MCEC staff have started cooking soup together once a month. One person chooses a recipe, and then those of us who work at 50 Kent, sign up for different ingredients. We come with the ingredients ready to throw into the soup pot. The soup cooks for a couple hours while we work, and is ready for us to sit down together to eat it. 

The image of a pot of soup seemed to capture key aspects of being intercultural: communication, cooperation, and collaboration.

As part of the Intercultural Leadership course in the Doctor of Ministry in Leadership program at AMBS, I was encouraged to develop a metaphor for what it means to be an intercultural church. Metaphors can help us see familiar realities in new ways, even if they eventually break down when pushed too far. 

The image of a pot of soup seemed to capture key aspects of being intercultural: communication, cooperation, and collaboration. A good soup requires ingredients to interact so fully that they become something new. They do not simply sit side by side in the pot, nor does one ingredient overpower the others and absorb them into itself. Liquid is also essential, helping the ingredients soften and blend together. 

The ingredients do not lose their identity or essence, but they do lose some of their original form as they are chopped, cooked, and perhaps even pureed. Preparing soup takes time, and some soups taste even better the next day, after the ingredients have had more opportunity to absorb the flavours of the broth and one another. 

The church is made up of many members—ingredients—who all add flavour, colour, and texture to who the church is and what it looks like.

The possibilities for soup are nearly endless, shaped by both imagination and the ingredients available. The bible presents us with equally diverse images of the church: salt of the earth (Matt. 5:13), vine branches (John 15), new creation (2 Cor. 5:17), God’s building (1 Cor. 3:9), a holy nation (1 Peter 2:9), and the body of Christ (Eph. 1:22-23), to name a few. 

Like the pot of soup, how we think about the church varies depending on the gifts, experiences and perspectives of the members and the context. The church is made up of many members—ingredients—who all add flavour, colour, and texture to who the church is and what it looks like. There are many different congregations, as numerous as the continents, countries, and communities there are, each contributing something different to God’s mission, and yet Ephesians reminds us that these churches are all members of the household of God. (2:19) 

We, the church, are the ingredients and the soup. As soup, we become “the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:19) to share with the world the love of Christ and embody the reconciliation that God has accomplished in Christ. This metaphor helps us think about who we are called to be as the church —nourishing, flavourful food for the world. 

The essential liquid needed to make the church’s witness possible, is Christ, who is our peace, breaking down the walls of division and hostility that keep us apart. As Christ moves through the church and its members, we take on Christ’s flavour and are transformed into people who “with all humility, gentleness, and patience, bear with one another in love.” (Eph. 4:2)  

Just as no one ingredient in a soup becomes another ingredient—carrots remain carrots, and potatoes remain potatoes—so no one member or congregation becomes another member or congregation.

If Christ is the broth that joins us together, so every ingredient is contributing the essence of who they are to “promote the body’s growth in building itself up in love” (Eph. 4:16), then who is God in this metaphor, and where is the Holy Spirit? Perhaps God is the chef, “who created all things” (Eph. 3:9) and “from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name.” (Eph 3:15) As chef, God is lovingly choosing the ingredients to add to the soup, bringing together those who were once far off, so that through Christ, they are all part of the same soup—God’s household. (Eph. 2:19) 

Perhaps the Holy Spirit is the heat that is needed to transform the ingredients from their previous form into a form that helps them to “walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which they have been called” (Eph 4:1), and to discern with all “humility and gentleness…making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (Eph. 4:2-3) The Holy Spirit is the power that helps us live as transformed people, with renewed minds, created in God’s likeness. (Eph 4:23-24) 

This metaphor asks questions of us: is what we are offering nutritious for others, so that they will mature into “the full stature of Christ” (Eph. 4:13)? Does one ingredient overpower another? Is there enough salt? Is something missing, and if so, what might it be? Does the flavour of Christ “fill all in all” (Eph. 1:23)? 

Of course, this metaphor provokes questions from us about what we do with ingredients we wouldn’t choose or whose flavour or texture we do not like. Does every ingredient belong in the same soup? Can we have separate pots of soup for different taste preferences? What if one kind of soup really doesn’t agree with us? Can we begin a new kind of soup with our own ingredients? 

Our work as the church is to allow ourselves to be used by God, flavoured by Christ, and transformed by the Holy Spirit.

Just as no one ingredient in a soup becomes another ingredient—carrots remain carrots, and potatoes remain potatoes—so no one member or congregation becomes another member or congregation. The essence of each ingredient remains intact; we don’t give up who we are. The beauty of soup is that each ingredient adds to the whole to make something new. The more diverse the ingredients, the more complex the flavour. So too, in the church. Diversity is dynamic and brings beauty. 

While there is no standard recipe for the soup, life in this new form has guidelines (Eph. 4:25-32): speak the truth to each other; don’t let anger simmer and turn to rage; find work that provides for those in need; if it is necessary to speak words of correction, only say what is helpful when it is needed for building up the community so that it benefits those who hear what you say; put away bitterness, losing your temper, anger, shouting, slander and every other evil; be kind, compassionate, and forgiving to each another as God in Christ has forgiven you. In short, imitate God and follow the example of Christ, living your life with love, so that you smell sweet to God. (Eph 5:1-2) 

Our work as the church is to allow ourselves to be used by God, flavoured by Christ, and transformed by the Holy Spirit into people whose presence testifies that “there is one body and one Spirit, just as we were called to the one hope of our calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.” (Eph. 4:4-5) We can see every congregation as its own pot of soup, with the individual members the ingredients in the soup. Each congregation contributes to MCEC’s larger pot of soup, adding diversity and complexity to the work God is doing in and through us. 

As a regional church, we value each congregation and the flavour they add to the soup of our shared mission. As we continue to live into our identity as a regional church, transformed by the love of God, inspired by the hope we find in Jesus, and called to action by the power of the Holy Spirit, we are grateful for the ingredients God keeps adding to our soup, changing the flavour of who we are together. As we dwell together, we take on the flavour of Christ and each other, and trust the Holy Spirit to keep the heat just right, so that the essence of who we are remains, when the rate of transformation is different for each of us. 

Just as MCEC staff bring ingredients to contribute to a nutritious and flavourful soup, each of our 106 congregations is an essential ingredient in MCEC's pot of soup. Together, we offer our diverse gifts, experiences, and perspectives, trusting God to stir them into something richer and more nourishing than any of us could create alone. May we continue to be shaped by Christ into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.