As a church, we are fundamentally convinced that our fellowship needs to be an expression of our oneness with Christ. In Ephesians 2 Paul writes of a diverse community (Jew and Gentile) whose spiritual reconciliation with the Father, through the cross of Christ, is experienced and expressed in the oneness of the church community by the power of the Holy Spirit:
But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
Ephesians 2.13-18
A local newsagent stocks a range of newspapers in languages that reflect the area.
Our commitment is to express our unity in Christ despite our age, gender, or racial background. This is important theologically, for God has made one new humanity. And this is also important given our particular context. The parish of Canterbury and Hurlstone Park is one of the most culturally diverse parishes in the city of Sydney. We need to be a church for all people because all sorts of people call our parish home and the Lord Jesus has commanded us to make disciples of all people.
What this means is that we have a commitment to gathering together in multi-ethnic and multi-generational congregations. This has been our approach with both our 9.30 am and 5.00 pm congregations. Out of this desire came about our easy english service which we planted in 2020 and recently brought back to run alongside our 9.30 am service.
Because our commitment is to multi-ethnic and multi-generational congregations we think its important to have a long-term strategy of making disciples of people from different cultural backgrounds. What this looks like in practice is a particular focus on the second and third generation of immigrants. So wherever possible we want to encourage the children to gather together in shared kids and youth programs, rather than starting a separate Nepali speaking youth ministry, or a Mongolian speaking youth ministry.
However, what we’ve experienced over the last few years, particularly as we began reaching out to the Mongolian community, is the acute challenge in reaching the first generation of immigrants. Since 2018 we have had around 30 Mongolians regularly attending our services, but very few stay connected with us. There are lots of reasons why this is the case but a huge factor has been language.
Over the next few posts, I will share some more thoughts about how our thinking has developed and offer a confession of sorts…