MINISTERING

CROSS-CULTURALLY
(ACROSS THE CULTURAL BARRIERS)
BY

DR. JOFFRE P. VIVONI

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 Foundations Publishing
P.O. Box 8068
Jacksonville, FL 32239-8068

Ministering Cross-Culturally © 2003 Dr. Joffre P.Vivoni

All rights reserved including the right to reproduce, photocopy or to
translate this book or any part thereof

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Comments
Greetings my dear Brother Vivoni!
I often recall our many wonderful years of ministry
service we have enjoyed together in the office of Cross
Cultural ministries in the Church of God. I recall the
contribution you have made developing the Cross
Cultural Concept.
Much of the success is contributed to your untiring
efforts.
…It is my opinion your book-let should be in print and
distributed to all State and Territorial Church of God
Leaders and other church leaders also.
God bless you and your dear wife with health and
ministry success.
Dr. Billy J. Rayburn, former Cross-Cultural Director
of the Church of God, Cleveland, Tennessee.

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Ministering Cross-Culturally:
By: Dr. Joffre Pascal Vivoni – He is the Senior
Pastor of the Jacksonville Hispanic Church of God
and Cross-Cultural Center, and is also the president
of Southeastern Theological Seminary. Dr. Vivoni
has served as District Overseer and Coordinator for
Hispanic Ministries in the state of Florida Church of
God denomination, he was a member of the
National Cross-Cultural Board of the Church of God
denomination, Cleveland Tennessee, for 22 years.
He has been used by many as a consultant for the
establishment of new multi-cultural churches through
the United States.

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Introduction:
The United States has become a multicultural
nation. The need to minister to the ethnic minorities
has become evident with the changes in the
ethnicity of the neighborhoods. I believe with all my
heart that unless we reach out to the Cross-Cultural
harvest, congregations will cease to exist and some
denominations will die. The window of opportunity is
here, let us move in and tap into the harvest.
I have been working with Cross-Cultural ministries
since 1984 and I am writing this booklet for the
purpose of helping pastors and congregations in the
establishment of effective ministries to the ethnic
harvest. I know the concepts I will be presenting in
this booklet are not the only ones that work, but I will
be speaking out of my experience in the field of
Cross-Cultural ministries and really believe that if
you follow this principles they will be a blessing to
you and to your ministry.

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What needs to be done before starting?
Before we begin a Cross-Cultural ministry we need
to do several things:
1. In prayer examine your motives, in other
words, Why do you want to start a Cross-
Cultural ministry? The reason I point this out is
that many pastors see a Multi-Cultural ministry as
an attraction, and an opportunity to show off their
ministry. They enjoy having other pastors look up
to their “kindness”. Other ministers see Multi-
Cultural ministry as an opportunity to share
expenses with another congregation. Needless to
say, if you see this type of ministry that way, you
are doomed to failure because the attraction will
be gone in a few months, and as a new born baby
the new ministry will, start generating expenses
and require attention. In reality most of the Cross-
Cultural churches require more time than “normal”
in order to be self supporting and be able to pay its
expenses. The real commitment comes when you
see the need, and see this type of ministry as an
opportunity to bring the Gospel effectively to the
community you are ministering to.

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If you want to share expenses you should, instead,
try sharing facilities with an already established
ministry who has reached the self supporting stage.

2. Present the need to your congregation,

especially to the pastor’s council.
Make sure they are in agreement with you. The
worst thing that can happen to an ethnic ministry is
for them to be meeting in a shared facility or to be
part of an Anglo congregation and feel the
discontent of the Anglo people or the non-Christian
attitudes of a council member expressing their open
discontent. Nobody likes to feel rejected. You need
to remember that, no matter what type of ministry
you are going to start or host, the pastor, or even if it
is the leader of the ethnic group is working for the
same boss with the desire to minister the Gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ to his people. If the people do
not feel welcome in your church, they will just leave
and you might have lost an opportunity.

3. Evaluate your community and decide which

ethnic group needs to be ministered to the most.
There are communities where the pastor is
struggling to build and maintain a congregation, yet

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the congregation keeps decreasing in numbers. If
we really examined the situation it is not necessarily
the fault of the pastor, he might be doing everything
he knows how to do and doing it well, it is the fact
that the community has changed. If this is the case,
then, the pastor or denominational leaders, instead
of eventually burying the congregation and selling
the building to some other denomination or
congregation, they should evaluate what is the
ethnicity of the community, if it is a Hispanic
neighborhood, start a Hispanic ministry, if Haitian, a
Haitian ministry, etc. A bilingual pastor or leader
should be used to start these services.
Eventually and somehow both congregations could
merge and a “mega church” could arise from a dying
church.

This advise is for denominational leaders, the idea

that you can sell the building to an ethnic
congregation that is under your office is the same as
if a pastor had to pay for his appointment. An ethnic
pastor should be given the same opportunity as any
other pastor in acquiring the use of any facility.

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4. Determine how much are you willing to invest
in the new ministry.
To start a congregation requires investing time in
doing research and requires investing financially in
materials, promotion and ministerial expenses. If
your congregation does not have the finances to pay
for a full time minister, you might want to start a
Sunday School or a Cell-Group instead of planting a
church or a local ministry. The other possibility is if
there is a pastor who would like to be able to use
your facilities. In this case the investment, will be
minimal, you might spend more in electricity, in
water, in supplies, but you will be reaching out and
preaching the gospel in a more effective manner.

5. Determine clearly what would you like to do,

what area of your facilities are you willing to use
for the new ministry, and then select adequate
leadership?
Put yourself in the position of the new ministry. The
group, or ministry that you are going to start needs
the stability of having a fixed place that they can
meet. If you do not have a steady place where they
can meet, and every time there is an activity from
your congregation they either have to moved or

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cancel their service, it will create uncertainty, and it
will make them feel un-important. Eventually you will
loose the group. It is better to have a steady smaller
room than to be moved around every several
services. Another thing that happens when you
assign a room for their meeting is that the local host
congregation will realize that there is a ministry
being started, that this ministry is important for you
as the pastor and that they are being instrumental in
reaching out to fulfill the great commission. Another
thing that happens is that the new ministry will look
at the host congregation with a new perspective,
they will feel “They back us up… they care.”

6. Select the pastor or leader carefully.

When you are sharing facilities, starting a ministry or
simply a cell group or a Sunday school class, you
must:
a. Be certain that there is mutual trust between the
senior pastor and the leader of the ethnic group.
Without trust the relationship will not last long. Both
the pastor and the ethnic leader need to trust and
treat each other as friends so that the relationship
can be effective and both ministries can work

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together. (if the leaders are not united, how can you
expect the followers to be in unity)
b. The vision must be clear in both the senior pastor
and the ethnic leader. Are you both clear about each
other’s vision for this new ministry? I have found that
if the vision is different, sooner or later you will have
problems. Amos 3:3 “Can two walk together,
except they are agreed?”

I would recommend for the pastor or leader of the

ethnic group to be bi-lingual. Between ethnic groups
there are always cultural differences which might
result in “misunderstandings”, if you add the
language barrier you are just inviting disaster.
Constant communication must exist between you
and the ethnic leader. Concerns, questions,
misunderstandings, problems, etc. should be
worked out before they become a burden. If you are
in a denomination, you might want to call your state
office to request for mediation if there is anything
that needs to be clarified, If not you might call
another bilingual friendly minister to help you.
Whatever you do must be done “in love”

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7. Everyone involved should be clear in what is
the vision for this new ministry and should work
as a team for it to progress.
I have found that many problems arise when there is
a difference in what is expected between each other.
Sometimes the new ministry grows and expects to
become a separate ministry while the host church
expects for it to always be a “ministry” of the local
church, other times the ministry wants to be a
ministry and the mother church wants it to “leave
home” in either case resentment and hostility can
develop. All of this needs to be addressed before
you start.

Another problem that may arise is “what to do with

finances? . If every income goes to the “host
church”, every expense should come out from
the “host church” including a salary for the
“ministry” leader. If the ministry is allowed to
keep the income they generate, the host church
should still be able to help financially until the
ministry is self supporting. Remember it takes
more time before an ethnic ministry can be self
supporting than it would a normal Anglo
congregation.

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If there is a problem, you should be careful on how
you approach the ethnic leader, many
misunderstandings happen because of cultural
differences and some expressions, or words could
be offensive in some cultures.

After all of this has been done, what is the next

step?

After all of this has been done, plan to have a

commissioning service were the Anglo congregation
will have an opportunity of meeting the ethnic pastor
or leader. Make it a special occasion where a sense
of unity is reflected.
This is a wonderful opportunity for the Anglo pastor
to show his support for this new ministry. Tell the
Anglo congregation why this ministry has been
started (show the need) let them feel a sense of
accomplishment in having this new ministry in their
facilities. Encourage them to fellowship and to see
this as an opportunity to reach out to the community,
provide for the propagation of the Gospel of Jesus,
and for the strengthening of the local congregation.

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Combined activities should be coordinated and done
frequently. If there anything that needs to be done
with respect to repairs or remodeling, include the
new ministry in your plans. Combined services
should be programmed sporadically, if this is the
case, participation should be encouraged from both
ministries. Do not expect integration immediately,
there might always be resistance from both groups,
but trust and mutual respect will grow eventually.
Remember that the reason why you saw the need to
start the ministry was to reach out to the ethnic
group.

Never make the ethnic group feel that they are

strangers or intruders in your facilities, after all,
remember it is not your church or facilities, they
belong to God. You are just the steward of God’s
ministry. The Anglo church should be constantly
informed of any progress in the new ministry. Both
ministries should feel the importance of what they
are doing. Both ministries should work together as a
team, and both must keep the feeling of mutual
ownership of the accomplishments of the other. In
other words, it is not we and they; it is all of us doing
what we can to reach out to others.

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Be open and ready to do adjustments if necessary.
Every ministry is different and as it grows problems
and new opportunities will arise. Be ready to modify
the strategy of ministry according to the need. If your
heart is right, God will guide you to do the right thing.

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