November 2008

Helping Christians of different ethnicities to share life and ministry together since 2001.

Many things can (and will) be said about last night's historic election. Regardless if you felt it was an exciting victory or a crushing loss, there is one thing we should all be able to agree on: our country has entered a multi-ethnic era.  The election of our first African American president (who's biracial background embodies multi-ethnicity) is a powerful sign of how rapidly our society has changed and will change in the decades to come. The question on my mind..."Is the church ready?"

Do we know how Jesus and the early Christians interacted in their multi-ethnic society and dealt with interracial conflict? Do we know how to build and sustain multi-ethnic churches and ministries?  Are we prepared to reach and disciple our diverse, rapidly-growing youth population that has become increasingly cynical toward Christianity?

In many cases, the answer to these questions is no. This could have devastating consequences for the church unless we begin to take prayerful and intentional steps to change our thinking and methods. My hope and prayer is that moments like these will help to wake us up to the reality that we must address these issues well and address them quickly.

If you are a Christian who wants to be equipped with biblical principles and tools for living and ministering in a multi-ethnic society, we are here to help. I encourage you to go to our website, TheNewCulture.org, and take advantage of the hundreds of bible-based resources we have posted there. We are also working with top multi-ethnic veterans and experts from around the country to develop excellent, low-cost training resources (we will be sharing more on this in future newsletters).

Please keep these efforts in your prayers and help us spread the word!

- Chad Brennan

PS. In this issue we have included five resources related to last night's historical election. Even if you don't agree with the authors I hope you will find the information helpful in understanding our multi-ethnic society.

Featured resources in this issue of the New Culture Newsletter

Blog	Blog	Video/News	News	Videos

Blog: It's History

"It was clear that the election of Barack Obama was not just a political event but a uniquely religious one, as well. Of course maybe that should not come as a surprise, given the historically strong bond between social activism and faith in the African American community. And accordingly, pundit after pundit was quick to note this historic moment's undeniable connection to the American civil rights movement, a phenomenon that was birthed in the black church." read this blog »

Blog: America Has Chosen a President

"For many of us, the end of the night brought disappointment. In this case, the disappointment is compounded by the sense that the issues that did not allow us to support Sen. Obama are matters of life and death -- not just political issues of heated debate. Furthermore, the margin of victory and sense of a shift in the political landscape point to greater disappointments ahead. We all knew that so much was at stake." read this blog »

Video/News: Moving Toward a Post-Racial America

"One of the most stunning facts of the turnout tonight is that only 74 percent of the electorate in this election was white. Go back to 1976 and 90 percent of the electorate was white. We are seeing the rise of Hispanic and African American voters. This is the first election of the future. In many ways, we are moving toward a post-racial America. Look at how race really wasn’t an issue in this campaign. Eighty percent of voters said they didn’t take it into account anyway, and only 19 percent of the voters said they did. And Obama won both groups." watch this video »

News: Obama’s victory caps struggles of previous generations

"President-elect Obama’s victory Tuesday may be a racially transformative event. But for people like Kennedy, who came through the fires of the civil rights movement, it also represents something else — personal triumph. Obama’s win validates the risks they took years ago." read this news article »

Videos: Witnessing History

"In one home, news of Barack Obama’s election brought screams of joy and amazement. In another, it was met with stunned silence followed by tears. Those were the reactions that msnbc.com reporters witnessed when they spent Election Night with two of the three African-American families we profiled last week to launch the Witnessing History report." watch these videos »

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