5 Current Trends In Multi-Ethnic Ministry by Oneya Okuwobi

In the Negev desert, shepherds’ flocks are structured in a particular way. The sheep are out front in a tight bunch. Behind the sheep, is the shepherd, leading them with her voice. Pulling up the rear are goats. The goats are never together, preferring to run here and there, eating everything in sight. As Jesus told us, sheep follow the shepherd’s voice; in this, they differ from the goats. One gift of following the shepherd– you will be in radical unity with the other sheep.

This impulse towards unity is driving more churches to become multiethnic. After all, Jesus prayed in John 17 that our unity would lead others to know Him. In 1998, fewer than 7% of congregations in the US were multiethnic. That number has more than doubled. A number of other aspects have also changed along with that growth.  Here are five trends I’m seeing in multiethnic ministry.

1. New Ways to Target

For those under the age of 5, people of color already exceed whites. Realizing this, pastors ignore racial and ethnic diversity to their peril. As a result, more church planters are eschewing a white, suburban target demographic and asking what would it look like to plant a healthy multiethnic church. This approach is showing fruit. Churches were ten times more segregated than neighborhoods in 1998; today, they are only four times more segregated than neighborhoods.

2. Coaching and Training

When I came to my first multiethnic church in 2004, it felt like we were building the plane while it was in the air! Now, conferences, books, and trainings on the multiethnic church are more readily available. Instead of repeating the mistakes of the past, pastors are hiring coaches and consultants who can walk them through a research-based approach to multiethnic church.   

3. Recapturing the Founders’ Vision

The Founding Fathers of racial reciliation, John Perkins, Tom Skinner, and Samuel Hines, among others, advocated a specific vision of united church.  Yancey described it as requiring the following:

1. 1. Primary relationships across race must be developed;
   2. Social structures of inequality must be recognized and resisted together by Christians of all backgrounds;
   3. Whites must repent of the personal, historical, and social sins; and
   4. Blacks and other Christians of color must forgive, individually and corporately.

As the number of multiethnic churches began to increase around the year  2000, most of the focus was put on building cross-race relationships and personal repentance.  There is a growing recognition that coming together in the same building, without addressing societal issues that keep us apart, is not sustainable. As such, many multiethnic churches are redoubling their focus to capture all the elements of reconciliation.

4. Holistic Approach to Unity

For years, scriptures such as Galatian 3:28 have been used in multiethnic churches to promote the idea that because the body is “neither Jew nor Greek” neither should our churches be segregated.  Now, more multiethnic churches are using the skills they developed in dealing with race and ethnicity to tackle class (neither slave nor free) and gender (nor is there male and female). This is a recognition that Jesus isn’t building two churches, but one with everyone included.

5. Racial and Ethnic Diversity in Leadership

A multiethnic church requires leaders of all nations.  Historically, multiethnic churches have been led by white senior pastors. This is changing. In 1998, Black Clergy led only 4% of multiracial congregations; today they lead 17%. This shift in leadership reflects the need to exercise permission-giving leadership with persons from all backgrounds, mentoring and encouraging them toward their full potential.

An increasing number of churches are listening to the voice of the shepherd to build multiethnic churches.  Such congregations of love and radical unity reflect the future of Revelation 5:9 and 7:9. Are you hearing the call?

Oneya Fennell Okuwobi is a Ph.D. candidate in Sociology studying race and religion at The Ohio State University. Oneya’s research interrogates how diverse organizations impact racial inequality. Along with her husband, Oladele, Oneya is founding elder of 21st Century Church, a church plant in Cincinnati, OH. She is co-author of Multiethnic Conversations: An Eight-Week Journey toward Unity in Your Church. It is the first personal devotional and small group study on multiethnic life and church designed for people in the pews. You can find Oneya @Ookuwobi or Transcendculture.com.