Often, when I am the guest speaker at a church or conference, I talk about the joys and challenges of multicultural ministry. To be sure the joys far outweigh the challenges, but there are challenges nonetheless. Occasionally I hear pastors and youth pastors say that one of their challenges is that their community is monocultural, that no other cultures or ethnicities live in the area.
A few years ago I was speaking at a church in the Midwest United States. After the service, the pastor explained that he would love to have a multicultural church, but his town was monocultural. We went to lunch and continued our conversation at one of the pastors favorite local restaurants. I greeted the waiter and asked what menu items he recommended. During our time in the restaurant, every waiter and waitress stopped by to chat with me. Why? It was a Mexican restaurant and they had never had an Anglo customer converse them in Spanish. Now my Spanish is not perfect (far from it!) and many times during our conversations I had to say, “¿Como se dice…?” (How do you say…?), but they appreciated my effort to communicate in their heart language.
After lunch, as the pastor and I were walking through the restaurant parking lot, the pastor remarked, “I’ve never seen the waiters so excited to talk before!” I looked at him, smiled, and replied, “Pastor… there is your multicultural congregation.”
Think about it. Most towns have some type of ethnic restaurant. Perhaps your town has a Mexican or Chinese restaurant. Maybe you are fortunate enough to have Ethiopian, Indian or Thai restaurants in your community. These restaurants, more often than not, are staffed by families with children and teenagers. They attend our local schools and are a part of our communities.
Are we doing all we can to reach them with the gospel? Are we stepping out of our Jerusalem into our Samaria?
The waitstaff at restaurants often comment that Sundays is one of the worst days to work because of the all the “church people” that come into the restaurant. The workers say that “Christians” are often rude, demanding, and poor tippers with some “Christians” saying, “I only give God 10%, I’m not going to give you 15%!” Our eldest daughter worked for a time as a waitress. As a child growing up on the missions field, serving in ministry and attending a Christian university she had a difficult time understanding how rude many of her “Christian” customers were! What if missionaries treated their missions field like we treat the staff at restaurants? What if we treated the staff at these restaurants as our missions field?
Many churchgoers go out to eat on Sunday. What kind of witness (and tip) are we leaving? Do we see the waitstaff as people to cater to our every need or do we see them as Jesus sees them? I once served with a Lead Pastor who was amazing at connecting with the waitstaff of any restaurant we patronized. They would often come to him and talk about life issues or problems they were facing and would ask him to pray for them. They sensed his genuine love and concern. Here in Vienna, some of our staff have made one particular restaurant their mission field. Many of the waitstaff have accepted the invitation to attend one of our services and several have become Christ followers! What would it look like if you made your favorite ethnic restaurant your missions field?
Action Points:
- Identify one of your favorite ethnic restaurants and try to frequent them once or twice a month.
- Lean a few words or phrases in their language.
- Talk to the waitstaff, learn their names, hear their stories and build positive relationships with them.
- Tip generously.
- Invite them to go to church with you.
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