A Framework for Mutuality
What mutuality in mission can look like between immigrant and non-immigrant Christians
What is mutuality? What are we talking about when we say that we seek to foster “mutuality in mission” between Christian immigrants in North America and the broader North American Church*? [See note below at the end on use of terms and language]. What do healthy global partnerships between the Church in North America and the Global Majority Church, especially in the Global South look like? The following document was written collaboratively by members of the planning and facilitation teams for the 2023 Diaspora Conference and Nations Worship Night which include a diversity of voices from immigrant, 2nd Generation, Global Church and North American non-immigrant backgrounds. Contextualized versions are also available in Spanish and Portuguese (soon).
Mutuality is a kingdom attitude and approach towards mission and “the other” which seeks to recognize and live into the reality of truly being together the body of Christ and living as a reconciled family. Mutuality seeks to subvert the world’s power imbalances and the distancing involved in top-down and us-them approaches. It is an inherent aspect of New Testament koinonia or fellowship.
There are four key elements of mutuality: a commitment to friendships (symbolized by a table/shared meal), a recognition of each other's gifts (symbolized by a flame of the Spirit), an intentional inversion of power imbalances (symbolized by the towel), and kingdom household structures (symbolized by a physical shared home).
Commitment to Relationships: From the very beginning in Genesis God reveals himself as a relational God. Over and above one-way transactional service approaches or charity models based on the exchange of money, in mutuality there is a priority given to the building of deep friendships. True friendships between immigrants and North American Christians is all too rare. It requires a degree of vulnerability and embracing of weakness that goes beyond “meeting needs” and involves stepping down and being able to also receive from the other. It requires a boldness from those used to receiving to stepping up and giving. These kinds of friendships involve both giving and receiving (Philipians 4:15), speaking and listening. Those with more power who are used to doing much of the “giving” and speaking begin to take a posture of “receiving” and of deep listening. Those used to being quiet and to listening (often immigrants) are encouraged to speak and share. The symbol of this is the table and a shared meal.
Recognition of Each Other's Gifts: A kind of scarcity mindset can exist among diaspora Christians where they don’t feel they have anything to offer or are viewed by non-immigrants as simply to be recipients of their help. Also, well intentioned non-immigrant Christians, are often afraid of offending or of repeating colonial mistakes of the past, and are afraid to engage immigrants or unsure of the role they can have in a relationship. In Pentecost, the Holy Spirit is poured out on all flesh. Everyone has gifts to give (Ephesians 4:7) and we need each other’s gifts for the whole body to grow into maturity (Eph. 4:13). Immigrant Christians bring rich gifts that the broader North American church desperately needs. But the North American church has important gifts to give as well and a greater responsibility to share them. To whom much is given, much is required (Luke 12:48). Often, though, in the Kingdom, those with the least give the most and are the most generous (Luke 21:4). What are the gifts you bring as an immigrant or diasporan? Can you name them? What are the gifts you bring as a North American, non-immigrant, Christian? Can you name them? The symbol for this is the flame of the Spirit.
Intentional inversion of power imbalances: Mutuality seeks more than equality within existing frameworks. Mutuality challenges the very existence of those frameworks and seeks to live into Mary's testimony in the Magnificat. The birth of Christ ushered in a new inverted reality where God has "brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly" (Luke 1:52). Mutuality doesn’t just seek “equality” but something even further and more radical: those in power seek to descend and come under, in imitation of the incarnation and of Jesus’ descent and self-giving (Philippians 2).The weaker party is given a special and “greater honor” (1 Cor. 12:23) and invited to step boldly into their God-given identity as kingdom co-leaders and co-laborers. The symbol of this is the towel and Jesus washing his disciples feet.
Kingdom Household Structures. Changed hearts must lead to changed structures. Ultimately, the “us-them”, Jew-Gentile wall of separation is broken down through the Cross and a new family is birthed (Ephesians 2:11-18). The wall of separation was a physical barrier in the structure of the temple that kept the gentiles out. For families to live well together certain structures need to be in place such as a physical home to live in and a budget for family expenses. These structures can either facilitate mutuality or reinforce worldly hierarchies and divisions. For example, are we truly living like family if one person sleeps in an air-conditioned room with a king-sized bed while in another room there are family members who sleep on the floor without air-conditioning? What would it look like for local churches and broader networks to be organized in such a way as to truly share resources and live as family between immigrants and non-immigrants? For example, structures must be nimble and flexible, like the bamboo scaffolding used around buildings under construction in parts of Asia, to accommodate differences and adapt to different cultural contexts and diverse ways of communicating and operating. Also, structures need to be established for a just distribution of resources that goes beyond one-off charity responses. The symbol for this is a shared physical home, a household.
Mutuality towards what end?
We believe that the kind of reciprocal mutuality we are seeking should lead us outward in collaborative mission. The unity in diversity of the Trinity flows outward in love to the world. This is why we have titled our gathering: Mutuality in Mission. We believe that mutuality can foster a deeper commitment to partnering together in both local and global mission. The lines between global and local often become blurred in the context of migration and diaspora as families and churches maintain close ties with “back home” while also developing a new home “here.” 2nd and 3rd Generations that are US born often maintain residual ties with “there” but have deepening ties “here” often living in a liminal space between both worlds.
Mutuality opens a window to the world. Diaspora Christians can uniquely help the broader Church in North American learn anew how to engage with and stay connected to both a global perspective and to God’s mission. Diasporans by their very presence challenge and subvert ethno-centric and paternalistic approaches to mission in the broader North American Church while the broader North American Church can help the immigrant church reach out beyond their cultural and ethnic enclosures. Each one of us, diverse yet united in Christ, has a critical part to play together in God’s mission, bringing unique yet necessary pieces of faithful, fruitful Gospel prayers, presence, partnership and practice.
Mutual partnerships can deepen the church’s identity as truly global Christians while at the same time deepening the sense of stability, belonging and home in the US for diaspora communities. It’s one thing for a predominantly non-immigrant US Church to pray for, say, South Sudan when seeing something in the news. It’s something altogether more powerful and personal, when that church can be led in prayer for South Sudan by the local Sudanese church in town and these two congregations can visit each other’s homes and, say, perhaps begin partnering together to welcome newly arriving Sudanese refugees arriving in the US.
Mutuality in mission can lead us together to:
Planting and supporting new immigrant and multiethnic churches
Empowering and equipping the 2nd generation of diaspora (those born in the US) as key bridge-builders and leaders in an increasingly multicultural world. (For example the Thriving Immigrant Church initiative and the 2 Generations Leadership Conference)
Reciprocal (back and forth) trips and relationships between the global church and the North American church and deeper commitment to partner with the Global Majority Church in Global Mission
Radical sharing of staff, buildings, and financial resources
Deep learning from one another in the areas of spirituality, worship and prayer
What does all this look like practically? What can this look like in the contexts of global mission, in evangelism & church planting, in prayer and with financial resources?
The following are some current examples to help spark the imagination:
Interns and missionaries from the Global South being received in the US (Ex. Brazilian churches sending youth to serve in the US to help churches reach latinos in their neighborhoods).
Multi-ethnic, multinational teams serving in more unreached areas and populations of the world (Ex. Michel Duarte has a Paraguayan friend pastoring a church in Germany that is reaching Muslim immigrants)
Mission partnerships with Diaspora Christians leading the way on mission back to their home countries (Ex. Churches partnering with newer Nepali diaspora churches in the US to do mission back in Nepal and India)
Immigrant churches not just sharing space with non-immigrant churches who own buildings but also sharing ministry and practicing family and life-together (Ex., Kingdom City Church in Houston with services/congregations in 12 languages and Hyde Park Baptist Church in Austin with Latino and Chinese congregations)
2nd Generation Diaspora Christians leading the way in planting multi-ethnic as well as 1st Generation immigrant congregations (Ex. the Advance Initiative in the Indian Diaspora community).
Financial and resource structures such as “Legacy Funds” and endowments that exist in an ongoing way to fight against funding and resource inequality for leaders and churches from immigrant backgrounds. (One example in the parachurch world is Intervarsity’s Legacy Fund. Also, a percentage from what each staff person who raises goes to support non-White leaders for whom fundraising is often more difficult).
Conclusion:
We have designed our Diaspora conferences and cohorts each year in such a way as to model and help participants experience mutuality, not just hear about it as an idea. We have sought to frame our times in mixed small groups where prayer, conversation and deep listening can be practiced leading to mutual transformation and to ongoing relationships. Key are shared meals and the receiving and giving of some of the gifts of language, culture, art, and worship in events such as the Nations Worship Night. We pray that fresh ideas and imagination can be stirred towards joining God in what he is doing through diaspora. Please see some suggested pre-conference readings and further resources listed below.
To dig deeper into each of the contexts for mutuality we’ll be discussing at the conference we encourage you to review the following resources. They will help you engage in more fruitful conversation in the small groups.
Mutuality in Evangelism and Church Planting:
Fuller Video: “Learning from the Immigrant Church” by Dr. Soong Chan Rah
Mutuality in (Financial) Resources:
Potential Solutions to Funding Inequalities (p. 8) in Funding Multiethnic Mission By Byron Johnson
“When it comes to the issue of funding multiethnic mission, we have seen that the current model produces systemic inequities. Sociological surveys have corroborated what anecdotal evidence has long told us: the personal support raising model doesn’t work as well for ethnic minorities in the United States.”
Mutuality in Prayer:
Blog: What the American Church Can Learn from the immigrant Church
Mutuality in Global Mission (for those attending that pre-conference event of Friday):
Video Interview of Austin Diaspora Pastor John Monger: https://youtu.be/M_LOj9r_l-8
Podcast: Rise of the Majority World Church - Mission Shift Podcast Episode. What does it mean that the global Majority church is now a significant player in Global Mission? What does it look like when the largest church in Europe is pastored by a Nigerian?
Reimagining Mission in Light of Migration and Diaspora - Video of interview with Dr. Sam George
Further Resources for Deeper Study:
“The contemporary mission praxis is from everywhere to everywhere, multilateral, multidirectional, sending as well as receiving, and polycentric meshed network requiring it to be conceived as polycentrifugal and polycentripetal flow A multidirectional scattering and gathering are helpful motifs to understand the contemporary moving of God in the world.”
Motus Dei (The Move of God) article by Dr. Sam George
Dr. Harvey Kwiyani Newsletter: “2nd Generation Diaspora”
“It is very plausible that the future of Christianity and mission in Europe will depend, to a fair extent, on the faith and ministries of children of migrant Christians from around the world who are currently living in Europe. Thus, ministry to what has come to be called the “second-generation diaspora” is critical”
Global Mission Resources:
Mission Of God (Book) - Chris Wright
Podcast: Mission Shift. This podcast is an exciting and inspiring attempt to hear from the stories and voices of people in the global church on how God is changing and shifting approaches and practice of global missions in our day. Access at:
https://www.cru.org/communities/city/missionshiftpodcast/
1* An important note about terms and language. For our purposes here “diaspora” includes the categories of immigrant, refugee, international student, etc - anyone foreign born. Some second and even third generation groups born in the US may, at times, include themselves in this category as well. It is important to note that diaspora churches are American or North American whether one is talking in terms of geography or in terms of citizenship. In some cities diaspora Christians are already constitute a majority of the Church. (Think Latino Christians in many California cities, for example). For this reason we attempt to avoid using the “either / or” categories of “American” vs. “ethnic” Church and rather try to talk about the immigrant and the “broader North American” or “non-immigrant” church. All churches are “ethnic” including churches that are predominantly White and of European descent.