Multicultural and Missional
Why Is It So Challenging?
Welcome to “Global Witness, Globally Reimagined.” You get a glimpse here of the kind of work that I do both at Church Mission Society and Missio Africanus where I help students of all levels (from unaccredited courses to PhD) explore the theological (and missiological) implications of the rise of World Christianity. In the newsletter, I focus on the subject of global witness in the twenty-first-century context. In these newsletters, I share a thought that has spoken to me in the week, one or two resources that I trust will be helpful to you, and three exciting quotes about mission to give you something to think about as you go through your day. I pray one of these will energise you.
1. Thought I Can’t Shake Off
Over the past few months, I have been in touch with several black and brown friends, leaders in churches and mission agencies, who have been moved on from their positions. The conversations with them have felt like there is an intentional shift away from the diversity commitments that were made five years ago. Yet, their roles are arguably more needed today than ever. As such, I have felt the need to redo the sermon on why we need diversity in our churches and mission agencies.
We are fast approaching a diversity tipping point.
Four years ago, in 2021, we had a national census in the UK. The census took place in the midst of the COVID-19 lockdowns, a time of great uncertainty and social disruption. We only got to learn the outcome of all the hard work a year or so later. It was then that we learned something significant about the changing face of our society: there had been a marked increase in what we refer to as “non-white British people” in the country. In the 2011 census, white British people comprised 80.5% of the population. By 2021, that number had dropped to 74.4%. Other groups saw considerable growth in the same period—‘Other White’ rose from 4.4% to 6.2%, ‘Mixed’ from 2.2% to 2.9%, ‘Asian’ from 7.5% to 9.3%, and ‘Black’ from 3.3% to 4.0%. Essentially, 20 per cent of the country’s population is African, Asian and Latin American. The figure climbs up to 25 per cent when white non-British people are included.
These changes are not just sociological statistics; they have deep and lasting implications for the church in the UK. The increasing ethnic and cultural diversity of the population is mirrored in the Christian community. More and more, churches across the country are becoming multicultural spaces, shaped by different worship traditions, theological perspectives, and cultural expressions of faith. In particular, the growth of African, Caribbean, Asian, Latin American, and Eastern European congregations has brought renewed vitality, spiritual depth, and new ways of doing church that challenge inherited British norms.
Diversity is the best survival strategy, missionally speaking.
This diversity is a gift—but it also poses significant challenges. It requires us to reimagine what unity in Christ looks like in a context where cultural differences are real and deeply felt. It compels the British church to move beyond tokenism or mere inclusion and toward genuine intercultural discipleship, mutual respect, and shared leadership. It calls us to recognise that the face of Christianity in the UK is no longer predominantly white and Western. Instead, it is global, diasporic, and richly diverse—a reflection of the worldwide body of Christ.
As many countries in the West become more diverse, so too must our theology, our sense of mission, and our ecclesiology. The changing demographics invite the church to listen more attentively to voices from the margins, to celebrate different ways of encountering God, and to cultivate communities that reflect the full breadth of God’s kingdom. The census data, in this sense, is not merely a government report—it is a prophetic signpost pointing us toward a new ecclesial reality that is already here, whether we are ready for it or not.
Multicultural worship spaces are no longer optional for us.
Worshipping in multicultural communities reflects the church’s unity in diversity and offers a glimpse of the global body of Christ gathered together. It goes beyond including songs from different cultures to creating worship where all expressions are valued and integrated. This includes diverse languages, musical styles, and worship practices. It challenges congregations to step outside their cultural comfort zones and encounter God through others. Multicultural worship is an act of justice and hospitality, dismantling cultural dominance and affirming that no one culture owns the way to worship. Done well, it deepens community, invites the Spirit’s movement, and reflects God’s inclusive kingdom.
For mission agencies, increasing cultural diversity demands a shift from a Western-centric model to one that reflects a truly global church. Mission is no longer from the West to the rest, but from everywhere to everywhere. Agencies must embrace intercultural leadership, include voices from the Majority World and diaspora communities, and build reciprocal partnerships. Mission training should prioritise cultural humility and collaboration across differences. This shift calls for structures and strategies that reflect the diverse body of Christ and the Spirit’s work in all cultures. Mission agencies must become facilitators of global, inclusive, and mutually enriching expressions of mission.
2. Resources I am Enjoying
Video: Justice Reimagined with Ruth Padilla DeBorst & Matthew Niermann
In this episode of the Lausanne Movement Podcast, Matthew Niermann and Ruth Padilla DeBorst explore the context shifts in global justice including poverty, persecution, women, marginalised, human rights, slavery, and corruption. Dr. Padilla DeBorst challenges the evangelical community to rethink the connection between the Great Commission and justice, emphasising love and the Great Commandment as foundational to the Gospel. She yearns to see peace and justice embraced in the beautiful and broken world we call home.
3. Quotes I am Pondering
The problem is not that missionaries are changing cultures but that they are failing to adapt the naked gospel to different cultures. Often, the gospel has been transported to other countries wrapped with the cumbersome paraphernalia of Western culture. This has not only retarded indigenous expressions of the Christian faith but, at times, it has unnecessarily caused con¬ fusion in and harm to existing social structures. — Pius Wakatama, Independence for the Third World Church: An African's Perspective on Missionary Work. Downer’s Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1976, p. 13-14.
The majority of Protestants have steadily moved away from the view that mission is a responsibility of missionary societies, and not the churches, to the awareness that, since a church without mission is in fact not fulfilling its reason to exist, mission is therefore the reason for the existence of the church. However, this shift has not solved the problem completely because each generation must discover its self-understanding of church. Furthermore, each culture must articulate its own understanding of the Great Commission and God's Kingdom. We agree that "Mission is inherent in the very notion of the Church."! (Gwinyai H. Muzorewa, An African Theology of Mission. Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Mellen Press, 1991, p. 12).
The Christian way of life is in Africa to stay, certainly within the foreseeable future, [and] much of the theological activity in Christian Africa is being done as oral theology ... from the living experiences of Christians. It is theology in the open, from the pulpit, in the marketplace, in the home as people pray or read and discuss the Scriptures... African Christianity cannot wait for written theology to keep pace with it... Academic theology can only come afterwards and examine the features retrospectively in order to understand them. — John Mbiti, Bible and Theology in African Christianity, (Nairobi: OUP, 1986, p. 229).
I pray that you will be faithful to the work God has for you this week.
Thanks so much this so great continue may God continues blessings rest on you
Thank you so much words God bless you