{"id":1474,"date":"2014-12-08T16:09:39","date_gmt":"2014-12-08T21:09:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/?p=1474"},"modified":"2021-03-09T10:15:08","modified_gmt":"2021-03-09T15:15:08","slug":"cross-cultural-church-planting-pittsburgh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/cross-cultural-church-planting-pittsburgh\/","title":{"rendered":"Creating a Cross-Cultural Church"},"content":{"rendered":"

For weeks now, social media has been filled with reactions to the grand jury decisions about the killings of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. The whole nation has been talking again about race and police brutality. I\u2019ve been hesitant to chime in. As a privileged person, I\u2019ve thought this is a season when I\u2019m called to listen more than speak. And listening well, I believe, leads to prayer. In this case, my prayers have mostly consisted of a simple plea: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us<\/em>. I pray this because my limited experience in cross-cultural ministry has taught me just how much we need the Lord\u2019s help.<\/p>\n

When my friend Mike Gehrling and I set out to plant The Upper Room<\/a> in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pa., six years ago, we said we wanted to be a \u201cmulti-cultural\u201d congregation. Mike had experience working in a cross-cultural setting as the English speaking pastor at a Korean congregation. I had spent two years living in the mostly African-American neighborhood, the place about which my humble and wise friend Jen Pelling recently wrote in her post \u201cWalking While White<\/a>\u201d. Given these experiences, both Mike and I both thought we had a passion for cross-cultural ministry and a calling to lead a multi-ethnic church.<\/p>\n

I did, and still do, believe that planting new, intentionally multi-ethnic churches is one of the best ways to combat racism in America. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is often quoted as having said that \u201celeven o\u2019clock on Sunday morning\u201d is \u201cthe most segregated hour of Christian America.”<\/a> But as Aaron Howard, the pastor of As One Fellowship<\/a> says and shows in this video<\/a>, \u201cWe\u2019re working to change that through the love of Jesus Christ.\u201d New congregations have the potential to break down the walls that divide us by committing from their inception to pursue cross-cultural relationships and to speak explicitly against racism and injustice. That is what we wanted to do.<\/p>\n

When Mike and I shared our plan with the leader of one prominent multicultural church several years ago, he bluntly stated what I\u2019m sure many others were thinking: \u201cBut you\u2019re two white men. And you think you can plant a multi-ethnic church?\u201d We were na\u00efve, but we were confident of the calling God gave us. But confidence doesn\u2019t make fulfilling a calling easy.<\/p>\n

Two years into that journey, we changed the way we spoke about the congregation. By claiming to be multi-cultural<\/em>, we were (at that time) shining a spotlight on our Korean member. What we thought was well-intentioned felt like tokenism. So we began to speak of being a cross-cultural<\/em> church, a community that believes God calls us into relationships that cross cultural, ethnic, and economic barriers. Changing the language we used was easy, but our newer adjective carries an even weightier calling. A cross-cultural <\/em>church will not only cross cultural barriers, it will be cruciform, shaped by the cross of Christ. To truly be a multicultural church we have to both take up our crosses and actively live counter-culturally. Those who claim to have a passion <\/em>for reconciliation should expect to bear in their own bodies the passion of Christ.<\/em><\/p>\n

According to our denomination\u2019s low bar, we now barely meet the standard for being multi-cultural: having one-fifth our worshiping congregation representing \u201cnon-majority\u201d people groups. It\u2019s still an uphill battle, and thanks to the honesty and vulnerability of a few current members of the congregation, we\u2019re beginning again to intentionally press toward becoming a more authentically cross-cultural church.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re not giving up because the Church is called to be a community where the \u201cmystery of Christ\u201d is proclaimed and embodied. The Apostle Paul wrote, \u201cThis mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members of one body, and sharers together in the promise of Jesus Christ\u201d (Eph 3:6 NIV). The Gospel has from the very beginning included a calling to unite people groups who once excluded each other. The Father\u2019s purpose in sending the Son was \u201cto create in himself one new humanity out of [Israel and the Gentiles] . . . to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility\u201d (Eph 2:15-16).<\/p>\n

That means that this Advent, as we confess our need for Christ and our hope in his return, we wait upon the One who comes to put to death our hostilities. We are not capable of achieving reconciliation or peace or justice alone. Only the Christ, who from the cross could have cried \u201cI can\u2019t breathe,\u201d can tear down our dividing walls. Only his Holy Spirit can inspire the creation of counter-culturally integrated churches. And I believe that such reconciliation is the Father\u2019s cross-cultural purpose for us in Christ. Come Lord Jesus.<\/em><\/p>\n

Written by the Rev. Christopher Brown (MDiv, 2008), Church Planting Initiative coordinator at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and co-pastor of The Upper Room Presbyterian Church.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For weeks now, social media has been filled with reactions to the grand jury decisions about the killings of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. The whole nation has been talking again about race and police brutality. I\u2019ve been hesitant to chime in. As a privileged person, I\u2019ve thought this is a season when I\u2019m called…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6086,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[64],"series":[],"class_list":["post-1474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church-planting","category-ministry","tag-cross-cultural-church-planting-in-pittsburgh"],"yoast_head":"\r\nCross Cultural Church Planting in Pittsburgh<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"New church plants like The Upper Room in Pittsburgh can pursue cross-cultural relationships from their inception and speak out against racism and injustice.\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/cross-cultural-church-planting-pittsburgh\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cross Cultural Church Planting in Pittsburgh\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"New church plants like The Upper Room in Pittsburgh can pursue cross-cultural relationships from their inception and speak out against racism and injustice.\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/cross-cultural-church-planting-pittsburgh\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pittsburgh Theological Seminary\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-12-08T21:09:39+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-03-09T15:15:08+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/hands.png\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"960\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ptsblog\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"ptsblog\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/cross-cultural-church-planting-pittsburgh\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/cross-cultural-church-planting-pittsburgh\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"ptsblog\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9e695c34c8e88351c00ef7369001ac5f\"},\"headline\":\"Creating a Cross-Cultural Church\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-12-08T21:09:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-03-09T15:15:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/cross-cultural-church-planting-pittsburgh\/\"},\"wordCount\":838,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/cross-cultural-church-planting-pittsburgh\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/hands.png\",\"keywords\":[\"cross cultural church planting in Pittsburgh\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Church Planting\",\"Ministry\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/cross-cultural-church-planting-pittsburgh\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/cross-cultural-church-planting-pittsburgh\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/cross-cultural-church-planting-pittsburgh\/\",\"name\":\"Cross Cultural Church Planting in Pittsburgh\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/cross-cultural-church-planting-pittsburgh\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/cross-cultural-church-planting-pittsburgh\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/hands.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-12-08T21:09:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-03-09T15:15:08+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9e695c34c8e88351c00ef7369001ac5f\"},\"description\":\"New church plants like The Upper Room in Pittsburgh can pursue cross-cultural relationships from their inception and speak out against racism and injustice.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/cross-cultural-church-planting-pittsburgh\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/cross-cultural-church-planting-pittsburgh\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/cross-cultural-church-planting-pittsburgh\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/hands.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/hands.png\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":960},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/cross-cultural-church-planting-pittsburgh\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Creating a Cross-Cultural Church\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Pittsburgh Theological Seminary\",\"description\":\"Grounded in Faith, Formed in Community\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9e695c34c8e88351c00ef7369001ac5f\",\"name\":\"ptsblog\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b6530fb1e9ddce422ee48a03a2e5cf3eddac1d5b99f93e9b527390d4e28ad6fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b6530fb1e9ddce422ee48a03a2e5cf3eddac1d5b99f93e9b527390d4e28ad6fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"ptsblog\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/author\/ptsblog\/\"}]}<\/script>\r\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Cross Cultural Church Planting in Pittsburgh","description":"New church plants like The Upper Room in Pittsburgh can pursue cross-cultural relationships from their inception and speak out against racism and injustice.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/cross-cultural-church-planting-pittsburgh\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Cross Cultural Church Planting in Pittsburgh","og_description":"New church plants like The Upper Room in Pittsburgh can pursue cross-cultural relationships from their inception and speak out against racism and injustice.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/cross-cultural-church-planting-pittsburgh\/","og_site_name":"Pittsburgh Theological Seminary","article_published_time":"2014-12-08T21:09:39+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-03-09T15:15:08+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":960,"url":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/hands.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"ptsblog","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"ptsblog","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/cross-cultural-church-planting-pittsburgh\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/cross-cultural-church-planting-pittsburgh\/"},"author":{"name":"ptsblog","@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9e695c34c8e88351c00ef7369001ac5f"},"headline":"Creating a Cross-Cultural Church","datePublished":"2014-12-08T21:09:39+00:00","dateModified":"2021-03-09T15:15:08+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/cross-cultural-church-planting-pittsburgh\/"},"wordCount":838,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/cross-cultural-church-planting-pittsburgh\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/hands.png","keywords":["cross cultural church planting in Pittsburgh"],"articleSection":["Church Planting","Ministry"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/cross-cultural-church-planting-pittsburgh\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/cross-cultural-church-planting-pittsburgh\/","url":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/cross-cultural-church-planting-pittsburgh\/","name":"Cross Cultural Church Planting in Pittsburgh","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/cross-cultural-church-planting-pittsburgh\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/cross-cultural-church-planting-pittsburgh\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/hands.png","datePublished":"2014-12-08T21:09:39+00:00","dateModified":"2021-03-09T15:15:08+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9e695c34c8e88351c00ef7369001ac5f"},"description":"New church plants like The Upper Room in Pittsburgh can pursue cross-cultural relationships from their inception and speak out against racism and injustice.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/cross-cultural-church-planting-pittsburgh\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/cross-cultural-church-planting-pittsburgh\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/cross-cultural-church-planting-pittsburgh\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/hands.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/hands.png","width":1280,"height":960},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/cross-cultural-church-planting-pittsburgh\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Creating a Cross-Cultural Church"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/","name":"Pittsburgh Theological Seminary","description":"Grounded in Faith, Formed in Community","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9e695c34c8e88351c00ef7369001ac5f","name":"ptsblog","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b6530fb1e9ddce422ee48a03a2e5cf3eddac1d5b99f93e9b527390d4e28ad6fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b6530fb1e9ddce422ee48a03a2e5cf3eddac1d5b99f93e9b527390d4e28ad6fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"ptsblog"},"url":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/author\/ptsblog\/"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/hands.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4MvlM-nM","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1474"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1474\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6085,"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1474\/revisions\/6085"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1474"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=1474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}