Planting Churches among the City's Poor - Volume 1

38 • P LANTING C HURCHES AMONG THE C ITY ’ S P OOR : V OLUME 1

Multicultural Congregations

One aspect of the indigenous inner-city congregation is so significant that it deserves special attention in planning. Many missionary church planters work in a mono-cultural, rural village where they create a church that is indigenous to one group of people. However, because city neighborhoods are increasingly multiethnic, urban church planters may work with several different cultural groups, often tightly compressed into one geographic area. As a result, an indigenous inner-city church will have to think seriously about forming a multiethnic congregation. The church of Christ in an area should reflect the neighborhood’s ethnic diversity. Sound theology and insights from the social sciences lead to valuing diversity within church congregations. The apostolic witness presents a picture of the church in which rich and poor, slave and free, and people of varying nationalities worship together in unity (Romans 12:16; Colossians 3:11-16; James 2:1-12). Because this is good theology, it is also sound practice. Studies indicate that differences in a group facilitate moral development and leadership training. 43 These benefits do not come without struggle. The early church was torn by conflicts between Jew and Gentile. The difficulties faced by a multicultural congregation are real. Nonetheless, ample evidence suggests that the church in the city has significant reasons to undertake the challenging task of forming bodies that combine diverse cultural and sub-cultural groupings. A Prophetic Witness to the Kingdom of God The reconciliation present in a multicultural congregation is a miracle of God’s Spirit. In cross-cultural churches, there are opportunities to listen to other cultures, to affirm each one’s place in the kingdom. A church that is open and secure in its own Christian identity is able to encourage the creative expression of constituent cultures in its life and liturgy. If the Gospel burns through racial and cultural barriers, then the presence of many nationalities in the neighborhood church reflects a microcosm of the kingdom. 44

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43 See Terry Cornett and Bob Edwards, “When is a Homogeneous Church Legitimate?”, Evangelical Missions Quarterly , 20, Jan. 1984, 26-27

44 Stockwell, Signs of the Kingdom , p. 99