Where the Nations Meet: The Church in a Multicultural World, By Stephen A. Rhodes

Where the Nations Meet

The Church in a Multicultural World

by Stephen A. Rhodes

Where the Nations Meet
paperback
  • Length: 240 pages
  • Published: May 26, 1998
  • Imprint: IVP
  • Item Code: 1936
  • ISBN: 9780830819362

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Ride the subway or a bus in New York, London, Los Angeles, or any number of other cities around the country or around the world, and you will be impressed by a cacophony of languages, a crazy quilt of skin colors and a ceaseless array of cultural histories. Excitingly and sometimes confusingly, this is the world the church now serves.

Pastor Stephen Rhodes, in whose congregation thirty-two nationalities gather weekly, fervently believes Christians should embrace the varied cultures that now surround us. In Where the Nations Meet he sets forth a biblical, ministry-tested pastoral theology of multiethnic ministry. He shows how God's creation was always intended to be multicultural, how the church is called to evangelize, serve and include all ethnicities, how the church can bring healing to increasing conflict in a world of so much difference, and much more.

Peppered his prose with inspiring and challenging stories from multicultural congregations, Rhodes not only provides a theological basis for multicultural ministry but also suggests how such ministry can be successfully conducted in all churches. He offers a valuable guide for all pastors and laypersons who want their church to be a place of unbounded celebration where the nations meet.

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Introduction: What Does This Mean?

1. With Their Own Languages, Families Nations
God's intention for creation has always been multicultural

2. To Bless the Nations
A multicultural church is a fulfillment of God's promise to bless all the nations

3. Just Give Them Jesus
A multicultural church is under the lordship of Jesus Christ

4. Be My Witnesses
A multicultural church is empowered by the Holy Spirit

5. Choosing Life
A multicultural church accepts God's gift of being "born again"

6. No Partiality
A multicultural church affirms cultural identity

7. The Alien Among You
A multicultural church is a contrast community

8. Someone to Guide Me
A multicultural church emphasizes evangelical wholeness

9. Ambassadors for Christ
A multicultural church is both conflictual and conciliatory

10. By the Rivers of Babylon
A multicultural church is a community of perseverance

11. Into the Fiery Furnace
A multicultural church is composed of God's pilgrim people

12. Every Knee Shall Bow and Tongue Confess
A multicultural church is eschatological

Notes

Bibliography

Subject Index

Scripture Index

More
Rhodes, pastor of Culmore United Methodist Church in Falls Church, Virginia, was named Distinguished Evangelist of the United Methodist Church for 1997. He is nationally recognized as a leader in multicultural ministries, and he has served in various capacities with the United Methodist Conference Board of Global Ministries.