The future of the American church is multiethnic. It’s not merely the rapid shift in demographics, in which there are currently more Latinos than whites in California, or that the Asian American population grew by 81% in the last 20 years, or that by 2044 there will be no majority ethnicity in the US. It’s that in order to demonstrate the Gospel’s credibility to a culture increasingly torn apart by racial division, we need churches planted or co-planted by diverse leaders who are modeling gospel unity, genuine sharing of power, deep commitment to racial justice, and missional and evangelistic impact in their communities.
At Pentecost the Holy Spirit ushered in this multiethnic, multilingual era, and the church in Antioch (Acts 13) modeled multiracial and missional leadership, culminating in the sending of Paul and Barnabas as apostolic church planters. So we too are called to identify, encourage, equip, and support a growing number of minority church planters, as well as train majority culture planters to become culturally competent and aware of their influence. Together we anticipate and participate in the heavenly vision of every nation, tribe, people, and language worshiping our Lord.
The future of the Church is multiethnic. So how can we equip church planters and network leaders to reach the most diverse, secular generation in US history? This series of interviews gives church planters the encouragement and tools to start and multiply multiracial churches, ethnic specific churches, as well as immigrant churches. It also equips network leaders to recruit, train, and creatively fund planters of color, who often feel unseen and unsupported to lead these new churches. These speakers were chosen specifically for their real-world expertise in leading their networks to reflect the diversity of our country.
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Our multiethnic church planting conversation begins with the leaders of the Multiethnic Collaborative, a group of church planting leaders of color seeking to raise up the next generation of diverse church planters.
In this episode, Dhati Lewis from MyBlvd joins Len Tang and Corey Lee as they discuss the specific kind of training that diverse, urban missionaries and planters need to reach their communities.
Join us as Len Tang and Corey Lee have a conversation with Heidy Tandy, Senior Director of Discovery at Stadia. Heidy shares what Stadia has learned from revamping their church planter assessment process to include diverse planters and church planting models.
In this episode, we welcome Soong-Chan Rah as he shares his insights on how multiethnic church plants can draw out the distinctive gifts and strengths of the congregation. Learn how multiethnic church plants can integrate the reconciliation and justice of Jesus with a winsome evangelistic witness.
In this conversation, Troy Evans shares that, in a time of diminishing congregational giving, multiethnic planters need strong partnerships to develop multiple streams of income. We’ll explore examples of life-giving partnerships and emerging funding models to launch financially healthy churches, including intentional bi-vocational options.
In this episode, sociologist Korie Little shares her research and practical insights into how planters of color can heal and overcome the racial challenges to lead healthy multiethnic churches.
For this episode, join our conversation with missiologist Daniel Yang as he shares how the world is coming to us through immigration. We also talk about the tremendous need and value of planting immigrant churches, as well as ethnic specific churches, to reach all the nations.
Len Tang has served as the Director of the Church Planting Initiative at Fuller Seminary since 2016. He is the convener of the Multiethnic Church Planting Collaborative, a group of church planting leaders who gather and equip diverse church planting leaders. He is called to the intersection of church planting and racial justice. Len planted a church in Portland, Oregon, and also planted and currently pastors Missio Community Church in Pasadena, CA. He has been married to Amy for 28 years and they have three young adult boys.
