MarkDeYmaz.com

A Big Discount from Zondervan!

On Thursday this week, Zondervan and Leadership Network will nationally release my new book, Ethnic Blends: Mixing Diversity Into Your Local Church. Together with my colleague and co-author, Harry Li, I did a recent interview with LN about the new book. For your convenience, I've posted a part of that interview below. But befoore you read it, check this out ...

For one day only, Thursday, April 1, Zondervan will be offering Ethnic Blends at 75% off the cover price! This will lower the price that day only to $4.75 plus tax and shipping. There will be no limit to the quantity of purchase, making this a perfect day to buy for the friends you know, the small groups or churches you lead, or entire staff teams to study together!

To place your orders (again, that day only), click here. After you have added as many copies as you would like to your cart, click on the "Add To Cart" button and enter the code 980679. Then click "Apply Charges" and the discount will take effect. 

Now here's part one of that LN interview:

Why did you write Ethnic Blends?

We wrote the book in order to address the day-to-day challenges of multi-ethnic ministry. The book is for the growing numbers of pastors, church planters, and ministry leaders, indeed, entire staff teams who are seeking to promote greater ethnic/economic diversity within the local church or ministry they lead.

Where did your ideas come from?

We wrote from our own personal experiences, having served for nearly nine years together in the multi-ethnic community of faith we call Mosaic (Little Rock). In addition, we invited 14 multi-ethnic church pastors from around the country (and even Australia) to weigh-in with us through 500 word sidebars scattered throughout the book. Mark also has extensive understanding of the subject from his travel and interaction with others via the Mosaix Global Network (www.mosaix.info), a relational network catalyzing the movement toward multi-ethnic churches throughout North America and beyond.

What is new about what you have to say in Ethnic Blends?

In Mark's first book, Building a Healthy Multi-ethnic Church, he establishes the Biblical mandate and seven core commitments of an effective multi-ethnic church. In Ethnic Blends, we address seven common challenges of the multi-ethnic church. In addition, we provide relevant questions for personal reflection and/or group discussion, making the book a must for entire teams desiring to grow in their understanding, and consequently dream, of a church that reflects the love of God for all people on earth as it is in heaven.

The book also provides great insight on just where the multi-ethnic church movement is and where it is likely headed in the years ahead, with validation from the latest research of Dr. Michael Emerson, perhaps the most prominent sociologists on the subject today. Charts and graphs make complex truths more readily understandable and have been designed for use by those who would teach others also.

Even the Washington Post is Taking Notice!

In yesterday's edition of The Washington Post (Metro section), the journey of one church moving away from homogeneity in pursuit of the multi-ethnic vision was featured in an article entitled Churches Struggle to Meld Cultures in an Era of Diversity. With quotes from myself, as well as sociologists Korie Edwards and Michael Emerson, the article is yet another confirming current and future trends in this direction.

Interestingly my new book, Ethnic Blends: Mixing Diversity Into Your Local Church (referred to in the article and co-written with my colleague, Harry Li) wil be released this week on Thursday, April 1. In fact, check back here on that day to see how you can purchase the book (that day only) for 75% of the cover price!

For those of you without access to the WP online, I am providing the full article below. Let me know what you think.

CHURCHES STRUGGLE TO MELD CULTURES IN AN ERA OF DIVERSITY

By Annie Gowen, Washington Post Staff Writer / Sunday, March 28, 2010

When Calvary Baptist Church first tried to integrate its Sunday morning services for English and Spanish speakers, the result was misery for all. The congregants grew restless as they sat through endless translations from one language to the other. The service dragged on for 90 minutes. Nobody knew the hymns.

Complaints raged.

"I don't understand what they're saying on the pulpit." "I don't know the words of the hymns." "Why are we singing in Spanish?" longtime parishioners of the historic church in downtown Washington told pastor Amy Butler.

Nonetheless, Butler was determined to persevere, gambling her seven years of progress rebuilding the fading congregation into a 200-member mix of urban hipsters, Latino families and tradition-loving seniors. Would the move to full-time bilingual services further fuel Calvary's growth, or prompt an exodus of disgruntled worshipers?

"Every time we face a challenge such as this, I stay up at night worrying about it," said Butler, 40, who made the switch permanent in January. "We felt this multiracial, multiethnic expression of our faith was true to what God has called us to do in this place. It's very important that what's being reflected inside our sanctuary is similar to what's going on on the outside."

In choosing to integrate its Spanish speakers into the main congregation rather than holding separate services, Calvary is at the vanguard of a nascent but growing movement toward multiculturalism in American worship that some believe is the wave of the future.

But other theologians and experts say there are profound cultural reasons why -- as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. famously observed -- 11 a.m. on Sunday remains "the most segregated hour" in the nation. Even as waves of immigrants from Latin America, Asia and Africa have made the country vastly more diverse, fewer than 10 percent of churches reflect those demographic changes, experts believe.

"Churches are still overwhelmingly segregated," said Korie Edwards, a professor of sociology at Ohio State University and the author of "The Elusive Dream: The Power of Race in Interracial Churches." "They may say that they're committed to racial and ethnic diversity, but making that a reality is a different story."

Michael Emerson, a sociology professor at Rice University, conducted a national survey in 2007 and found that just 7 percent of congregations consider themselves multiracial, and that churches are likely to have a mere fraction of the diversity of the neighborhoods surrounding them. Over the years, he has seen congregations torn apart by efforts to integrate, especially when it involves language.

"People have to worship via the vehicle of culture. When you start mixing culture, language and worship style, people feel their culture is not being represented, and they're less comfortable with it, even when you're trying to balance it," he said. "It's hard to sustain."

Proponents of multicultural services say that churches -- especially those in urban neighborhoods like Calvary's -- must diversify to survive as the country grows less homogeneous. But what form that integration will take is a matter of hot debate.

Traditionally, churches wanting to reach out to minority groups have held separate foreign language services. The Archdiocese of Washington, for example, has Mass in 20 languages, but bilingual services are rare.

"Generally, everybody wants to go to Mass in their own language if they can do it," said Monsignor Mark Brennan, pastor of St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church in Gaithersburg. About four times a year, the church has a special multilingual service in English, Spanish and French, which is "wonderful," Brennan said, but a logistical nightmare.

He has sometimes found himself standing at the altar not sure what language the choir would sing in next.

Blending cultures and languages in worship is "still ahead of the mainstream, but there's growing interest and growing intent," said Mark DeYmaz, author of the book "Ethnic Blends: Mixing Diversity into Your Local Church."

His church, housed in a former Kmart in Little Rock, displays the flags of more than 30 countries at its services, which feature readings translated into Spanish and sign language, a Chinese teaching pastor and a gospel choir.

DeYmaz said he's aware some might find this melting pot worship style distracting or off-putting. "While it's certainly easier to go to church with people who are just like you," he said, "pursuing what's right from a Christian perspective has never been about what's easy."

On a recent spring Sunday morning at Calvary Baptist, Latino and Burmese families bowed their heads next to single professionals from the bustling gentrified neighborhood around Verizon Center, where the red-spired church sits on the corner of Eighth and H streets. Sprinkled among them were older, mostly white members in dresses and suits who had been coming there for decades.

They gamely recited Spanish prayer responses printed in the program and sang, "Make us one, Lord, make us one."

So far, Butler said, she doesn't know of anyone who has left Calvary because of the bilingual blending, despite the complaints. But the church has trimmed its service back to an hour and added a simultaneous translation in Spanish on little headphones to make it more palatable.

Even so, the English speakers dive for their Bibles when readings are in Spanish to find the translation. And they sit there lost at times when associate pastor Edgar Palacios, from El Salvador, does the sermon in his native tongue.

Claudia Moore, 59, a retired high school librarian from Springfield and a Calvary member for 48 years, said that the new service "took some getting used to," though she didn't consider leaving.

"I'd have to be honest and say I was less enthusiastic about going to church," she said. "But I'm trying not to be a stick in the mud."

Some members of the congregation said that the blended service has brought them closer, and they now socialize outside of church.

But few Latinos come to the church's small weekly prayer groups, scattered in homes around the city, or serve on its boards. Even something simple such as the Easter potluck menu, for which eggs and ham are traditional, can spark debate.

"The Spanish families wanted to know, 'What does 'brunch food' mean? Can we bring refried beans?' " Butler said. "At the end of the day we decided everyone should bring what they like to eat on Easter."

After a bilingual blessing that Butler said they are still trying to perfect, the congregation moved into the meeting hall next door for coffee and doughnuts.

Virginia Teller, 79, a District resident and retired teacher, said she had become closer with one of the Latino families in the congregation; they now go thrift-shopping together. But she hoped that the church would not add any more Spanish to the service.

"I will take what they have now but no more," she said. "Enough is enough! It is America. I feel everyone should try and speak English."

Jose Nunez, 39, a construction worker from Hyattsville, said in Spanish he was coming to the church's bilingual service to do just that.

"We don't want to be separate," he said. "We want to integrate with the greater community." Calvary, he said, has an "open heart."

Tim Keller on the Diversity of the Church

In a blog post at First Things dated Tuesday, March 16, Michael Liccione writes of his recent visit to Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan on Sunday, March 14 and reviews the sermon preached that day by Tim Keller.

With so many in the evangelical community today embracing Tim as a brilliant theolgian and practitioner (and rightly so, I believe), I wonder if this same evangelical community is willing to receive his teaching on the following point re. multi-ethnic/economically diverse church development, as well (bolded below for your convenience)?

In part, then, Liccione writes ...

"The Rev. Keller explicitly brought contemporary churches in America to task for failing to embody that ideal. We tend, he said, to think of our resources as what we deserve for our hard work and not as divine gifts to be shared with the community that makes their development possible. He also faulted churches for coalescing around distinctions of class, race, education, and economic status rather than welcoming outcasts—represented in the biblical passage by 'foreigners' and 'eunuchs'—on equal terms with ourselves as children of God. Deftly citing Luke 4, in which Jesus’ townsfolk in Nazareth are said to want to kill him for suggesting that Gentiles are to be graced by God as much as Jews."

So what do you think? Is the evangelical world ready and willing to embrace Tim on this point, as well so many others much easier to embrace?

Justice and Jesus

Perhaps you heard, or heard about, Glen Beck's recent comments re. the church and social justice. Among other things, Beck opined ... 

"I beg you, look for the words ’social justice’ or ‘economic justice’ on your church Web site. If you find it, run as fast as you can. Social justice and economic justice, they are code words. Now, am I advising people to leave their church? Yes!" Much more on this is available on Beck's comments and the response of others, such as Jim Wallis, at Sojourners. 

Interestingly, I have a short section in my new book, Ethnic Blends, dealing, in part, with this very subject, social justice and the church. And since the book is not scheduled for release until April 2010, here's a sneak peek at the text as found on pages 93-96: 

JUSTICE AND JESUS

Before concluding this chapter, let me add a brief word about the very good and growing concern for social justice and community transformation among evangelical Christians and churches. For some, this is nothing new, as they’ve been proactive in addressing such concerns for quite some time. Indeed many of these people and churches, long ago, established 501(c)(3) Community Development Corporations (CCDs) through which they could address a host of needs within their communities, like the need for early childhood and character development, the need for educational tutoring, the need for health care and housing among low-income families and the homeless. More recently, some churches concerned with social justice and community transformation have been described as "externally focused" in their efforts to address the physical and material needs of local schools, to honor public servants, or to develop community spaces. In fact, Leadership Network has a leadership community devoted to the growth of this movement. Still, other churches seeking to impact the community just outside their doors will identify themselves as "missional."

No matter the label, I want to make two points drawn from a proper theological perspective.

First, we have found that in a healthy multi-ethnic church, social justice is not so much a program to pursue; rather, it is who we are. In other words, a missional mindset quite naturally flows from the diversity of the body itself. In this sense, then, Mosaic is not so much focused on becoming missional; rather we are the mission! We are not so much focused on building bridges to the community; we are the community! Indeed, we recognize that community transformation stems first and foremost from a community in transformation, and that is what we are: a multi-ethnic and economically diverse community of people being transformed through the blood of Christ, learning to walk, work, and worship God together as one in and through the local church (see Eph. 2:11–22).

In addition, we must recognize that social justice and community transformation cannot be realized, or sustained, if we who champion justice do not also champion Jesus. For no amount of advocation, education, or legislation can ultimately satisfy people’s need for salvation in Christ. My point is this: in our zeal for justice we must also be zealous for Jesus. Recently, I was discussing such things with Chris Rice, co-director of the Center for Reconciliation at Duke Divinity School in Durham, North Carolina, and he agrees. Chris is a forerunner in the multi-ethnic church movement and is widely respected as an authority on the subject of reconciliation. In fact, in a recent blog post, Chris wrote, 

"At the annual Christian Community Development Association (CCDA) conference in 2009, three thousand people packed the room. Unlikely co-founder John Perkins, now nearly eighty years old and the son of a Mississippi share-cropper nearly eighty years old and the son of a Mississippi share-cropper, was teaching passionately from 1 John about God’s love. I was struck by the fact that maybe one-third of those in attendance were under thirty years old. Most are Christians living and ministering in the abandoned places of North America, and beyond. Suddenly I ran into an old friend from Chattanooga, Carl Ellis. Carl is an African-American veteran of the days when such ministry was deeply resisted in white American evangelicalism. We marveled at the scene before us. 'You know,' he said, 'CCDA has given evangelicals credibility in America.'

Yes, the Christians in the room were zealous for social justice: from those involved in a multi-million dollar church- based community development ministry like Lawndale Christian Church in Chicago, to those involved in communities of the 'new monasticism,' to fledgling storefront churches, to wealthy lay people and suburban congregations partnering across city divides, to a ministry whose co-director is a former drug dealer who spent time in prison."

Later I discussed this blog post with Chris by phone. “Do you think that some people,” I asked him, “are more passionate for justice than they are for Jesus?” Here’s what he had to say: “Yes, there is a danger, in the midst of all the urgent needs and current rush to Christian activism, of losing sight of the source, story, power, and theological commitments which give our ministry its distinctive shape and goal: being centered in Christ and in Christ’s gift, the church. Jesus without justice is insufficient, yet justice without Jesus is also insufficient.”

This excerpt from the book, Ethnic Blends: Mixing Diversity Into Your Local Church by Mark DeYmaz and Harry Li. Zondervan/Leadership Network, April 2010. Order your copy today!