Tyndale offers intercultural ministry training to Ottawa pastors

Craig Macartney
Spur Ottawa Writer

The room was abuzz with laughter and greetings. Above the noise of coffee being poured, one sound hinted at the gathering group’s intent—accents from Irish to Egyptian and Indian to Ghanaian underscored that these Ottawa pastors and leaders were intent on reaching across cultural and national boundaries.

July 19 was the group’s second official meeting. They met to discuss the content of an online course they are taking together through the Tyndale Intercultural Ministries (TIM) Centre at Tyndale University.

“The face of Canada is changing. By 2031 nearly one-half of all Canadians aged 15 and older will be a first-generation immigrant or will have at least one parent who is a first-generation immigrant. This will require leaders having greater cultural self-awareness and intercultural competence for effective ministry in our growing multicultural urban-ministry contexts,” explains Robert Cousins, director of the TIM Centre.

“One of the biggest benefits of this program is providing pastors with tools that can help them navigate some of these cultural challenges.”

Thanks to a grant from the Canadian Bible League, the TIM Centre was able to offer an intercultural training course almost free for Ottawa pastors and leaders. The course includes an intercultural-competence assessment, personal coaching, study material, and online video lectures.

Most of the Ottawa cohort’s 20 members are first-generation immigrant pastors, themselves. While the training offers many benefits to Western pastors, Joseph Kiirya, one of the Ottawa cohort’s organizers, emphasizes its benefits for ethnic pastors.

“One challenge immigrants deal with is the difficulty of opening up from the bubble they have,” explains Kiirya, who is an immigrant pastor from Uganda. “The bubble of their culture is comfort, like-mindedness, and [shares one] language. One of the biggest benefits of this program is providing pastors with tools that can help them navigate some of these cultural challenges. It takes away that barrier they have toward the effectiveness of their ministry in Canada.”

“When I was first told about this course I was a bit hesitant,” admits Abraham Sudhakar, founder of Ottawa’s South Asian Christian Fellowship. “After a one-on-one meeting with Pastor Joseph, and going through the initial assessment, I realized the course would be quite helpful.”

“If willing to be humble, the Canadian Church can partner with new Canadians to reach out to people of other religions.”

Now about halfway through the course, Sudhakar says, “I am sure that the lessons learned will be of immense help in reaching out and engaging the various cultures in Ottawa with the gospel.”

But Cousins emphasizes that learning how to understand and effectively engage other cultures is absolutely essential for the Western Church. He believes this is an asset that will help bring increased unity in the Body of Christ.

“It is especially important if the Canadian Church is going to partner with new immigrants in Kingdom ministry, both locally and globally. Many new immigrants come from countries where they have much more experience in living among people of different religions. If willing to be humble, the Canadian Church can partner with new Canadians to reach out to people of other religions.”

Both Cousins and Kiirya say that when Christians from different cultures come together, they bring unique understandings from God’s word. Kiirya adds that each culture has distinct strengths and weaknesses in their expressions of Christian living. It is by bringing these differences together that the Church is strengthened and becomes complete.

Kiirya says the Canadian Bible League sets a great example by funding this training.

“The truth is these [immigrant] churches do not have resources, but they have something that is of great value to the Church. In fact, they are the revival that Canada has been praying for in the Body of Christ, yet the Church is not doing much to embrace or even invest in them. I think churches and Christian organizations in Ottawa need to deliberately think about the reality of an ethnic, intercultural, emerging immigrant Church.”