If you haven’t seen it yet, I strongly encourage you to check out my friend Soong-Chan Rah’s provocative new book, The Next Evangelicalism: Freeing the Church from Western Cultural Captivity. Today, African, Asian, and Latin American Christians make up 60 percent of the world’s Christian population. The United States and Europe will soon no longer be the center of evangelical activity in the world. With this in mind, the book calls the North American church to break free of its cultural captivity to a Western/Eurocentric/White American mindset and to embrace a new evangelicalism that is diverse and multiethnic. You can find out more here at the IVP site.
For those of you who don’t know him, Soong-Chan is a brilliant theologian and pastor who for years led Cambridge Community Fellowship Church, a multiethnic, urban, post-modern congregation in the Central Square neighborhood of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Now a professor at North Park Theological Seminary here in Chicago, Soong-Chan has rattled a lot of cages over the years by calling attention to issues of racism and cultural insensitivity in the evangelical church and community. I included a story about the Rickshaw Rally fiasco in my book, Reconciliation Blues, and I blogged about Soong-Chan’s role in the Zondevan/Youth Specialities controversy a couple years ago. In addition, when I was the editor of Today’s Christian, I published an insightful interview with Soong-Chan about the Youth Specialities episode and his ministry of activism. Though he may have gained a reputation as a rabble-rouser in some quarters, I know him as a kind-hearted, passionate man of God who loves the church and lost people.
We’re planning to do an interview with Soong-Chan about his book for that other little blog that I’m involved with, UrbanFaith.com. If you have any questions you’d like to hear Soong-Chan address about the book or his ministry in general, please leave them in the comments area below, or send them to me directly through my website. We’ll publish the interview in the next couple weeks, so send your questions soon. Thanks!
Reconciliation Blog 
Ed,
I finished this book last weekend. It is a great read. Rah brings up significant challenges for the Evangelical church as well as offers some incredible hopes for how Evangelicalism, as a whole has the potential for some incredible momentum.
I especially appreciated his highlighting of what minority churches are doing extremely well and his critique of the “emergent” movement.
Here are some questions for Soong Chan Rah – I included some “light” ones:
How do you respond to those who suggest that your challenges do more harm than good?
Will ethnic-specific churches suffer from becoming Multi-Cultural?
Particularly those who serve immigrant populations?
How do you maintain that community which minority groups/immigrants groups find so appealing and comforting?
Is diversity possible in the “emergent church” it seems as if they are extremely cultural bound, even more so than “mainstream” Evangelical Christianity.
You seem to express a likeness between the Korean/Korean-American church and the African-American church, where does this come from? And why do you establish such a connection?
It seems that often the conversation is how white churches can become more diverse, which can come of as an expression of white dominance, would you suggest that some White and minority churches serving in the same neighborhood merge rather than having white churches glibly trying to be diverse?
Also, how do predominately white organizations [Christian Colleges, Christian Magazines, etc,] become multi-cultural without somehow maintaining this sense that they [White Christianity] are the impetus for multiculturalism.
What church do you currently attend?
How do ethnic minorities begin an conversation amongst themselves about embracing various racial and ethnic groups?
Can we really break from this cultural captivity if we remain geographically segregated from one another?
Are you still a Boston sports fan or did you transition over to Chicago? If so, Cubs or White Sox?
What led you to leave Boston for Chicago?
How willing do you think Evangelical seminaries are to embrace both contemporary and historical ethnic minority theologians and scholars?
Will these theologians be in the primary fold of fundamental theologians or will it be a tag on (i.e. solely having a course on African-American theologian rather than adding these theologians to the basic theology courses.
wow blackwasp, great set of questions!! I finished this book a couple weeks ago and really enjoyed it as well. . .
I wondered too if the tone/lanquage of the book would actually bring change to the divide in perspective. You asked if the book would help or hurt. My question was if it would “convince or persuade” anyone. I know that those who are aware of the divide he describes and care about it can learn much about articulating centrally important thematic issues.
I also felt like it would be an encouragement to immigrant, and non-anglo churches/Christians about their important role/voice in the body of Christ. . .
I think how we talk about these issues is as important as THAT we talk about them. I also think its important that we have some who approach it more aggressively and others who are more dialogical. . .
Anyway, I appreciate your thoughtful list of questions!
Go Sox.
I have not had the privilege of reading the book, though, Rah did come and speak at Wheaton when I was a senior and issued some great challenges.
I think he’s used this line many other places, but he challenged those thinking of doing missions cross-culturally, that if they have not served under minority leadership of any kind, then they will not being doing missions, they’ll be colonizing! He said it better then I did, and I loved it because it was so specific, clear and direct, something I feel is often lacking in the church in general when it comes to praxis.
All that said, I’m interested in more of those challenges. Maybe they are in the book, but I’d love to hear some concise interview answers to the question.
What challenges/exhortations would you issue to the young “justice and reconciliation” minded folk? Particularly those that are part of the “emergent” or “new monastic” crowds?
If you were a mentor to one of those individuals and they asked for specific, clear directions on what type of church to attend, how to interact with ‘The Next Evangelism’, what would you say?
Thanks, everyone, for these great questions and observations. I’ll have plenty to work with here. I’ll keep you posted on when the interview happens and when it’s posted at UrbanFaith.com.
In the chapter on racism Pastor Rah complains that “Because theology emerging from a Western, white context is considered normative, it places non-Western theology in an inferior position and elevates Western theology as the standard by which all other theological frameworks and points of view are measured.”
I hope that folks are discerning enough to separate the fact that historical theology is normative from the fact that it is Western. The lessons of the past are not diminished by the challenges of the future.