Holst, Wayne A.

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Wilfrid Laurier University

ConsensusVolume 1 | Issue 2 Article 34-1-1975Ethnic Identity and Mission in a CanadianLutheran ContextWayne A. HolstFollow this and additional works at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensusThis Articles is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in Consensus by anauthorized editor of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact scholarscommons@wlu.ca.Recommended CitationHolst, Wayne A. (1975) "Ethnic Identity and Mission in a Canadian Lutheran Context," Consensus: Vol. 1 : Iss. 2 , Article 3.Available at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensus/vol1/iss2/3. . . The Church is called to be the family; of God transcending every barrier ofrace, status, sex and nationality... (from the J.C.I.L.R. Theses on the Missionof the Church, November, 1974).ETHNIC IDENTITYAND MISSIONIN ACANADIANLUTHERAN CONTEXTThe emerging Lutheran Church in Canada is in process of defining a theologyof mission. It is not too early to engage a creative reflection on mission prioritiesand strategy.The purpose of this essay is to focus upon the phenomenon of ethnic identity asa starting point for mission planning. At this historic moment in our developmentas a Canadian denomination, Lutherans have the opportunity to take a studiedlook at their past and their future. Perhaps, for the first time, we can mutually andconstructively probe the role of ethnic identity as a viable ccurrier of both Gospelmessage and church tradition.1516 ConsensusEthnic Identify and CanadaEthnic identity means being recognized as part of a tribe, a people or a nationthat is culturally distinct. Inextricably bound to an individuaFs sense ofpersonhood is an individual’s sense of identity through group membership.We live at a time when many are searching for meaning, community and roots.Ethnic identity is a natural starting-point for self-understanding and belonging.Canada is a nation where ethnic identity is generally cherished and respected.Most Canadians can still trace their heritage to at least one foreign culturaltradition, reaching back in time and spanning the seas.Some of the most intriguing ncirratives of modern history are those telling ofhow persons from cdmost every major culture grouping on esirth have emigratedand established themselves in Canada. As Canadians we are the beneficiaries ofa rich pluralism - migrant and native. We are a colorful mosaic of ethnic legacy.These varied traditions are co-existing and growing together into a new Canadianethnicity. Yet our traditional identities are not belittled. Nor are they discarded.On the contrary, they are being celebrated and shared. Governmentmulti-culturalist policies £ind the mushrooming of local folk festivals are clearevidences of the Canadian climate.To speak more specifically the Lutherans in Canada are representative andreflective of various ethnic legacies and identities. We are, for the most part, heirsof cultures and religious traditions which developed in northern and easternEurope (German, Scandinavian, Icelandic, Baltic, etc.). Many Lutheran familieshave been in Canada for generations, yet comp2ured to Canadian Christians ofother denominations, we still bear the marks and distinguishing characteristics ofthe Icinds and the churches of our European ancestors.Our church in Canada can capitalize on the positive aspects of this variedinheritance. In a quest for contemporary relevance or in the heat ofanti-traditionalist emotion it would be most foolhardy to further subvert ourlegacy or to rationalize it away. Ethnic identity can undergird our church as itattempts to convey deep me£ining and reflect responsible values within thecontext of Canadian society.The Mosaic as Canadian OptionUnquestionably, the historic Canadian experiment in nation-building frequentlyparallels that of the United States. How could it be otherwise? England was aEthnic Identity and Mission 17common antecedent. Canadi£in and American ancestory have migrated from thesame sources. We share a border and a continent. Canadians and Americans aretherefore similar peoples. But we are not the same people. The fact has been alltoo glibly dealt with in the past.It would appear that two primary factors have set our nations on separate anddistinct courses. The republican experiment which America adopted in 1776propelled the United States into a radical quest for a novel rather than aninherited identity.The French fact in Canada (indeed, the French were the first permanentmigrants - and that fact can never be abrogated) has been crucial to our nation’sdevelopment. It has continued to force our political leaders to respect and fightfor the preservation of cultural pluralism.America required a melting-pot concept in order to develop as a republic.Canada followed the model of a cultural mosaic to achieve and maintainnationhood.Canada could never truly accept the American melting-pot motif, attractive asit might have been. We are a conglomerate of peoples bound together by acommon, maturing experience on Canadian soil. Ours is a unique process ofsocial ordering and governing principles - inherited from Britain and France,influenced by America and hammered out in the realities of our geography andhistory.Because of this, Canada represents a continental option to the United States.We can rejoice in our Canadian uniqueness.Ethnic Identity and Mission: Developinga Lutheran Self-UnderstandingGiven the special conditions of Canada, what are some of the resultingimplications for the Lutheran Church in this country?We are ch 2illenged to remain loyal to our 'Canadian tradition* and open to ‘theCanadian option* for the future. We must take special recognition of ethnicidentity in our mission strategy.In one sense, such recognition will facilitate a new twist to our traditional homemission policies. The dominance of American mission theory and our Canadianopenness to it caused a rather passive acceptance of the melting-pot mentality.American missions - meant Canadian missions - meant English-speakingmissions. Out of respect for past American mission board intentions we must18 Consensusacknowledge that the tensions inherent in the canadianization of our churchmade the melting-pot mystique very appealing. We often succumbed. We tried toanglicize as rapidly as possible those ethnic congregations supported by missionfunds. Often, this had the effect of polarization and needless frustration.The melting-pot mentality must not dominate the mission policy of ourLutheran Church in Canada. Lutherans in this nation should be among the first toaffirm the value of a mentcdity of the mosaic.Our church is coming to be grafted to the roots of Canadian society. We havebeen allowed to evolve our place and to find our level. We have been able tomaintain folk churches representative of our various traditions. We were notforced into a cheap assimilation. No government pressure ever forced us to giveup what we considered to be our worship heritage.It may come as a surprise that many of our classic ethnic churches possessed astrong sense of mission. One of the primary mission objectives was to exist as afocus of ethnic identity and fellowship in the larger community. Subsequently,likes were attracted. Unlikes were either rebuffed or refused to assimilate. Whatwas often viewed by outsiders as narrow exclusivism was something morecomplex than that. While there was, all too frequently, an introverted intention formere surviv2il, there was £ilso vital outreach and meaningful Christian fellowship.At its best, the ethnic factor served our church with a valid rationale for missionand evangelism.In spite of tensions, schisms and well documented un-Christlike behavior, theevolution and maturing of our denominational heritage has provided us withidentity and purpose as a church.Our regard for the centrality of the scriptures continues to dominatediscussions leading to unity. Our respect for confessioncilism has been retainedeven when the language zind thought-forms for interpreting the confessions areno longer exclusively European. Our social and political conservatism remainseven though many Lutherans have left the agricultural life or the inner city*ghetto* to engage in the commerce and suburban life-styles of our larger centres.As much as many Canadian Lutherans may resent certain cultural trappings oftheir ethnic traditions - this heritage continues, consciously and unconsciously, tocolor the profile of personal and community identity. This heritage remains as apriceless treasure.Building a Responsible Mission TheoryThere is nothing anti-Christian or un-Canadian about developing our missionthrusts £ilong natural ethnic lines of communication and people-contact. Somemay snear at congregations whose mission strategy it is to ‘seek out theEthnic Identity and Mission 19Germans’ or ‘look up the Lutherans’ in our growingly secular and cosmopolitancentres.Those who believe that these church extension methods are passe do notunderstand the Canadian soci2il ethos.We have not exhausted the potential of mission outreach in the traditionalsense. As long as there are many more persons identifying themselves asLutherans in the Canadian census than exist on official church roles,we havework to do.Another aspect of traditioncil Lutheran mission work should not be forgotten. Itis the matter of receiving the new Canadian. Every yecur, Lutherans from the ‘oldcountries’ continue to establish themselves in Canada (though in apparentlydeclining numbers at this point in time). Can we expect Lutheran arrivals toreadily identify with the average congregation? Could we not foster satellitecommunities of in-coming Lutherans as special ministry projects of establishedchurches? Might it not in some cases be adveintageous to support thedevelopment of new ethnic congregations? Special staff may have to be secured.New congregational structures may have to be devised. Basic changes in attitudemay be required on the p2irt of some church-people. What we need are modernvariations of a positive, folk church philosophy.Thus far we have been concerned with ministry among ethnic groups ofEuropean Lutheran background. What of potential Lutheran migrations from newsources?All Lutheran emigrants from Europe did not land in North America. They wentto South America, Africa and Austral-Asia. It is not inconceivable that at a futuretime some of their descendants might migrate in turn to Canada. The recentChilean refugees admitted to Canada are a case in point. Are we prepared forsimilar sporadic entries?The modern world mission outreach of our European and North Americanchurches has resulted in sizeable native Lutheran populations in many pcurts ofAfrica and Asia. Since Canada is becoming one of the globe’s most attractivetargets of third world migration, who would deny that our nation might eventuallybecome home to thousands of new citizens from developing nations? Will we beprepared, psychologically and functionally, to meet such migrants? Some ofthem will likely be Lutherans.In times past our churches were frequently ill-prepeired to welcome newCanadian brothers and sisters in the faith. We lost many potential membersbecause of it. That should not happen in the future.We must acknowledge that in the past Canadian Lutheran numerical growthhas often been due to immigration rather than to intentional evangelization. Thisleads to the most difficult mission problem of all. It is the one which, traditionally.1. The 1971 Federal Census enumerated 715,740 proclaimed Lutherans. Church rolls enumerate302,148.2. Cf. 1971 Census of Canada, Population, Characteristics of Persons Born Outside of Canada. Ottawa:Information Canada, 1974.20 Consensuswe have been very reluctant to face. It is the matter of outreach among the‘non-Lutheran' ethnic groupings in this country.A few special initiatives have been taken - among the French in Montreal, theItalians in Toronto, the native Canadians in Kenora and northern Canada and theChinese in Vancouver. Up to now, however, such efforts reflect the commitmentof a minority. Our work among ethnic communities which are traditionallynon-Lutheran represents little more than tokenism.Traditionally, the Roman Catholics, Anglican, Methodists and Presbyterians ofCanada extended themselves to new ethnic enclaves (the native peoples, Asians,Europeans of differing cultures to their own, etc.). The day of this kind of outreachministry in Canada is not past. German, French and native Canadianpentecostalism flourishes. The Chinese ministries of the United Church ofCanada and the Christian and Missionary Alliance are inspiring examples.Churches engaging in cross-cultural evangelism frequently discover thatgreater success is realized when the Gospel and supportive structures relative toit are allowed to surface from within the context of the ‘receiving culture'. Thisalways forces the drawing of distinctions between the essentials and thenon-essentials of the ‘sending culture' and its religious tradition. In the yearsahead, Canadian Lutherans should be thinking and planning more seriouslyabout cross-cultural evangelism.A realistic Canadian mission philosophy will require a dual thrust -consolidation of traditional Lutheran communities and expansion into new soci2ilgroups.In conclusion we might ask if it is realistic to declare that it is our church'smission ‘to be the family of God transcending every barrier of race, status, sex andnationality.'The Canadian Lutheran Church has reason for some optimism. We are notnaive to the barriers of race, status, sex and nation£ility. As a uniting plurality ofethnic churches we can still recall our European antecedents. Our experience inNorth America has shaped and sharpened us in the rediscovery of the truly validelements of our heritage. We are becoming established in Canada as a new,identifiable reality.Let us be astute enough, at this crucial point in our history, to know who we arebecause we realize from where we have come and where we cure heading.Can we build a church that seeks unity, respects diversity, and celebratesethnic identity? Can we develop our mission priorities and strategy along linesnaturally conducive to the unique cultural evolution that is Canada today?Wayne A. HolstWinnipeg, Manitoba.

Ethnic Identity and Mission in a Canadian Lutheran Context

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Ethnic Identity and Mission in a Canadian Lutheran Context

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