Written By Rev. Cyrus Kung

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Terracotta Warriors in XiAn

As I pushed my way forward into the obnoxiously large pergola that covered one of China's most treasured historical sites. I found myself captured by the vastness of empire, power and a history that I had only ever loosely connected myself with. Before us, laid the tomb of Qin Shi Huang and his army of 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots and 520 horses. This terracotta army was silently drawing me in to my own lust for power and 'the magnificent', it was drawing me into its 5000 year old story.

Why is it that we are so drawn to the big, the powerful and the jaw dropping things that are beyond ourselves?

There is no doubt that our human civilisations of the past 2000 years have had an infatuation with empires and those organisms that can inspire, move and sometimes control hundreds and thousands of people to move in a singular direction. The late 20th and early 21st century holds no distinction here, however our empires of today are no longer made up of our young men but are more commonly recognised through dollar signs, lit up buildings and brand marketing.

It is in this context of the power of institutional organisms that I see the multicultural documents of the UCA emerge. It is the gentle caress of a well meaning body of Christians hoping to influence and change the hearts of those in our local congregations and institutions. But as relevant as this approach was in the late 20th century western context of law, institution and policy, I am challenged whether this position is effective for the majority of Christians living in the global world of the 21st century. Do aspirational documents coming out of our little corner of the world really spur the Church of the 21st century to live out its multicultural mandate? Is this how the Church will participate in the call to see the kingdom of God here on earth, now as it is in heaven?

35 years on from the original statement released by the UCA stating that we are a multicultural church, we still find ourselves squabbling over how we are to engage with power dynamics and inequalities of Church politics and building occupancies. These documents have set out to address inequality in our local contexts, however anyone that is engaged with any of the "multicultural UCA congregations' around Australia will see we are still a long way away from living out the cultural mandate of revelation 7 as a local body, let alone a national one.

BUT...God is still faithful and the spirit is continually at work in all of our lives. So before I offer anymore critiques, it is here that I want to acknowledge that in the midst of this overarching struggle of the 'multicultural church', we have seen the small wins of local congregations and neighbourly interactions come to fruition. These interactions have formed many strong kingdom orientated relationships within our midst. Friendships, cross cultural learnings and hospitality has been a mark of many local UCA congregations that many would recognise over the turn of the 20th and 21st century.

However... When looking at the wins from these fruitful communities, my questions is... “how much of it can be attributed to nicely formed documents? Or is it that these communities arise out of some other movement, some other means of seeing the multicultural mandate of revelation 7, a movement more grass roots and less, statement and policy driven…..

It is in this conflicting context that I want to ask controversially but also sincerely; "Is placing our resources in crafting well formed statements and well articulated policies adding to the call for diversity in the kingdom? OR is it simply adding to the power of our own western empire building uniformity?" The golden age of the Church institution is long gone and the statements provided are significantly less potent in the political arena now than it was 50 years ago. In addition, in our own local context I doubt many of these well crafted documents are embodied by local congregations and ministers let alone even read by our neighbouring institutions and fellow policy makers in the secular world. These are the harsh realities of a declining Church institution here in the west. These documents rely on the power of our institution in the world and in reality its effectiveness is quickly declining as the institution is growing weaker.