Models for a Multicultural Church
- Church Leadership & Ministry
- Discipleship & Christian Education
- Work, Money & Leadership
- Publisher: Baker Academic (Baker Publishing Group)
- Published: 2026
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Publisher's Description
Practical Guidance for Understanding and Assessing Your Congregation's Multicultural Posture In a world where conversations about diversity are often met with both hope and skepticism, it can be difficult to know how to lead a church in cross-cultural practices that faithfully reflect the kingdom of God in its multiethnicity. From leadership structures to music and preaching styles, cross-cultural ministry postures vary widely and don't always reflect local demographics. Kenneth Nehrbass and Eunice Hong identify five key motives that shape how a congregation engages across cultural and ethnic lines: ● Multiculturality --How intentionally does your church represent multiple cultures in its leadership, worship, and everyday community life? ● Oneness --Does your congregation lean toward unity above cultural distinctiveness or does it try to hold space for both? ● Togetherness --Are members genuinely connected across cultural lines--sharing meals, ministries, and friendships--or mostly coexisting? ● Inclusionary Vision --Does your church's stated mission actively aim to reach and include multiple ethnic groups or is diversity assumed rather than pursued? ● Ethnic Diversity --How closely does your congregation's makeup mirror the diversity of the neighborhood around it? These five motives combine in different ways to produce one of seven distinct cross-cultural postures--some blending multiple cultures into shared worship and others centering on one dominant culture, with several variations in between. To help leaders discern where their own church falls, the authors introduce the Cross-Cultural Posture Assessment Tool, a research-based instrument built from their study of real congregations that helps congregations discern their current approach. Importantly, they argue that no single posture is inherently better than another; the approach should fit the church's calling, context, and constituency. Each chapter includes reflection questions, recommended reading, and practical tools, along with callout boxes, charts, and images. With a foreword by Derwin L. Gray, this book translates research and real-world insight into practical guidance for anyone leading--or hoping to lead--a church toward faithful cross-cultural ministry.
Endorsements (4)
“Multicultural churches are a gift from God, yet they can be complex and even feel overwhelming at times. How can life together be done in such contexts? This book helps to answer this question. In Models for a Multicultural Church, Nehrbass and Hong brilliantly focus on postures: ways of being that allow for healthy, vibrant, diverse congregations. Because every church's circumstances are different, no single posture is appropriate for all; thus, we learn of a variety of postures that can be employed. This book is a gift for churches, church leaders, and denominations.”
“This book does not settle for a superficial multiethnicity; it advocates for a much deeper and meaningful multiculturalism. This goes beyond something 'nice' to something absolutely necessary and core to the gospel itself and ever more imperative in this day and age of political battles over the meaning and value of diversity. Multiculturalism is hard work, but these two gentle guides shepherd us with practical tools and theological heft, nuancing the varieties of multiculturalism and parsing which ones are most practical for a church's particular circumstances.”
“This is a timely and hope-filled resource for churches seeking to discern life together in an increasingly interconnected world. Rather than presenting a single idealized model, Nehrbass and Hong introduce readers to a wide range of postures and practices, expanding the imagination of what faithful presence might look like across differing contexts. Particularly compelling is the book's attentiveness to the voices of ordinary people, grounding the conversation not merely in theory but in the lived realities, tensions, surprises, and joys of multicultural church life.”
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