by Bob Whitesel PhD, 8/3/15.
There are various models to describe churches that are multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-racial, etc. To evaluate which is best for you, I have created a ‘grid’ that looks at each model through a dozen factors, including evangelism potential and John Perkins’ ‘3Rs.
Attached is the ‘grid” and analysis of the “BOOK ©Whitesel EXCERPT – HEALTHY CHURCH Multicultural Models” from The Healthy Church: Practical Ways to Strengthen a Church’s Heart, (2013, pp. 55-79).
Here is the quote that begins the chapter followed by a selection from that chapter. Download the chapter and the evaluation ‘grid’ by clicking the link at the end.”
5 TYPES OF MULTI-CULTURAL (MOSAIC) CHURCHES
We do not want the westernization of the universal Church. On the other hand we don’t want the ecumenical cooks to throw all the cultural traditions on which they can lay their hands into one bowl and stir them to a hash of indeterminate colour. – John V. Taylor, statesman, Africanist and Bishop of Winchester [i]
To picture the wonderful variety of multicultural congregations I have suggested the following five categories. In each categories I have codified examples from many authors, along with my own case-study research to present a clearer picture of the multicultural options and the plusses and minuses of each approach.
Download the charts depicting the “Five Types of Multi-cultural Churches” here: BOOK EXCERPT MULTICULTURAL MODELS from Whitesel’s Healthy Church
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[i] John V. Taylor, “Cultural Ecumenism,” Church Missionary Society Newsletter, Nov. 1974, p. 3, see also John V. Taylor, The Theological Basis of Interfaith Dialogue, in Faith Meets Faith, ed. Gerald M. Anderson and Thomas F. Stansky, Mission Trends, no. 5 (New York: Paulist Press, 1981), pp. 93ff.
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