This book is, intended as a resource for provoking dialogue on the nature of leadership in multicultural congregations. When the first edition was, written, more than a decade ago, there was a limited pool of resources available to help practitioners in the field, even less addressing the Canadian context. Dan Sheffield brought a missiologist's perspective to this, discussion that had been shaped by lived experience in North America's multi-ethnic reality and church planting experience in post-apartheid, urban South Africa.
Over the past decade, however, a proliferation of resources on multi-ethnic, intercultural, multi-racial, multicultural churches have entered the marketplace. Again, almost all written through the lens of the American experience, and often, focused on the mechanics of multicultural community, rather than the challenges specific to the leadership task. With another 15 years under his belt, of working with leaders in multi-ethnic congregations across Canada, USA, Mumbai, Manila, Accra, Bangkok and Budapest, Sheffield brings further reflection on the development of intercultural leadership skills.
This second edition of The Multicultural Leader deals with the role of congregational leadership in embedding the multicultural vision as a way of "seeing." The author draws from various disciplines to develop a profile of leaders necessary to initiate and sustain the multicultural congregation. Sheffield's conclusion is that leaders in multi-ethnic congregations must move through a developmental process from an ethnocentric, monocultural perspective to a multi-ethnic, intercultural approach in order to serve as enablers of multicultural congregations.
