The Multicultural Challenge to Sydney Anglican Identity
Its Achilles’ Heel—an Interdisciplinary Approach
- History & Biography
- Evangelism & Missions
- Publisher: Pickwick Publications (Wipf and Stock)
- Published: 2026
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Publisher's Description
The creation of a little-known department of cross-cultural ministries in the Anglican Diocese of Sydney (DCCM), 1987-2000, straddles the theological/praxis divide of the diocese in regard to ministry with migrants and refugees. The department is placed in what was one of the largest welfare organizations in Australia, the Sydney Anglican Home Mission Society, later re-branded Anglicare. This work exposes its Achilles’s heel with regards to evangelism and social welfare debates of the period, alongside examining Australia’s social policy of multiculturalism. In what becomes, for the diocese, one of its most turbulent and polarized times in its history, those that are labeled “the purists” are bitterly opposed to the small but extremely influential Australian contingent from the inaugural Lausanne Congress, later becoming a polarized mix. All gloves are off in Sydney’s most acrimonious race for archbishop, 1993. This book is intentionally written using a social sciences interdisciplinary approach, exploring contemporary First World, urban missiology with a view from the grass-roots—through the eyes of the laywoman who founded the DCCM. Yet, the theological/praxis and secular social policy debates continue to this day.
Endorsements (2)
Foreword
“The conclusions of this work are of paramount importance for contemporary research on multiculturalism. The narrative chronicles the nation’s arduous journey toward social equilibrium, intertwined with the gradual acceptance of the value of multiculturalism by a significant religious denomination, the Anglican Church of Australia, Diocese of Sydney.”
“From national enthusiasm welcoming immigrants to divisive ‘whitelash’ and withdrawal into ethnic and social class enclaves, Anglican Bishops struggled to define the church and its mission. The value of this book lies in its nearly exhaustive documentation of the theological debate about Christ’s mission to a lost nation through his church, and perhaps without serious reflection on their own bondage to the cultural biases of their national culture.”
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