A guest post from Cory Willson, Assistant Professor of Missiology and Missional Ministry and Director of the Institute for Global Church Planting and Renewal

I grew up in a rural town tucked away in gold country in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. There were many wonderful things about the environment in which I was raised, but cultural diversity was not one of them. To this day the physical landscape of my hometown still dwells deep within me so that I feel mysteriously comforted when I am near mountains.

My love for cultural diversity was an acquired taste that did not happen until I made my way to college and then later to graduate school in Los Angeles. It was here that my separation from the great outdoors of northern California was more than compensated for by the rich diversity of peoples, cultures and religions from around the world. It was in this context of encountering people from different cultures that I was also confronted with my own ethnocentrism. It is impossible to be aware of your culturally embedded ways of living and seeing the world when you are not aware that you have a culture! Over time, personal relationships developed with patient friends from places like Iran, Armenia, Ethiopia, Mexico and China. As this happened I gradually became aware of my own cultural identity and I came to appreciate and love the differences that made my friends who they are.

A few years ago a good friend of mine who serves as a pastor in Tempe, Arizona shared with me a simple practice that helps people in his church—people like me who grew up in cultural and ethnic enclaves—to take some first steps towards appreciating the beauty of another culture. Pastor Jim has developed what he calls a Peace Feast, an intentional gathering of friends that seeks to first financially bless a restaurant locally owned by those who are not a part of the majority culture in that area, and second, to give people a simple and positive experience of other cultures. (You can read more about Jim’s discussion of the Peace Feast here.)

In my first few weeks here at Calvin Seminary I sought ways to help the seminary community engage with the immigrant communities right here in West Michigan. This past December, I had the wonderful opportunity to join a Muslim friend of mine and a dozen Calvin Seminary students and faculty for a rich meal and conversation at Le Kabob. During the meal, a local Muslim man shared with us his story about his family’s immigrant experience coming from Yemen and what it is like for him to be a Muslim here in West Michigan. Given the reports of religious extremism constantly bombarding us from the media and politicians, personal encounters with people from other cultural and religious backgrounds can go a long way in helping us love our neighbors by undermining the “single stories” about other people and groups circulating through our society.

One student who joined us in December reflected on the experience this way: “[T]able fellowship is among the most wonderful and beautiful of human experiences, one especially potent and effective for breaking down barriers between people, whether those barriers be acknowledged or not. Sharing a meal, talking together about family and life and challenges–these are all very human things, and it connects us, shows us how we are more like each other than we initially may have thought.”
Seven students and two faculty members participated in our first Taste of Cultures Club outing at Le Kebab.

We will continue to meet this spring, eagerly anticipating more table fellowship: delicious food, good conversation, connection with our neighbors, and tales of the places and experiences that make us who we are.

Cory Willson is the Jake and Betsy Tuls Assistant Professor of Missiology and Missional Ministry at Calvin Seminary. Together with his wife Monica, he leads the Taste of Cultures Club, which will host more gatherings this spring in the Grand Rapids area.