Intercultural Engagement

NZCMS sends Mission Part­ners glob­ally to serve in dif­fer­ent coun­tries, cul­tures, and lan­guages. Here in New Zealand the nations have come to us! Around a quarter of our pop­u­la­tion were born over­seas, and there are more than 200 ethnic groups in our country. There are many oppor­tun­it­ies for inter­cul­tural mission and engage­ment here in New Zealand. NZCMS would love to connect with you and your church to resource you to engage inter­cul­tur­ally in your neighbourhood.

HomeResourcesInter­cul­tural Engagement

What is intercultural community?

Broadly, culture relates to lan­guage, habits, ideas, beliefs, customs, social organ­isa­tion, pro­cesses and values. Diversity is part of God’s cre­ation, and God is at work in every culture. Culture can be a good thing! However, we (and the gospel we pro­claim) can become captive to our culture. The chal­lenge for every fol­lower of Christ is to allow the Gospel to tran­scend our culture – to bring out the best of our culture and set us free from everything that entangles. 

How do we become intercultural?

When we talk to those in church lead­er­ship about inter­cul­tural com­munit­ies they often say ‘tell me what to do!’ Becom­ing an inter­cul­tural com­munity is a process – and there is no single way to do it because it is always con­tex­tual. That said, there are many dif­fer­ent ideas and tools that can help stim­u­late con­ver­sa­tion, con­ver­sion and action in your community.

Why does it matter?

Aotearoa New Zealand has always been a diverse place. Even between dif­fer­ent iwi and hapū, there are cul­tural vari­ations. People from all over the world now live in New Zealand. In 2013 there were more than 200 dif­fer­ent ethnic groups across the country – and many of our com­munit­ies are increas­ingly eth­nic­ally diverse.

Where can I learn more?

Alice Kinyua, our Inter­cul­tural Com­munit­ies Enabler, would love to learn about your context to encour­age and help resource you, or connect you with others. You can email her at alice@nzcms.org.nz.

Here you can find links to some helpful resources developed overseas:

United Church of Canada

United Church of Canada

united-church.ca

Free Methodist Church in Canada

Free Methodist Church in Canada

fmcic.ca

Churches Cultures & Leadership

Churches Cultures & Leadership

churchesculturesleadership.com