assimilation is a term used by most churches to help bring people into the church body. assimilation can be defined as becoming like whatever you are being brought into. what is difficult here is are we trying to help people become like us or Christ?
i read an interesting illustration by one of my former professors dr. jim lo in his book intentional diversity.
there were missionaries to native americans and the told them “If you want to be good Christians, you need to… 1. cut your hair because good christians have short hair, 2. get rid of robes and wear pants, 3.get rid of sandals and wear shoes, because good christians do not show their toes in public and 4. build a church building, because good christians have a public meeting place. however when they had the grand opening of the church building they saw a picture of Jesus in long hair, wearing a robe and sandals and worshiping outside. this obviously confused the native americans, because everything they had been taught was to be more like Jesus but when they see Jesus, it looked more like their appearance before they changed.
how are we as the church leading? are we helping others to be like Christ or do we have our own perception of what a christian should look like? of course this is not just about mere appearance but also of the mind and heart. do you have any stories similar to that of the native americans to share?
