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<\/a><\/p>\nI am looking forward to participating in the Mosaix 2013 Multi-ethnic Church Conference<\/a> November 5 \u2013 6.\u00a0 A thousand people will be coming together in Long Beach, California to interact with one another on the subject of the multi-ethnic church from various perspectives in service to Christ.<\/p>\n My plenary talk will be \u201cWe Shall Overcome<\/a>\u201d\u00a0and\u00a0I will be presenting a workshop<\/a> called \u201cOwning the Pond Together.\u201d Here I will claim that\u00a0\u201c<\/strong>Community transformation involves redistribution of relational need, responsibility, and resources. This workshop will address race and class tensions bound up with the myth of scarcity that impact churches negatively today, and how to get beyond this for Kingdom impact in the communities we serve.\u201d I will be developing further themes that first appeared in my book, Consuming Jesus<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Here are some words of commendation from earlier endorsements I wrote for other\u00a0conference presenters\u2019\u00a0works. Can\u2019t wait to hear them speak! Derek Chinn\u2019s 1 + 1 = 1: Creating a Multiracial Church from Single Race Congregations<\/em><\/a>:<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t need to be a math wizard to understand 1 + 1 =<\/em> 1 by [Derek] Chinn . . . Based on biblical wisdom and practical advice gleaned from years of experience in leading a multiracial congregation, this timely and strategic book helps lead the way in resolving church growth and racial problems and puzzles for the sake of church transformation through the gospel of reconciliation.\u201d \u201cIn\u00a0Disunity in Christ: Uncovering the Hidden Forces That Keep Us Apart<\/em>\u00a0(InterVarsity Press), [Christena] Cleveland helps readers view people of diverse cultural backgrounds as God\u2019s gifts, not thorns in the flesh. She provides invaluable insights, practical recommendations, and tools to help the Christian community identify and address the dynamics that fracture Christ\u2019s body\u2026 My hope, ultimately, is that\u00a0Disunity in Christ<\/em>\u00a0will create new momentum toward fulfilling Jesus\u2019 prayer for unity amongst his followers. Those involved in building and supporting multiethnic Christian communities will be moved by Cleveland\u2019s stories, perspectives, and gracious spirit. Her book will, I hope, help us resolve generational, economic, political, and theological differences\u2014and teach us to see that, truly, we are better off together.\u201d (Read my full review<\/a> of this book at Christianity Today<\/em>). \u201cEthnic Blends<\/em> is a prophetic, Christ-centered road map that offers practical, pastoral wisdom on how to form multi-ethnic congregations. Mark DeYmaz and Harry Li are redemptive voices crying out in a wilderness of homogeneity for the church in all its ethnic diversity to be one as God is one. I thank God for their biblical vision and mission and firmly believe that Christ\u2019s church will bear more authentic witness to the world that God has sent his Son the more we heed the authors\u2019 multi-ethnic church claims.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis book isn\u2019t politically correct. It\u2019s biblically correct. The church is\u00a0God\u2019s\u00a0New\u00a0Humanity in union with Christ Jesus. This driving conviction has a profound bearing on how we see ourselves and how we approach diversity in the body of Christ. We need to come to terms with the radical call to unity envisioned by\u00a0God\u2019s breaking down dividing walls between people through Christ\u2019s atoning work and our new life in the Spirit. Drawing from the whole counsel of God,\u00a0my friend\u00a0Dr. David Stevens has provided an invaluable resource to the church in responding to the New Testament mandate for ecclesial existence:\u00a0We are to experience and model\u00a0our\u00a0New\u00a0Humanity identity\u00a0in Christ rather than\u00a0revert\u00a0to our old ways bound up with various forms of societal separation. In God\u2019s\u00a0New\u00a0Humanity\u2014the church\u2014there are no ethnic, economic,\u00a0and related divisions. So, be one as God is one.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n These and other conference participants will be drawing our attention to what God is doing in cultivating a church that is truly multi-ethnic. This is no passing fad. It is more than a two-day conference in Long Beach. Along with a host of practitioners and academics\u00a0coming\u00a0together this coming week, our hope is that\u00a0the multi-ethnic church will be\u00a0coming soon to places near you \u2013 established by Christ and served and led by Christians of diverse ethnicities \u2013\u00a0people just like you.<\/p>\n This piece is cross-posted at\u00a0The Institute for the Theology of Culture: New Wine, New Wineskins<\/a> and at\u00a0The Christian Post<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The multi-ethnic church movement is not some passing fad. It is more than a two-day conference. It is here to stay. I am looking forward to participating in the Mosaix 2013 Multi-ethnic Church Conference November 5 \u2013 6.\u00a0 A thousand people will be coming together in Long Beach, California to interact with one another on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1284,"featured_media":1695,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/307\/2013\/11\/CJ-logo.jpg\" "\\"CJ"){kind=logo}
<\/a>The multi-ethnic church movement is not some passing fad. It is more than a two-day conference. It is here to stay.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/uncommongodcommongood\/files\/2013\/11\/let-justice-roll-down-192x300.jpg\" "\\"let-justice-roll-down\\"")
<\/a>I am excited to hear and engage friends, John M. Perkins, author of Let Justice Roll Down<\/em><\/a><\/strong>, and ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/307\/2013\/11\/61NI5tM4qsL-199x300.jpg\" "\\"61NI5tM4qsL\\"")
<\/a>Soong-Chan Rah, author of The Next Evangelicalism: Freeing the Church from Western Cultural Captivity<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/em>, among many others.<\/p>\n
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/307\/2013\/11\/1-1-1-creating-multiracial-church-from-single-derek-chinn-paperback-cover-art-198x300.jpg\" "\\"1-1-1-creating-multiracial-church-from-single-derek-chinn-paperback-cover-art\\"")
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\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/307\/2013\/11\/0844036_w185.png\" "\\"0844036_w185\\"")
<\/a>Christena Cleveland\u2019s Disunity in Christ: Uncovering the Hidden Forces That Keep Us Apart<\/em>\u00a0<\/a><\/strong>:<\/p>\n
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/307\/2013\/11\/EB_Final_Cover-199x300.jpg\" "\\"EB_Final_Cover\\"")
<\/a>Mark DeYmaz\u2019s Ethnic Blends: Mixing Diversity into Your Local Church<\/em><\/a>, co-authored with Harry Li<\/strong>:<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/307\/2013\/11\/9781610974660_p0_v1_s260x420-199x300.jpg\" "\\"9781610974660_p0_v1_s260x420\\"")
<\/a>David Stevens\u2019 God\u2019s New Humanity: A Biblical Theology of Multiethnicity for the Church<\/em><\/a>:<\/strong><\/p>\n