that make it appropriate for a ministry leader to resign and seek counseling, healing, and restoration. But the leader that is quick to admit shortcomings and seek reconciliation even in the smaller things exhibits a responsiveness and humility that is actually quite attractive. This is different from an “I hate myself” kind of self-flagellating apology. The apology is about a concrete action that was taken or not taken.
I taught on Acts 6 at a training conference on missional multiethnicity. During the training and without my prompting, the two senior leaders, white men in their forties, asked if they could speak to the seventy people present. With tears in their eyes, they said, “As your leaders, we wanted to apologize. One, we’re sorry that we didn’t prioritize ethnic diversity as we’ve pursued planting and reaching new communities. And two, we’re sorry for making our workplace a difficult and painful space for our colleagues of color.” Their staff had been particularly affected by the recent injustices and protests in Ferguson, Missouri. I could not have asked for better timing or content more in line with the spirit of Acts 6. The leaders’ apologies were specific and substantial, and they submitted themselves to their community. Their staff gathered around them, offered forgiveness, and prayed that the Lord would increase the leadership and wisdom of these two men. Many senior leaders of color were deeply moved by this public confession and individually prayed blessings over them. It delighted me to hear that, in the months after the training, this ministry was reaching more black students than they ever had before and had also started planting a strategic outreach to Native American students.
When we confess our failures and gaps, we give space for the Holy Spirit to come into those formerly secret parts to begin healing. We give space for repentance, forgiveness, grace, and deeper partnership. If you never ask for forgiveness for missteps in crosscultural friendships or in leading ministry, something is wrong. You either have not admitted that you make mistakes, or people don’t trust you enough to be willing to confront you! We don’t need to be perfect; we just need to be open to the deep touch of the Perfect One who is Christ, who heals us while shaping us into his image.
Crosscultural conflict often exposes our biases and the people we might be unintentionally excluding. Inviting the perspectives and leadership of men and women who are ethnically different from you will help you better lead and respond to leadership challenges in a multiethnic witnessing community. They might not look or sound like you, but if they are marked by Christ-like leadership, prayerfulness, and the respect of their ethnic community, they are very strong potential partners. If your community is diverse but your leadership team is all white (or all Asian, black, or Latino American), you’re missing some key perspectives about how to effectively minister to your whole congregation. Invite feedback from people who are underrepresented in your group. If you’re trying to diversify your leadership team, your board, or your staff team, find someone who is respected and trusted by people of color (as well as white members). Give them responsibilities that matter, and walk with them as they try new things and help your community grow.
Acts 6 shows that in the kingdom of God, power is not a zero-sum game. The apostles make space for more leaders, and they trust those new leaders with an important task. Make room for more leaders in your context, be it a new position or in making sure that the next elected leaders represent a broader range of the people you are trying to reach with the gospel.
And stand by these leaders, advocate for them, and set them up for success. I’ve heard many sad stories about churches or organizations that invited a black, Latino, or Asian American member onto their mostly white staff, but underestimated how difficult it would be for that person as they navigated difficult interactions with other members and tried to fit into a dominantly white way of doing things. They found that the people who invited them just wanted to look diverse; they didn’t want to change how things were run. If you invite someone onto a team that is ethnically different from the team, and particularly if that person is the ethnic minority, train your group on what to say and not to say (have them read chapters six and seven). Ask that person for feedback and check in on how they’re doing. Take their ideas and feedback seriously. Continue to diversify your leadership team. In Roadmap to Reconciliation, Brenda Salter McNeil writes that many organizations and churches assume that initial diversification means success. But without structural intentionality, initial changes have little lasting impact.2
When the apostles chose the seven leaders in Acts 6, they gave them leadership position and influence over the entire group. Make sure that you’re not inviting people to be just visual placeholders. Don’t ask a black or Asian American speaker to be the token voice on race. This is a common complaint from many ministry leaders of color. Defy that stereotyping norm. Ask them to speak on things other than race or ethnicity, such as faithfulness, prayer, suffering, or other aspects of life with Christ. Their leadership, grounded in who they are and their ethnic background, is a gift for all.
It’s hard work to be a reconciling, ethnicity aware community! It involves growing a larger set of skills, being aware of what’s at stake, and having the humility to admit wrongdoing. We all will make mistakes like the Acts 6 church did. If we can model and teach our Christian communities to pay attention to historical context, to be quick to listen, to apologize in places of wrong, to seek reconciliation, and to make space for diverse leadership, we stand a much better chance at becoming a persevering, multiethnic witnessing community.
In the beginning of this chapter, we read about Kelly, a white woman faced with the task of leading a diverse leadership community through public crosscultural conflict. However, Kelly was able to keep her cool because she had navigated such tension before. Several months earlier, the group had spent time talking about the issues of injustice affecting black men and women. Her Latino student-leaders, who were of the minority in her large leadership team, told her that they felt unseen and unheard in the conversation about race, particularly because the issues about immigration and racism toward Latinos was real and present in Southern California. Kelly invited them to share about how painful it was to hear the insensitive comments from the 2016 presidential campaigns about Latinos because it highlighted their daily reality of dealing with racism and prejudice. And they spoke of how they felt unseen in a group that talked so much about black people. The community listened to the Latino students and responded with humility and repentance rather than defensiveness. The group asked for forgiveness and asked Jesus for change as they prayed. The Latino leaders were amazed and emboldened in their witness as a result. Renewed with missional vision and conviction, they went out on the campus and shared about a Jesus who sees Latinos and calls them to freedom in Christ. This conversation didn’t decrease the community’s concern for the injustice that was facing black Americans; it widened their heart of concern.
Multiethnic witnessing communities are marked by people and leaders who are quick to listen to their community, prayerfully listen to the Holy Spirit for direction, courageously admit their blind spots and mistakes, and willingly change to make space for more people. Instead of being a threat that leads to division, conflict becomes an opportunity for deeper reconciliation, shalom, and kingdom witness.
1.What is the most striking thing you noticed about the response of the apostles in Acts 6:1-7?
2.What’s your default response in crosscultural conflict?
3.What’s the most challenging thing about the recommended steps to responding in crosscultural conflict?
4.For ministry leaders: What is the ethnic composition of your leadership team? How does it compare to your community and/or who you intend to reach? What critical voices and perspectives are missing from your team? Who could you invite to serve as an advisor or as a new leader?
Churches, Culture and Leadership: A Practical Theology of Congregations and Ethnicities by Mark Lau Branson and Juan F. Martinez
Cross-Cultural Conflict: Building Relationships for Effective Ministry by Duane Elmer
Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, and Shelia Heen
Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America by Michael O. Emerson and Christian Smith