Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Feb/84

Contributor - Rev. Murray Moerman

Title - Facing up to Ethnicity. Boon or Barrier?

Topic - Church Growth

We are Dutch.

With a few exceptions, we have been since our inception as a denomination in this country. Is that good or bad for church growth?

There are two approaches to church growth in this regard.

1. Homogeneous group approach: This approach believes that Christian groups grow best if the people in them are similar. For example, a group may aim to reach university students, Laotian refugees, Amway dealers, senior citizens, or Dutch immigrants. The church will focus on that particular group of people, and because "like attracts like", you will find one church with predominantly young couples, another with predominantly Dutch people, and a third with predominantly upper middle-class business people. This approach to church growth works, and works well, for purely sociological reasons.

2. Heterogeneous group approach: This approach believes that Christian groups grow best when, empowered by the Holy Spirit, they reach out to all kinds of people. This kind of church seeks to contain people of all races, ethnic backgrounds, economic levels and cultures. What does this have to do with us as Reformed Churches in Canada? This: we may use our "Dutchness" as our point of "sameness" and seek to reach out to others with the same "sameness". Or, we may choose a point of "sameness" other than "Dutchness", "immigrant", or even "Reformed" and seek to build a Christian community around that focus.

If your church chooses a "Dutch" focus, ratify it at a congregational meeting and pursue it with vigor.

a) Plan to show a film series like James Dobson's "Focus on the Family" and mail a personal invitation to every person with a Dutch last name in your telephone book, within a ten-mile radius of your church building.

b) Plan personal visits with all these people, inviting them to church and sharing with them how to invite Jesus Christ into their hearts.

c) Follow up all new Dutch immigrants to your area through Employment & Immigration Canada with a personal visit.

c) Offer Dutch-speaking Bible study groups and worship services with Dutch content.

If your church chooses something other than a "Dutch" focus, make the decision courageously and pursue it with equal vigor.

a) Ask those who do so not to speak Dutch in the church building, grounds, or at related functions. Non-Dutch visitors who hear Dutch spoken feel left out and are not likely to return.

b) Do not smoke in the church building, anywhere on the church grounds, in you cars as you are pulling out onto the street or at any church-related functions. Smoking is acceptable in the Dutch ethnic community, but not in the Canadian evangelical community. Even most non-Christians will intuitively view smoking as non-Christian. Most evangelical Christians in Canada who do smoke, view it as a bad habit which must be broken. Smoking is a barrier to evangelism in Canada.

c) Call one another by your first names, not Mr. or Mrs. this or that. Canadian culture calls for informality and we must be informal if Canadians are to feel at home in our groups. You may say: "That's fine for 'community' churches or for third-generation churches, but what about the Dutch-speaking people we have in our church right now? Shouldn't they have the right to feel comfortable where they worship. Of course. And they have the right to share what they believe best for the Kingdom of Christ when the church is discussing its focus for outreach in the future. But, if the church chooses a focus that is not Dutch, however, ethnicity must not be sought to be retained.

When we were visiting an R.C.A. church some time ago, my wife engaged another worshipper in conversation after the service. In the course of the conversation, a few questions were exchanged; Carol answered; the other person responded: "Oh, you're not Dutch then", turned on his heel and walked off.

If we choose to grow outside the ethnic Dutch community, we cannot wear on a T-shirt or in our hearts, the "If you aren't Dutch, you aren't much" attitude. We must choose our direction, pay the price, put our hands to the plow and not look back.

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