Building a Healthy Multi-ethnic Church: Mandate, Commitments and Practices of a Diverse Congregation (Jossey-Bass Leadership Network Series)

This book makes a very important and challenging contribution to contemporary thinking about church life and health. If heaven is going to be filled with people of diverse ethnicities and languages, shouldn't we be practising for that now? Have most churches nowadays somehow forgotten the lessons learnt by the early church in the book of Acts about welcoming the Gentiles into their congregations? According to DeYmaz, a healthy multi-ethnic church has seven core commitments. These are: embrace dependence; take intentional steps; empower diverse leadership; develop cross-cultural relationships; pursue cross-cultural competence; promote a spirit of inclusion; and mobilise for impact. Many of the larger churches in Melbourne including Syndal Baptist Church have been heading down the multi-ethnic path for some years, with Chinese and other Asian-language congregations; however DeYmaz's preferred model involves fully integrated multi-lingual worship services, rather than separate services in separate languages. When a church makes a deliberate choice to be multi-ethnic, it is definitely not making the easiest available choice. It needs to be ready for plenty of conflict and intercultural misunderstanding. It won't necessarily be the fastest growing church in town, and it might scare away some people. But a multi-ethnic church does seem to be more reflective of God's plan for the church than a mono-ethnic church. Building a Healthy Multi-Ethnic Church 7 Contents 11 About Leadership Network 13 Foreword 15 Preface 17 Acknowledgments 19 Introduction 21 Branching Out 23 Lasting Impact 25 Who We Are 28 Who We Are Not 28 What It’s All About 30 Purpose and Intent 31 Part One: The Biblical Mandate 35 Chapter 1: THE PRAYER OF CHRIST 37 Why Is the Local Church Segregated? 38 What Can Be Learned from John 17? 39 Unity as Confi rmation: Jesus Is the Christ 44 Amer Chami 45 Chapter 2: THE PATTERN AT ANTIOCH 47 Of Nations and Neighbors 47 Peter Sees for Himself 51 The Case for Inclusion 53 Why Large Numbers Believed 54 A New Term for a New People 55 Diverse Leadership for a Diverse People 57 A Church for All People, Then and Now 58 Angelica Rumpler 59 Chapter 3: THE PAULINE MYSTERY 61 Jews and Gentiles in Ephesus 61 The Mystery of Christ Revealed 64 Paul Imprisoned for This Reason 65 The Administration of the Mystery 66 How to Walk as One 68 What First Love Had They Left? 69 Ofelia Lima 71 Part Two: The Seven Core Commitments of a Multi-Ethnic Church 75 Chapter 4: EMBRACE DEPENDENCE 77 I Can’t Wait to See This! 78 There Is No Business Plan 80 Practicing Dependence 82 Danny Kiranja 87 Chapter 5: TAKE INTENTIONAL STEPS 89 Out of Many, One 90 Build It God’s Way and in His Time 91 Make Attitude Adjustments 94 Challenge the Homogeneous-Unit Principle 95 Find a Balance 97 God Will Provide 99 Olga and Omar Cruz 102 Chapter 6: EMPOWER DIVERSE LEADERSHIP 104 A Biblical Model for Today 105 The “Best Man” Does Not Always Look Like You 107 Go the Distance 112 Georgia Mjartan 113 Chapter 7: DEVELOP CROSS-CULTURAL RELATIONSHIPS 115 Getting Beyond Ourselves 117 Walking the Walk 120 Keeping the Ring On 123 Family Matters 124 Ann Chami 126 Chapter 8: PURSUE CROSS-CULTURAL COMPETENCE 128 Lead and Learn 130 Biblical Examples of Competence 133 The Example of Christ 135 Press on to Maturity 137 Martha Garcia and Gonzalo Morales 140 Chapter 9: PROMOTE A SPIRIT OF INCLUSION 142 Inclusion Begins with Worship 143 It’s Not So Much the Food, But the Family That Matters 145 Consider Others More Important than Yourself 146 Do Little Things That Make a Difference 147 Inclusion Is More than Mere Tolerance 149 Raymond 151 Chapter 10: MOBILIZE FOR IMPACT 153 The Multi-Ethnic Church: Our Past and Future 153 Amazing Grace 163 Joy White 164 Part Three: On Planting, Revitalizing, and Transforming 167 Chapter 11: FOR THOSE PLANTING A MULTI-ETHNIC CHURCH 169 Abandoned to His Will 170 Embrace Dependence 170 Take Intentional Steps 172 Empower Diverse Leadership 174 Develop Cross-Cultural Relationships 175 Pursue Cross-Cultural Competence 177 Promote a Spirit of Inclusion 178 Mobilize for Impact 178 Tearing Down the Walls 179 Principles for Planting 181 Chapter 12: FOR THOSE REVITALIZING A DECLINING CHURCH 183 History 184 Personal Preparation 184 Embrace Dependence 186 Take Intentional Steps 187 Empower Diverse Leadership 188 Develop Cross-Cultural Relationships 189 Pursue Cross-Cultural Competency 191 Promote a Spirit of Inclusion 192 Mobilize for Impact 193 Bringing the Mission to Our Doorstep 195 Principles for Revitalizing 196 Chapter 13: FOR THOSE TRANSFORMING A HOMOGENEOUS CHURCH 198 History 199 Embrace Dependence 201 Take Intentional Steps 202 Empower Diverse Leadership 203 Develop Cross-Cultural Relationships 206 Pursue Cross-Cultural Competency 206 Promote a Spirit of Inclusion 208 Mobilize for Impact 210 A Place at Our Table 211 Principles for Transforming 212 A Continuum of Transformation 214 Conclusion 217 Notes 219 About the Author 229 Index 231 Through Personal Stories, Proven Experience And A Thorough Analysis Of The Biblical Text, Building A Healthy Multi-ethnic Church Illustrates Both The Biblical Mandate For The Multi-ethnic Church As Well As The Seven Core Commitments Required To Bring It About. Mark Deymaz, Pastor Of One Of The Most Proven Multi-ethnic Churches In The Country, Writes Both From His Experience And His Extensive Study Of How To Plant, Grow, And Encourage More Ethnically Diverse Churches. He Argues That The Homogenous Unit Principle Will Soon Become Irrelevant And That The Most Effective Way To Spread The Gospel In An Increasingly Diverse World Is Through Strong And Vital Multi-ethnic Churches. The Prayer Of Christ -- The Pattern At Antioch -- The Pauline Mystery -- Embrace Dependence -- Take Intentional Steps -- Empower Diverse Leadership -- Develop Cross-cultural Relationships -- Pursue Cross-cultural Competence -- Promote A Spirit Of Inclusion -- Mobilize For Impact -- For Those Planting A Multi-ethnic Church -- For Those Revitalizing A Declining Church -- For Those Transforming A Homogeneous Church Mark Deymaz ; Foreword By George Yancey. A Leadership Network Publication. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 185-194) And Index.