My church (Ottawa Mandarin Alliance Church -- OMAC) is part of Intercultural Community of Alliance Churches (ICAC), consisting of 3 churches with congregations speaking English, Filipino, Mandarin, Arabic & Spanish (and more languages are coming ...). The vision of ICAC, people who worship in their own language but do outreach and fellowship cross-culturally, started with a young seminary student who dreamed of going abroad as missionary, but ended in his own country serving as church pastor. He then realized that there are lots of immigrants in his community & at school his kids attend. "Glocal" (local outreach becomes global mission) leads him to the dream of starting a multi-cultural campus at his own church.
Cross-cultural ministry is not an easy task. The leaders (pastors & elders particularly) might not be familiar with the language of the target group, but they need to speak the language of love, grace, embrace, patience and sacrifice. Just like USD is the global currency, "food" is the universal language that connects various ethnic groups (imagine an international potluck dinners feathering various national dishes!). Self-inferested congregations & inward-looking churches are definitely not candidates for such ministry.
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God." (Matthew 5:9).
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