In this book, Efrem Smith seeks to provide a blueprint for how to develop and sustain a multi-ethnic Christian community that will connect theology, practical ministry models, and real stories of people wrestling with what it means to be church of the Bible today in an ever-increasingly multi-ethnic world that is polarized by class, politics, and race. It differs from Mark DeYmaz' LN book in that it is less programmatic. In addition, it: (1) starts with Jesus as one who was both Jewish and multi-ethnic; this will be used to develop a theology of multi-ethnic and missional leadership. (2) presents reconciliation as a core spiritual discipline of Christian formation in a multi-ethnic and missional church. (3) will be written to a broad audience but come from the experiences of an emerging African-American leader who planted and led a multi-ethnic church of close to 1,000 and now leads a denominational region committed to ethnic, multi-ethnic, and missional churches. (4) will also look at engaging urban and multi-ethnic subcultures such as hip hop culture and its impact on the American culture as a whole from a missional standpoint. (5) will bridge multi-ethnic church development, reconciliation theology, missional church development, and Christian community development.
