Mutuality Framework

Background and Introduction: A Shifting Center 

The Church’s approach to mission must adapt to a rapidly changing global context. As the center of Global Christianity has shifted to the Global South, this same shift is well underway in North American cities. African, Asian and Latin American diaspora Christians are migrating and planting churches as part of the greatest movement of peoples in the history of the world. First- and second-generation immigrant churches and Christians represent the new spiritual and numerical center of Christianity in North America and the greatest hope for renewing the church and revitalizing the city. 

And yet, we don’t know each other and we operate in parallel, hidden universes that rarely intersect. Diaspora churches and leaders often remain on the margins, under-resourced and isolated while struggling to reach and disciple the next generation. Most non-immigrant American churches are also ignorant of the global church present in their own neighborhoods, attempting to reach the nations (both abroad and here) on their own with parallel efforts that miss the spiritual vibrancy and the cultural expertise of diaspora believers. (Think of a white, suburban church doing mission trips to Ghana while missing the thriving Ghanaian church right across the street).  Furthermore, immigrants are often seen as objects of mission rather than as active missionary agents at the center of God’s purposes in renewing the church and revitalizing cities.  These two worlds are often invisible to each other and operate independently from each other while they each hold gifts the other desperately needs. 

With all this as context, we believe a fresh missional imagination is required. We believe that mutuality is a missional framework suited for bridging these divides and adapting to these massive shifts in a changing church and world.  

A Framework for Mutuality

What is mutuality? What are we talking about when we say that we seek to foster “mutuality in mission,” whether between diaspora Christians and the broader, non-immigrant North American Church or between different generations in the immigrant church, or between the Global North and the Global South? 

Here is a short definition: Mutuality is both an attitude and an approach to mission which seeks to recognize the dignity, gifts, and agency of  “the other.” It seeks to practice reciprocity and live into the reality of interdependence, that together we are a reconciled family and the body of Christ. Mutuality seeks to avoid the distancing involved in “top-down” and “us-them” approaches by subverting the world’s power imbalances. Rather than mission from a place of power and control, it seeks to create space for mutual flourishing by embracing weakness, vulnerability, and mission “from below.” Through mutuality we seek to create an ecosystem of Kingdom collaboration for the sake of the city. It is an inherent aspect of what the New Testament calls koinonia or fellowship. 

There are four key elements of mutuality: a commitment to friendships (symbolized by a table and shared meal), receiving each other's gifts (symbolized by the flame of the Spirit), an intentional inversion of power imbalances (symbolized by a foot washing towel), and kingdom household structures (symbolized by a physical shared home). Let’s look at each in turn. At the end of each section are reflection questions for each of our three primary audiences. 

1. Commitment to Friendships: From the very beginning in Genesis God reveals himself as a relational God. Over and above one-way transactional service approaches or charity models based on the unidirectional exchange of money, in mutuality there is a priority given to the building of deep, two-way friendships. These kinds of friendships between diaspora and non-immigrant North American Christians are all too rare. They require a degree of vulnerability and embracing of weakness that goes beyond “meeting needs” and involves stepping down and being able to also receive from each other. It requires a boldness from those used to receiving to stepping up and offering their gifts in kind. These kinds of friendships involve both giving and receiving (Philippians 4:15), speaking and listening. Those with more power who are used to doing much of the “giving” and speaking begin to take a posture of “receiving” and of deep listening. Those used to being quiet and to listening (often immigrants) are encouraged to speak and share. The symbol of this is a shared meal at a table. Why was it such a scandal that Jews and Gentiles would eat together? Why did Jesus himself spend so much time eating with those other religious leaders despised? Eating together breaks down barriers of language and culture like nothing else can. And ultimately the passover meal is used by Jesus to symbolize our reconciliation with God and one another.  

   • Immigrants: How can you prioritize building relationships with American non-immigrants before asking something from them? 

     Non-Immigrants: What would it look like to prioritize building friendships with immigrant leaders in your city before seeking to serve them? 

     Next Gen: Do you have close friendships with other Christian 1.5 and second-generation folks from other ethnic and cultural backgrounds in your city? What do you find in common or different about your experiences?   

2. Receiving Each Other's Gifts:  A kind of scarcity mindset can exist among diaspora Christians where they don’t feel they have anything to offer or are similarly viewed by non-immigrants as simply recipients of their help. Other well intentioned non-immigrants are afraid of offending or of repeating colonial mistakes of the past, and so are hesitant to engage immigrants altogether. White Americans at times are unsure of what they bring to the table. In Pentecost, however, the Holy Spirit is poured out on all flesh. Everyone has gifts to give (Ephesians 4:7) and we need each other’s gifts for the whole body to grow into maturity (Eph. 4:13). Immigrant Christians bring rich gifts from the Global Church that the broader North American church desperately needs, such as passionate prayer, a real experience of suffering and the supernatural, and a deep commitment to evangelism. There are theological, artistic, and traditions of worship to be shared. The North American church has important gifts to give as well, such as facilities, administrative expertise, finances, next gen programming, mental health resources, and so on. What could it look like for us to sing each other's songs? (And not just the latest Western worship Top-40 hit.) What could it look like for the different beautiful strands of global theology in our city to come together as a single tapestry?  To whom much is given, much is required (Luke 12:48). Surprisingly, though, in the Kingdom, those with supposedly the least to give are often the most generous (Luke 21:4).  The symbol for these gifts is the flame of the Spirit. 

   • Immigrants: What are the unique gifts you and your church bring? Can you name them? What gifts does the non-immigrant church have that you and your church need? 

   • Non-Immigrants: What are the gifts you bring as a North American, non-immigrant, Christian? Can you name them? What gifts does the diaspora church have that you and your church need? 

   • Next Gen: You can have the best of both worlds! Can you name the gifts that come from your parents’ cultural heritage(s) and background(s) and also the gifts from being American? 

   3. Inversion of Power Imbalances: Why are immigrants and people of color absent in the leadership of so many mission and church planting organizations? How can we reverse this trend? The first conflict in the New Testament church involved a power imbalance involving an unjust distribution of resources between two distinct cultural and linguistic groups within the church (see Acts 6:1-15). The solution that the early church came to was raising up to leadership those from the disempowered group (see the choosing of deacons in Acts 6:7). Similar dynamics are often at play between immigrants and non-immigrants and within diaspora churches between the generations. Pursuing mutuality in these contexts seeks more than establishing equality within existing frameworks. Mutuality seeks to upend those frameworks and to live into Mary's proclamation in the Magnificat that the birth of Christ ushers in a new upside-down Kingdom. God has "brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly" (Luke 1:52). Mutuality seeks something more challenging than equality: the strong descending and coming under the weak and the weak ascending and taking leadership. This is all in imitation of the incarnation, Jesus’ descent and self-giving and then his resurrection and ascension (Philippians 2). In Kingdom relationships the weaker party is given a special and “greater honor” (1 Cor. 12:23) and invited to step boldly into their God-given identity as key agents of kingdom mission, as co-leaders and co-laborers. The symbol of this is the towel with which Jesus washes his disciples feet.

   • Immigrants: How can you practice washing (symbolically and literally) the feet of the next generation in your church? 

   • Non-Immigrants: What could it look like to listen to and follow the leadership of immigrant Christians in your city? 

   • Next Gen: What does embracing a lifestyle of service for the sake of the weak and vulnerable look like practically for you? 

   4. Household Structures. True mutuality requires that individual acts of service such as foot washing be accompanied by transformed structures. Through the cross, the wall of separation dividing Jew from Gentile is torn down and a new family is birthed (Ephesians 2:11-18). This wall was a physical barrier in the structure of the temple that literally marginalized the gentiles, physically distancing them from worship in God’s presence. As a new, spiritual, house of prayer for all nations, the early church sacrificially shared resources with one-another, even selling properties to give to those in need so that “there were no needs among them” (Acts 4:34). 

   For everyone in a family to flourish and live well together, certain structures need to be in place and shared such as a physical home to live in and a budget for family expenses. These structures can either facilitate mutuality or reinforce painful divisions. For example, if one brother sleeps in his own room with a king-sized bed while three other brothers sleep on the floor in a shared room, this inequity can only breed enmity. And, yet, these kinds of same divisions exist within the body of Christ. Resources are not equally distributed. A large percentage of Global-majority churches and immigrant churches in the US do not own their own buildings, nor have multiple paid, full-time pastors. Resources that are commonplace in English-speaking contexts, like multiple translations of the Bible in the same language, can be a rarity. Many church-planting networks and global mission organizations have very few immigrant staff or leaders of color. What are we to make of these disparities in the body?

   What would it look like for local churches and broader networks to be organized in such a way as to truly share resources and live as a reconciled family between immigrants and non-immigrants? First, for structures to promote flourishing in multicultural contexts, they must be nimble and flexible (like the bamboo scaffolding used around buildings under construction in parts of Asia) in order to accommodate differences and adapt to different cultural contexts and diverse ways of communicating and operating. Second, within large organizations, new structures need to be established that exist to promote a just distribution of resources that goes beyond one-off charity responses.  The symbol for this is a shared physical home, a household.

   • Immigrants: What structures or barriers have you experienced that limited your flourishing? 

   • Non-Immigrants: What could it look like to truly see all your resources as given by God for the sake of others?

   • Next Gen: What resources do you need to be empowered to live out your calling in the church? 

Mutuality Towards What End? 

We believe that mutuality should lead us outward in collaborative mission in our cities and world. The unity-in-diversity of the Trinity flows outward in love to the world. We believe that mutuality can lead to fresh missional, collaboration expressions in areas church-to-church and unified city-wide prayer and fasting movements, innovating immigrant and multiethnic church planting, creative resources sharing, vibrant multicultural worship and theological exchange, and shared youth events and initiatives for together discipling the next generation while serving the city. 

Mutuality opens a window to the world. Diaspora Christians can uniquely help the broader Church in North American learn anew how to engage with and stay connected to both a global perspective and to God’s mission. Diasporans by their very presence challenge and subvert ethnocentric and paternalistic approaches to mission in the broader North American Church. The broader, non-immigrant North American Church can help the immigrant church reach out beyond their cultural and ethnic enclosures and disciple the next generation. Each one of us, diverse yet united in Christ, has a critical part to play together in God’s mission, bringing unique yet necessary pieces of faithful, fruitful Gospel prayers, presence, partnership, and practice.  

Mutual partnerships can deepen the church’s identity as truly global Christians while at the same time deepening the sense of stability, belonging and home in the US for diaspora communities. 

Here are some practical implications of mutuality with real examples:  

1. Teams Must Increasingly Become Multiethnic: Diverse missionary teams are increasingly the norm around the world and should increasingly be the norm in North America as well. This looks like Chileans and Koreans working together among unreached people in India. It looks like the recent Diaspora Network global learning trip to Brazil that brought together not only diaspora leaders from North America (Burmese, Chinese and Indian) but a leader from a church in Honduras together with white Americans to learn from the thriving church in Brazil. No longer should any church or parachurch ministry attempt to reach a certain immigrant population in their city without partnering with and learning from Christian leaders from that same community in their city.  

2. Moving from Sharing Space to Sharing Ministry: Beyond simply offering cheap rental space, sharing of buildings can open up opportunities for creative kingdom collaboration. Immigrant churches are not just renting space from the non-immigrant churches but also sharing life and ministry. Older, more established immigrant churches who own buildings are opening them up to newer immigrant churches from other backgrounds. Examples include Kingdom City Church in Houston with 12 different congregations collaborating together in areas such as youth and outreach,  Hyde Park Baptist Church in Austin with Latino and Chinese congregations and Austin Evangelical Ethiopian Church which hosts 2 Hispanic congregations in their building, in addition to a newly forming next gen congregation called House of Bethany. 

3. Global Mission Must Be Done Differently: One-way (“West to the rest”) mission models must give way to new reciprocal and polycentric models of mission that embody the reality that migrant-missionaries are already taking the Gospel from  “everywhere to everywhere.” This can look like reciprocal (back and forth) trips and relationships between the global church and the North American church. A church in Kenya can send a yearly team to minister in a US city alongside a partner church. Interns and missionaries from churches in the Global South are being sent and received by churches in the US, immigrant and non-immigrant alike. Parachurch groups can retool to train and mobilize diaspora churches in cross-cultural agility and awareness. For example: Brazilian churches are sending young adults to help non-immigrant churches in the US reach out to immigrants in their neighborhoods. 

4. Leadership Structures Must Reflect The New Center: True mutuality involves changed hearts and changed structures. Following the Acts 6:1-15 example, ministries “to” or “for” the nations (whether locally or globally), should also be led “by” the nations. Any conference or city network that doesn’t include first- and second-generation diaspora in key leadership roles risks irrelevance, missing out on one of the major moves of God in our day and on the tremendous gifts and blessings of the Global Church. 

5. Resources Must Be Creatively Shared: How can staff, buildings, and financial resources be creatively shared between immigrants, non-immigrants and next gen? Ongoing financial structures such as “Legacy Funds” and other creative endowments can fight against funding and resource inequality for leaders and churches from immigrant and next gen backgrounds. One example in the parachurch world is InterVarsity’s Legacy Fund. A percentage from what all IV staff raise goes to support non-white leaders for whom fundraising is often more difficult. 

6. Next Gen Leadership Development Must Be Prioritized: Diaspora Next Gen is the already present-future: 50% of children under 18 in Houston and 30% in Austin have at least 1 immigrant parent. Equipping the diaspora next gen (both 2nd and 1.5 gen) as bicultural bridge-builders and Global Christian leaders in an increasingly multicultural world must be a priority. 

7. Collaborative Church Planting of Immigrant and Multiethnic Churches:  Because of their in-between background, diaspora next gen leaders are natural leaders in multiethnic spaces and are leading the way in planting multiethnic congregations around the country. One example of this is Advance Initiative in the Indian Diaspora community and 7Mile Road, a diverse church in Philadelphia led by a number of second-gen leaders.

Conclusion:

Mutuality is at the heart of the Diaspora Network. We have designed our yearly national conferences and cohorts to model and help participants actually experience mutuality, not just hear about it as an idea. Throughout our programming we seek to foster environments like mixed, round-table small groups where prayer, conversation, and deep listening can be practiced leading to mutual transformation and to ongoing relationships. Key to our ethos are shared meals and the receiving and giving of some of the gifts of language, culture, art, and worship in events such as our Nations Worship Festival. We pray that fresh ideas and imagination can be stirred and emerge as we seek to join God in what he is doing through the diaspora.

Endorsements:

• “This framework of mutuality by the Diaspora Network is a timely message as it invites the body of Crist, both the diaspora and local American churches, to revise their mindset and practices of mission in our globalized world today. This comes with my recommendation to all who want to know and follow Christ in His mission through mutuality among His body.” - Mehari Korcho, PhD.