Polyphonic God

Revd Dr Israel Oluwole Olofinjana is Director of the One People Commission of the Evangelical Alliance.Revd Dr David Wise is an accredited Baptist minister. He is a professional mentor and coach for Christian leaders and a speaker in local church and conference contexts.Dr Usha Reifsnider is Co-Regional Director of Lausanne Europe, as well as a cross cultural consultant, cultural anthropologist and missiologist.

Several features make Polyphonic God a significant contribution to the literature on ecclesial futures. First, the book is unapologetically grounded in the British context, with particular attention to the interplay between Black Majority Churches, historic denominations, and new intercultural congregations. This rootedness allows for thick description: the reader encounters specific places, leaders, and congregations rather than abstract models. At the same time, many of the dynamics explored – diaspora leadership, “reverse mission”, contested narratives of national identity – will resonate far beyond the UK.Second, the volume weaves together voices from different social locations and disciplines. Academics, denominational leaders, and local practitioners all contribute chapters, modelling the very polyphony it commends. This plurality is not merely about representation; it shapes the theological method. Missiology, political theology, practical theology, and leadership studies are brought into conversation in ways that resist easy systematization but mirror the complexity of lived intercultural church.Third, the editors insist that racial justice is not an optional “add-on” to intercultural ecclesiology but integral to it. Particularly in Part III, the book challenges any notion of “diverse” churches that leave underlying power structures untouched. The insistence that intercultural congregations must attend to histories of colonialism, whiteness, and structural racism gives the volume a prophetic edge.Polyphonic God is a rich and provocative resource for those concerned with the shape of the church in an era of migration, fragmentation, and renewed struggles for racial justice. It will be of particular value to practitioners and leaders who are already engaged in intercultural ministry and seeking theological language for what they intuitively sense on the ground, as well as to scholars exploring the intersections of ecclesiology, mission, and race. For readers of Ecclesial Futures, the volume offers both a window into emerging intercultural church movements in Britain and an invitation to imagine how a “polyphonic” vision of God and church might reconfigure their own contexts.

• List of Contributors viiIntroduction: Intercultural Church Conversations in Britain 1Part 1 Intercultural Theology: Foundational Thought and Perspectives1 Politics of Multiculturalism, Theology of Interculturality: Towards an Intercultural Ecclesiology 15Israel Oluwole Olofinjana2 The Metaphor of Tapestry: A Theological Framing for Inter-ethnic Congregations 37David Wise3 You Are Home! The Family Metaphor and Its Impact on Understanding Church and Intercultural Communities in Ephesians 50Oscar JiménezPart 2 Intercultural Churches and Practices: Ecclesiology Re-imagined4 ‘Re-tuning’ Worship: Biblical Principles for a Culturally Diverse Age 73Ian Collinge5 Intercultural Church as a Direction of Travel: Exploring the Journey of a Korean Diaspora Church (KDC) 94MiJa Wi6 Feeling Welcome and Accepted: A Case Study of Greenford Baptist Church 111David Wise7 Among the Nations, for the Nations: Championing Diversity in the Church in Edinburgh 130Màiri MacPherson8 What Even Is My Culture? Exploring Identity in an Intercultural Church 147Jessie Tang9 Laying Firm Foundations for a Healthy Intercultural Church 159Adam and Karina Martin10 New Northern Irish! Intercultural Developments in Northern Ireland 173Nathaniel JenningsPart 3 Intercultural Justice: Racial Justice and Reconciliation11 Just Leadership: Developing Radical Empathy to Break Systemic Strongholds 191Kate Coleman12 Intercultural Life Together: Racial Justice as Love Lived Out in Worship, Fellowship and Mission 215Sharon Prentis 13 Intercultural Holiness and Justice: Challenge, Cross, Community and Celebration 234Mohan Seevaratnam14 Intercultural Churches as Catalysts for Racial Justice 252Dominic De Souza and Catherine De Souza15 Antiracist Mission in Postcolonial Britain 266Usha Reifsnider