by Ray Galea

The most neglected and yet fruitful area of cross-cultural ministry is preaching the gospel to second generation wogs. However, I’m open-minded enough to include second generation ‘anythings’, such as Australian-born Chinese.
What do I mean by ‘second generation’? I realise that no one defines the term in exactly the same way. By second generation, I mean those people who were born in Australia but whose parents come from another country, or who came to Australia at a young age.
It has more to do with a mindset than when your parents immigrated. The second generation essentially lives in the overlap of two cultures. It’s the experience of operating in both your parents’ culture and Aussie culture and often not feeling at home in either. It’s a group that doesn’t appear to be distinctive. From the outside, they’re treated as if they would fit into any church that loves the truth and speaks the truth in love.
Historically, whenever anyone spoke of cross-cultural ministry within Sydney Diocese it was mostly in terms of first generation work. Funding was directed toward ministries that were aimed at ethnic groups whose first language was not English.
With few exceptions, there has been a blind spot on what is both a larger and I would say a more fruitful group to evangelise – the second generation. Remember, for every two parents whose first language is not English, there are usually five of their children who speak English and are slightly more open to the good news of the Lord Jesus.
I understand why this group was missed. They often have Aussie accents, and don’t appear that much different except for having a more natural tan.

Am I making too much of the differences? Here is one story that illustrates why I think we need to be deliberately pouring time and resources into second generation ethnic work.
His name is Sarkis. He is part Armenian and part Assyrian. He joined my ministry, which targets second generation wogs, in the early 90s. Born again, enthusiastic and desiring to see his wife converted, Sarkis traveled 40 minutes to our church each Sunday night. After a couple of years and to relieve the burden on his wife, he decided to move to a local Anglican church.
Two years later, Sarkis popped up at one of our meetings and asked if he could rejoin our ministry. I asked him if there was any problem with his church, fearing he might have had a falling out. He assured me there was no problem. He praised the minister and he loved his Bible study leader, but then he said, “Ray, I feel like you understand me.”
What he meant was that we have a lot more shared assumptions. There were the silly things, like growing up in homes that has plastic on the carpet, and there were the big things of living in the overlap of two cultures.
It wasn’t his language that stopped him from feeling connected. His English was first class, and he said ‘mate’ more than any other person I know. On the outside it looked like there would be no reason why he would not fit in, but he simply felt more connected with a group that was like his.
Sarkis has been a Christian for ten years and I think he would now have less trouble fitting in. He has matured as a Christian, to the point where the differences matter less and less. But my point is this: it’s easy to overlook the real differences of second generation ethnics and simply assume they would (or should) naturally fit in to an Aussie-dominated church. Most need a ministry that allows them less hurdles to hear the gospel. What we need are more second generation, wog-friendly churches.

The Rev Ray Galea is rector of St Alban’s Anglican Church Rooty Hill Multicultural Bible Ministry (MBM).