Hybrid identity : a missional approach to inclusivity

Abstract

This research deals with the journey towards racial diversity in homogenous white Afrikaans faith communities such as the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC). This study is an account of the researcher’s own discontent with being a minister in an racially homogenous faith community against the backdrop of his own journey of finding an integrated identity in a postapartheid South Africa. It deals with the question of how a church like the DRC can play an intentional role in the formation of racially inclusive communities. The study brings together shifts in missional theology, personal reflections from DRC ministers and contemporary studies on whiteness. Can a homogenous white church become a place that cultivates racial diversity? How can missional theology be a guide on this journey? Are there other voices that echo the feeling of the researcher? The study looks towards a missional imaginary centered around the Trinity and the Incarnation as a field map for racial diversity in the church. This is mirrored against contemporary studies on white identity in a postapartheid South Africa. Out of this conversation the researcher argues for a creative discovery of hybrid identities within white faith communities. Missional exercises such as listening to the stories of strangers, cross cultural pilgrimages and eating together in strange places can assist communities on this journey.