Kansas City Culture
The nations have arrived in Kansas City. Who we once deemed the foreigner has become our neighbor, our coworker, our friend. In Kansas City there are large populations of Indians, Persians, Somalis -- which are probably the most difficult people group in the world to reach--, Iraqis, etc.
I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Regina Foard, a local language expert and friend of many. She provided insight into the current linguistic and cultural context of Kansas City and highlighted the importance of getting Scripture in people’s heart languages.
Regina shared that in Kansas City, there are at least 70 different people groups representing at least 70 different heart languages. “Heart language” refers to one’s first language. This is the language that the individual thinks in and communicates most effectively in. For this reason, ONE KC will be important so that people will be able to hear Scripture in their heart language, perhaps for the first time.
Here is the conversation that followed:
Q: Why the push for getting Scripture into people’s heart languages?
A: I spend a lot of time with Iraqi people, and most of them are here doing PhDs as well. They are highly intelligent and have high levels of English communication. But I can tell, in my conversations with them, that when you begin to talk about deeper things like God and human creation and all those things that are ideologies or philosophies they are not able to adequately understand me or they’re not able to adequately communicate to me deep concepts. So [for example] if we were conversing in Arabic, they would have endless opportunities to express those deeper things. So on the one hand, they speak excellent english. But because it’s not their heart language, they cannot express deeper means to what they’re trying to express because of the limitations of it not being in their heart language. So it validates this high need for everything to be in someone’s heart language. It’s critical, critical, critical that people get the Word of God in their heart language. I think that is exactly what God intended. Putting the Word of God in their own language is what will unlock those places inside of them where the Spirit works and moves to receive the word of God. Very critical.
Putting the Word of God in their own language is what will unlock those places inside of them where the Spirit works and moves to receive the word of God. Very critical.
Q: Are there churches in Kansas City with services conducted in these heart languages?
A: There are some. I think that what I see is that there’s a desire for acculturation on the part of the immigrant and the refugee, for the Christians, to kind of insert themselves into American churches. But I think because we haven’t necessarily done the best job of being multicultural in our congregational- the music we do, the format, meeting the needs- all those things that we Americans receive every Sunday because culturally it’s what we’re used to. For someone who is not a part of the culture it could be a very very different experience. I see a great deal of opportunity to encourage and equip and train local indigineous leaders to lead their own people. I see a lot of discipleship opportunities there among the Christians. I think there could be some multiplication methods to talk to them so that they could begin to reach their own people and I see it as a ripple effect because if we could train the leaders to lead their people, I think their people could then be called to go back to their countries, right? And who better could reach their own people than the people themselves? If we were more strategic we would build alliances with the people who are here.
Q: What efforts are being made to reach the unreached in Kansas City?
A: There are probably undoubtedly some churches in the Kansas City area that are intentionally loving their neighbor, right? But where I know where these pockets of immigrants are refugees are, I don’t know of any church, maybe one or two, that are actually saying “Oh we have these groups surrounding our church. Let’s make an effort to reach that group.” For the most part we have Refuge KC here in Kansas City, Mission Southside here in Kansas City, probably other mission paragroup organizations that are trying to focus on those groups. But as far as local churches, I don’t know.
One of the things I personally try to practice is having a family of another culture over to my home once a week. It’s amazing. They're just people. Just human beings created in the Image of God. How difficult is it just to sit across the table and share a meal and converse, you know? I do think this project [ONE KC] is such a great start. It’s a great thing to get people doing what God said we should be doing all along but there’s more to it. It goes beyond that. But we can’t get beyond that before we take the first step which is this Gospel Saturation. I’ve been looking at this lately and I keep thinking about this as “Oneness” not “Sameness.” Within the Church there has to be a sense of Oneness but we don’t have to be the same. We can come from different backgrounds and different cultures and different races and different ethnicities and that’s okay. But in Christ we are One. It’s the Oneness that brings us together. And until we do that really well, we can’t do the other really well, either.
Within the Church there has to be a sense of Oneness but we don’t have to be the same. We can come from different backgrounds and different cultures and different races and different ethnicities and that’s okay. But in Christ we are One.
Q. How do building these relationships between cultural and linguistic differences represent the Church? How do they impact one’s understanding of the heart of Christ?
A. There should be no barriers to people coming into the Kingdom of God. It is for all nations and all people. We need to be able to recognize the cultural differences and we need to be able to adjust our behavior culturally in order to engage them effectively. So, for example, if I go into a Muslim home I take off my shoes. Is that an American expectation? It may be. But for the most part that’s not a real tradition or participation that people do. In this case, I’m not trying to make them more American, but I’m trying to show respect for what they value.
Our role here as host agent is to make people feel welcome. And how much more so in the church! It reveals the heart of Jesus because he was crossing cultural barriers all the time. Think about the Samaritan woman alone. He crossed ethnic barriers, religious barriers, gender barriers, vocational barriers and in no way did He stop and say “Well, she doesn't even speak my language,” or “Well, she’s beneath me she doesn't deserve to hear this message. In fact she became known as someone who saved her whole village because of her one encounter with Jesus and the love He showed her in that one encounter. So how important is it for us to love others who are culturally and linguistically different from us in order to reveal the heart of Jesus? It is the only way that Jesus followers should be. If we are really following Jesus it is that the only way that we can do it is the way that He would do it, which is to show human dignity.
Revelation 5:9 says, “And they sang a new song, saying: ‘You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.’” So not only are we created in the Image of God, but Jesus spilt his blood for them. He purchased all the nations. He purchased us, he purchased them! We’ve got to love the way Jesus loved.
If you would like more information about ONE KC visit onekc.bible or email us at info@whatifthe.church.
If you would like to see what heart languages are available for easy access, visit the bible.is app.
