Intercultural Churches: The vision stifled by privilege
"Reconciliation without a clear understanding of the needed reciprocity destines those in the pursuit of reconciliation to do so on preexisting constructs of power, ultimately rendering this endeavor toward reconciliation to be nothing more than a nuanced and complicated captivity for people of color" --Rev. Brandon Green in Intercultural Ministry (Grace Ji-Sun Kim, editor) The early church (first generation after Jesus' death) was a multicultural, multi-ethnic, socially diverse movement. The lives and social worldview of the initial followers of Jesus throughout the Roman empire were just as polarized then as our communities are today. Yet, the difference is that they rejected homophily (anthropologic description of the desire to gather with people who are like yourself) and formed intimate communities made up of people who were radically different but radically in love with Jesus. In these early communities, we see no diminishment in individual i...