Mark DeYmaz is pastor of Mosaic Church in Little Rock, AR and author of Building a Healthy Multi-ethnic Church: Mandate, Commitments and Practices of a Diverse Congregation.

Why did you write this book? The growing fascination with multi-ethnic churches must not be focused on racial reconciliation. Rather, it must be focused on reconciling men and women to Jesus Christ and, consequently, on reconciling local communities of faith to the pattern of the New Testament local church--a church in which diverse people worshipped God together as one so that the world would know God's love and believe. What are some of the elements needed to establish an ethnically diverse church? A sound theology is foundational to the ethnic and economic integration of the local church. Beyond this, the book describes seven core commitments required to build a healthy multi-ethnic church. For instance, apart from a commitment to Take Intentional Steps (commitment #2), a multi-ethnic church cannot otherwise be achieved. Intentionality is the middle ground between quota and wishful thinking.

Likewise, the Pursuit of Cross-cultural Competence (commitment #5) moves us beyond ourselves toward a deeper understanding of life from another's perspective. To the degree that we commit ourselves to becoming inclusive in all aspects of our lives, ministry and outreach, we can expect to build a healthy multi-ethnic church.

What happens when a church is intentional? If asked, people in many, if not most, homogeneous churches would sincerely state that they would welcome diversity. They might say something like, "We welcome anyone to become a part of our church," or "We would love to have more diversity in our church and have been praying recently that others would get involved." In other words, these well-meaning people are not doing anything intentionally to turn diverse others away; however, they are not doing anything intentionally to draw them in either. What we should realize is that while such statements are sincere, they do not accurately reflect the real sentiment below the surface. I am not questioning hearts--just the fact that such statements have not been fully thought through. When we dig deeper, what we find is that these folks really mean that diverse people are welcome to join "their" churches as long as they embrace the majority culture and do not try to bring another culture (namely, their own) with them.

In other words, most local church leaders (and members too for that matter) are glad for diverse individuals to get involved "as long as they like our music, our preaching style, and our environment." The resulting message being sent, whether directly or indirectly, is that "you might feel more comfortable in another church down the street."

We should take intentional steps to draw others in, and not only to accept or assimilate them into our local fellowships but to go one step further. We must learn to accommodate them. With this in mind, it is not so much our task to reach out and embrace other cultures as it is to look within our own hearts and churches in order to prepare to receive others who are somehow different from us. Who is the book for and why should they read it? Primarily, the book is aimed at vocational and volunteer lay leaders, i.e., local church planters, reformers (those desiring to reform congregations in decline around the multi-ethnic vision) and transformers (those desiring to lead healthy, but otherwise homogeneous churches toward becoming multi-ethnic at some point in the future). The book should be read for its clear and concise presentation of the biblical mandate and practical applications upon which to build a healthy multi-ethnic church.

Mosaic Church of Central Arkansas (www.mosaicchurch.net) is a multi-ethnic and economically diverse church where significant percentages of black and white Americans, together with men and women from more than 30 nations, currently worship God together as one.

Mark DeYmaz, a former member of Little Rock's Racial and Cultural Diversity Commission and past chair of the city's Faith Alliance, is co-founder of the Mosaix Global Network (www.mosaix.info), an organization dedicated to enlisting and equipping leaders in the development of multi-ethnic churches across America and beyond. To read more of Mark's reflections on the multi-ethnic local church, visit his blog at www.markdeymaz.com.

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