by Dorothy Haile, Director of Missionary Development and Care
SIM has ten Core Values, and we want to live them out. One of them says that we are ‘Strengthened Through Diversity’. It contains two challenging sentences:
‘We are intentionally international, multi-ethnic and interdenominational because we believe this best expresses the unity of the body of Christ in the world.
We believe we shall be more effective in ministry as we incorporate the richness of cultural diversity in SIM and celebrate our oneness in Christ.’
In the first paragraph we are stating our intentional effort to model the unity of the body of Christ in the world by being ‘international, multi-ethnic and interdenominational.’ This is the impact of unity on witness. As Jesus says in John 13:35, ‘This is how everyone will recognise that you are my disciples – when they see the love you have for each other.’ [The Message]
The second paragraph emphasises our conviction that our ministries will be more effective when our teams are made up of people from different cultures.
A deliberate commitment to being ‘international and interdenominational’ has always marked the mission agencies that today make up SIM. We have not always been genuinely multi-ethnic, I regret to say, though this has changed recently. However, these days we have new colleagues from all round the world serving with us — from Guatemala, Costa Rica, Paraguay, Mexico, Bolivia, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Ghana, the Philippines, India, China and eastern Europe, for example.
What does this mean, and require, in practice?
First, it means rejoicing in what God is doing and thanking Him for the privilege we have of sharing in these exciting developments. Through the centuries the epicentre of the church, and of mission sending, has moved — from Jerusalem, to Antioch, to Rome, to Protestant northwest Europe, to the US and Canada, and now to countries like Korea, and those in what is often called the ‘global south’ such as Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Brazil. Many of the churches and mission agencies from these countries have the vision to serve in remote and difficult parts of the world, including some where we have worked for many years, and we believe they will bring new vigour to these ministries.
Second, we need to change our attitudes and develop our understanding, so that our multicultural teams are more united and more effective. We all need to learn how to work under leaders who come from a culture different from our own: if the leader comes from a culture that values a ‘flat’ team with everyone (men and women, old and young) contributing freely, how do colleagues who expect leaders to tell them what to do learn to play their part? Individualistic westerners will be challenged as we work on teams with people who are much more community-minded. If I believe that a conflict with a colleague should be addressed by going directly to that person (as we often read Matthew 18 to say), how do I learn the role and value of a mediator in conflict resolution? These issues force all of us to look at ourselves and recognise where our own cultural values are inconsistent with the Bible. SIM has had six specific training workshops already and we are planning more; participants leave these workshops with resources to share with their own teams. It is like dropping coloured liquid into a jug of water, so that eventually the water all changes colour. We are also working hard on new resources to help all our newcomers understand SIM’s ethos, purpose, values and operational methods as clearly as possible.
Is this easy? Not always, to be honest. Is it exciting — and sometimes bewildering? Yes, often. Is it right? Yes.
