People Group Thinking: Dividing The Church?

In last weeks discussion with pastors in southern Russia I was confronted again with the sticky issue of people group thinking. I feel strongly in what Donald McGavran stated three decades ago that, “People will not easily cross cultures to hear the Gospel.” So when I talked to the Russian and Ukrainian pastors about doing outreach exclusively among the Tatar, Chuvas or Mari there was an almost immediate negative reaction. Of course, this was not the first time I heard such protests; it’s a common disagreement in my class. The argument is that the church should not be divided and that, indeed, to divide people among ethnic lines not only borders on prejudice but also is anathema to the unity of the Body of Christ.

It takes me several hours to explain my reasoning of outreach to specific people groups. I am not advocating dividing the church, but I am making an appeal that, before conversion, people naturally associate with people of their same ilk. Even after conversion human beings like to be with their own kind. I call it the “birds of a feather flock together” effect. Even in the conference last week I used the diverse group in attendance as an example. I pointed out that during breaks or over lunch usually, not always, Russians gather around other Russians, Ukrainians sit with other people from their own country and, yes, Americans sit around the same table. We don’t exclude people from sitting with our own kind; we just are more comfortable being around people who share a human commonality.

If there is a cultural barrier in a city or town, and believe me there is in every place on planet earth, people who are not yet followers of Christ Jesus will have a very difficult time crossing into a social environment of people who are not like them. This, I found out this past week, is certainly true among the Tatar’s, a culturally Muslim population in the Volga region of Russia. There is a long and sad history between the Tatar and Russian’s. Ivan the Terrible, the Czar of Russia who lived in the mid-1500’s, was brutal in his reign against the Tatar’s, forcing Christianity on them by the point of a sword. Though many of the Tatar are secular and do not practice their faith the words “crucifix” and “baptism” are expressions of deep emotional offense. Even the best Russian Christian has a difficult time winning over the cultural barrier of history.

Thus, my suggestion that, rather than trying to bring Tatar’s into a Russian assembly, they should find ways of outreach which will make it easier for them to hear the Gospel. In my short time with the pastors I learned also that Ukrainian’s working among the Tatar has a more favorable audience than Russians, though they, too, must steer clear of the offensive language of the cross.

I am not at all sure that I convinced many of the importance of reaching people of other cultures on their own terms. Christianity has a long history of having only one model of doing church; meeting collectively on Sunday and supposing that anyone and everyone is welcome to attend. And, even though I know that is God’s great design for those who follow Him, I still maintain that humanity will not easily cross cultural boundaries to hear the Gospel. I am not proposing we divide the church, but I am suggesting that we understand culture and its implications as we tell those outside His marvelous grace.