Book Review: "One Race, One Blood" by Ken Ham and A. Charles Ware

Over the past few months, while I have been in transition, I have been able to do a good bit of reading. This is something I usually don't get to do near as much. I have had the book "One Race, One Blood" by Ken Ham and A. Charles Ware in my possession for a while now but I never around got to reading it until now. I really regret that now. I just finished the main portion of the book and am now reading the various appendixes included in the book.

For anyone interested in multi-ethnic ministry in any way, this book is a must read. The authors, Ken Ham from Answers in Genesis ministry and A. Charles Ware from Crossroads Bible College and Crossroads Bible Church in Indianapolis, IN are very well suited to address these issues. Actually, it was listening to Charles Ware speak at a pastor's missions gathering back in 2007 that got me involved in thinking multi-ethnically for the city I was then pastoring in.

They split the book of quite evenly. Ken Ham addresses the theological and historical impact that evolutionary thinking has had on race relations. He eloquently points out from Scripture that there are not many races but only one race, the human race, and we are all descendants of Adam. He traces how evolutionary thinking has promoted racism even into the evangelical, Bible-believing church. Charles Ware then develops this into how we can reverse that line of thinking and teaching, and build multi-cultural and multi-ethnic churches and communities today. He also points out the resistance and problems that most often accompany the movement. He has been a pioneer in this field and knows this first hand.

Both men are well versed and well experienced in their fields. They write from a solid theological basis, not from the opinion of man. I cannot recommend this book enough to every person and especially every Christian. Non-believers would benefit from reading it as well.

I will publish more book reviews in the future. Please feel free to recommend other books to me as well.

Learning Is Required!

If you are serious about multi-ethnic ministry, you will be serious about learning.  It will take you out of your comfort zone.  You will be required to study seriously.  Notice that I said "it will" and not "it may!"  This is not an option.

If we want to minister to the hundreds of different ethnic groups that live among us, then we must learn who they are.  It takes years for someone to learn how to live in a foreign environment.  When people immigrate to the USA it takes a long time for them to adjust and learn how to live in our culture.

It is not simply a language issue.  Language is a huge issue in many cases but you can still minister and be effective even when there is a large language barrier.  It is not either/or, but both/and.  You may also be only one part of the equation.  I, personally, have helped plant 3 Hispanic churches in the last year even though I myself speak only a couple of dozen words of Spanish.  But I have learned and studied the culture and then participated in that culture.  Acceptance goes a long way!

I am looking forward to giving some serious study in the coming years to many different cultures and people groups.  I am praying for God to raise up a great army of Godly leaders and servants to do things that I can only dream of.  I have seen Him do it in the past year in one people group and I know He is not limited by my abilities or lack thereof.

In the coming days I want to recommend some of the reading materials and study materials that I have found helpful and informative.  Please feel free to recommend to me any that are helpful to you.  Only God has a corner on this area of ministry.

Dave

Why Don't They Just Adapt?

Why doesn't the stranger, the foreigner adapt to our country?  Why do they always want to speak their own language?  Why do they want to be around people from their own country?  Why won't they eat and/or cook more American food?  These questions may cross your mind or your lips as you encounter internationals in the USA.

Let me put it this way.  Pretend for a moment that you were "visiting" a foreign country.  In this strange land no one looked like you or talked like you.  They dress differently, the sounds and the smells are  different and you do not understand anything that was going on around you.  All of a sudden out of the corner of your eye you see another American.  Wouldn't you naturally want to go over to them and speak to and be with someone who was "like you?"  Wouldn't you feel much more "at home" and at ease with this one person than maybe the hundreds of other other people around you who were "different" than you?  I am sure that you would be because I know I would be.

Now put yourself in that foreigner's shoes.  And they are not just visiting but they have "moved" here permanently.  But they are in a place surrounded by hundreds of others who are so different than themselves.  Then they see someone from their home country.  They do not like you any less or accept you any less they have just found someone they feel comfortable with in an uncomfortable situation.  It actually helps them feel more "at home" in a strange place.

As difficult as it is for us to be in a foreign country, it is just as difficult for a stranger to be in our country.  Just as they give us grace, we need to give them grace.  We need to accept them and love them as they are, where they are.  They want to adapt, they want to learn; but it does not come overnight.  We need to love them for the sake of winning them to Christ.  If we don't accept them as they are how will they ever see Christ through us?  Soon it won't be us and them it will be US!