A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of giving the keynote address at the Intercultural Church UK conference, Converge 25, hosted by my dear friend Adam Martin in Harrow, London. The theme, “Discipleship in a Multicultural Church,” set the stage for a rich and timely conversation.
I am always a little surprised—and deeply encouraged—when people show up in large numbers for these discussions, and this conference was no exception. Attendance was excellent, and the diversity in the room was truly inspiring: Africans, Afro-Caribbeans, Asians, Latin Americans, and white British participants, along with a few Europeans and Americans, all gathered to reflect together on what it means to follow Christ across cultures.
My twenty-minute talk—admittedly a brief slot given that I wrote an entire book on this theme, Multicultural Kingdom (2020)—rested on three pillars.
1. The cultural diversity story
In the 1800s alone, nearly twenty million people emigrated from Great Britain
The first pillar sought to ground the discussion in the realities of current migration trends and the anti-migration sentiments that have shaped our UK hemisphere summer. I reminded the audience that in the 1800s alone, nearly twenty million people emigrated from Great Britain to the Americas, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and other parts of the British Empire.
In other words, almost a third of all Europeans who left their continent in the nineteenth century came from Britain. It is for this reason that some have rightly said, “we are here because you came to us first.” This is the enduring legacy of empire: as empires expand, they set in motion vast movements of peoples toward their centers.
According to the 2021 National Census, at least one in five people in the UK is now Black or Brown—a reality that reflects the historical reach of Britain’s global presence. This growing cultural diversity is not an accident of history but part of the continuing story of a world shaped by imperial movement and encounter. And it wont stop any time soon.
2. A theological model
Our prevailing theologies often fail to equip us for genuine engagement with those who are culturally different from us.
Second, I raised a concern that our prevailing theologies often fail to equip us for genuine engagement with those who are culturally different from us. Most of our ecclesiologies are, understandably, rooted in the cultural soil from which they emerge. Yet this cultural embeddedness, while inevitable and, indeed, desirable, can become a limitation when it prevents us from recognizing the theological legitimacy of other cultural expressions of Christian faith.
In practice, we have not yet developed a robust theology of intercultural encounter—one that sees the image and, dare I say, fingerprints of God in other peoples and other cultures and enables our diverse ecclesiologies to exist together and enrich one another in worship.
The task before us, therefore, is to imagine forms of ecclesial life in which difference is not merely tolerated but embraced as a theological gift, revealing more fully the global nature of the body of Christ.
With regard to the question of discipleship in such churches (the central theme of the conference) we have yet to develop mature cross-cultural models that nurture genuine mutual learning, where Western Christians can truly listen to and learn from non-Western sisters and brothers. Much of what passes for multicultural discipleship still operates within inherited frameworks that privilege Western norms and reinforce the racial hierarchies characterizing the Body of Christ.
Some of the “whitest” churches I have encountered have been predominantly black or brown.
In many churches that call themselves “multicultural,” what is often visible is not mutual transformation but the subtle assimilation of others into a dominant culture understood by some to reflect "whiteness". Indeed, some of the “whitest” churches I have encountered have been predominantly black or brown—a striking testimony to how deeply such cultural and theological patterns are internalized.
A genuinely intercultural model of discipleship must be grounded in the very life of the triune God, whose communion is marked by a mutual indwelling in each other (developed in the theological concept of perichoresis) rather than hierarchy. And intercultural model, therefore, must be incarnational, taking seriously the word made flesh in diverse human cultures. Such a theology calls us beyond assimilation toward relational reciprocity—a form of discipleship that mirrors the self-giving love of the Trinity and allows the Church to become, in truth, a communion of difference.
3. An intentional mutuality
Third, I had a thing or two to say about the segregated nature of Christian worship in the country. Racism and nationalism continue to poison our sight, distorting both our theology and our witness. We build boundaries of color, culture, and nation, treating them as social realities when they are, in truth, spiritual obstacles—veils that hide the image of God in other human beings.
The Church has sanctified cultural dominance as a divine mandate.
Too often, the Church has sanctified cultural dominance as a divine mandate, confusing the Great Commission with a project of assimilation and control. The tragic consequence is a mission that excludes, rather than reconciles.
Let us be clear: we cannot make disciples of the nations while worshiping the idol of nationalism. We cannot preach a love that tears down walls while our own hands are busy rebuilding them. The gospel calls us not only to disciple all peoples, but to unlearn the prejudices that privilege one people over another. There is no discipleship without repentance, without turning from the lie that any culture is closer to God.
Difference is a gift to be celebrated, not a problem to be solved.
True mission begins where superiority dies: at the cross. Here, the walls fall. Here, a new humanity emerges, living in communion, not conquest. In this kingdom, difference is a gift to be celebrated, not a problem to be solved. If we are to be a reconciling people, we must first be a reconciled people—a community where every culture reveals the manifold wisdom of God. Until the Church embodies this love across its own divides, our message remains hollow. Our mission must reflect the God who so loved the entire world, without exception.
Originally published on Harvey's Substack, Global Witness Globally Reimagined. Republished with permission.
Dr Harvey Kwiyani is a Malawian missiologist and theologian who has lived, worked and studied in Europe and North America for the past 20 years. He has researched African Christianity and African theology for his PhD, and taught African theology at Liverpool Hope University. Harvey is also founder and executive director of Missio Africanus, a mission organization established in 2014 as a learning community focused on releasing the missional potential of African and other minority ethnic Christians living in the UK. More recently he became African Christianity Programme Lead for CMS (UK) Pioneer Mission Training and in August 2025 his book Decolonizing Mission was published.
