Diversity: Finding Our Way Together
Several years ago, as I was staffing a Discipleship Training School (DTS) for YWAM in BC, one of our guest speakers was Richard Twiss, a member of the Rosebud Lakota/Sioux Tribe, who spoke on the topic of contextualization of culture in faith, using his First Nations context as an example. The students staff, made up of people from Canada (including white, Hawaiian and First Nations), Germany, Switzerland, Australia, Finland and South Korea, were quickly captured by his message. However, I noticed that many of the white Canadians were subdued in their enthusiasm, myself included, but we could not put our fingers on what it was.
In the following week of teaching, during one exercise, the group was make collages about their identity using magazine photos. When we were finished, a startling trend emerged from the results. Almost every collage made by the white Canadians contained the exact image: a large, full tree floating above a rich green field, its vast root system not touching the earth at all. I was stunned. Each of us, while excited about seeing culture and race celebrated as a gift, not only to individuals, but to the larger Church, we felt lost, disconnected to a defining identity.
I hesitated writing this post, as so many cultures and races have faced long histories of subjegation and oppression, often at the hands of dominant white cultures. The last thing I want to do is diminish the significance of those realities in society and especially in the emerging church. However, if we are going to address the issue of the racialization of faith and move towards an inclusive and embracing praxis, I believe it is crucial that we put all our cards on the table.
While there are many aspects to this I could address, I want to focus on two. First, many white Canadians, like myself, have a widely diverse culture heritage. Though this is true of many American’s, I think the Mosiac culture of Canada magnifies this lack of rootedness. For example, more than half of my heritage is French Canadian, but since I do not speak French, it is a culture I cannot turn to for identity. Additionally, as we consider the history of white (male) culture, a topic of regular discussion in there emerging church (and rightfully so), a heritage of misogyny, slavery, colonialism, consumerism, etc. is not something to look to for identity. Some suggest that we should only look to Christ for our identity, but while I agree in general, the statement usual fails to acknowledge the God-given significance of the diversity He has created. Even postmodernity, while the closest I have ever come, is too young and ill-defined to be called an identity.
I find deep resonance with both First Nations culture (especially Ojibwe & Cree) and Celtic culture, neither of which are my own. I long to find expression to my faith that I have not found within a history of modernist Evangelical religion. Yet, to draw upon these cultures for myself can (arguably and legitimately) draw criticisms of again appropriating what is no mine to take, like so many white men before me. And yet I desperately long for a rootedness that I suspect may never be relieved.
Second, as a white male in this emerging conversation, I am left with a deep uneasiness on how to address many of the issues of race that are being raised. Granted, the Canadian experience, while ripe with its own racial failures, differs greatly from US experience, particularly where the African American community is concerned. Anyone who knows me knows that pursuing, celebrating and embracing the richness of diversity is one of the single most significant driving forces of my life & faith. And yet I find myself often torn about how to move forward.
There is a constant tension between relinquishing power to make space for those who been held back and using that same power to inform and bring the very change. There is the risk of abadoning the very important and God-given uniqueness of our own cultural diversity (which “white” hugely fails to encompass), offset by the reality that sacrafice is often necessary to achieve restoration. We need to move forward in our pursuit of reconciliation and restoration with the urgency it deserves, but we mustn’t downplay the massive steps forward we have through God’s grace and power.
I firmly believe that in order for us to address these important issues- issues in which we all have much at stake, regardless of race- we must be willing to go ahead side by side, never ignoring the inequities of both the past and present, but not allowing them to define our relationship. It will require grace, patience and mutual, intentional appreciation. And who knows. We just might enjoy ourselves on the way.
