Intercultural Ministries: The Next Stepping Stone to Diversity in the Church
By Sterling Morse
Those who attended the Multicultural Dinner and Celebration at Fort Street Presbyterian Church during the 221st General Assembly (2014) experienced a prophetic moment. The guest speaker, Dr. Rodger Nishioka, associate professor of Christian education at Columbia Theological Seminary, told those in multicultural and cross-cultural ministries that it is time to move on to the next stage toward becoming a more diverse and inclusive church: that of intercultural ministries.” In calling the church to intercultural ministries, he did not condemn the stages that preceded it—mainly multicultural and cross-cultural ministries. Instead, Nishioka celebrated each for playing timely roles as stepping stones to advancing the church across the deep, and sometimes troubling, waters of social change and progress in its quest to becoming racially and culturally diverse and generationally inclusive. Continue Reading
