I continue to be amazed at a double standard that places heavy burden on people from one culture while coddling people from all others.
Can you imagine the LCMS (or any other church body) asking a congregation of African immigrants why they don't do outreach among Asians, or expressing indignation that a Chinese church doesn't do Hispanic ministry? I can't.
At the same time, white, English-speaking congregations are routinely upbraided for "serving their own needs." Why don't they change to reflect the community around them?
Should any group of people be expected to give up their culture for the sake of another group? Be careful how you answer! If the answer is no (in the name of diversity), why are white Anglos not allowed to keep their culture? If the answer is yes, why is this expectation not placed on minority groups? If the answer is it depends, why are whites seen as capable of making this change and minorities are not? Is this the "subtle bigotry of low expectations"?
Should a sanctified Christian be willing to adapt to the needs of a new believer or potential believer? Probably. But that requires a fairly high level of sanctification that I would not expect from the majority of members of any congregation. I'd go so far as to say that we should consider most confirmed Lutherans to be part of the mission field. If they need their hymns and pipe organ to be happy, they should have them.
However, for the good of the kingdom of God, there should be mission outreach to other cultures as well, including the current unchurched (or dechurched or post-church or whatever you want to call it) generation. Congregation budgets (as well as district mission dollars) should be committed to reaching the lost, and it is the responsibility of pastors and sanctified lay leaders to see that this is done.
But if we're going to insist that "they" don't have to become like "us," neither do "we" need to become like "them." We can all express our faith within our own culture, just as we allow the Hmong to be Hmong and the Spanish to be Spanish. White Anglo culture is worthy of being celebrated just as much as the others in a "multicultural" environment. (In fact, it used to be called "Western Civilization" before post-modernism lifted up other cultures by tearing ours down.)
Heaven will be a polyglottal cacophony — check that, a polyglottal symphony — of "every nation, tribe, language, and people." Surely that includes English.
