Technicolor: inspiring your church to embrace multicultural ministry

You would think that a book titled Technicolor: inspiring your church to embrace multicultural ministry would have incredible relevance to those of us in this hugely multicultural phenomenon that is South Florida. The story of first Baptist Church, Duluth, Georgia is fascinating as the pastor, Mark Hearn, explores the pilgrimage of this Atlanta suburb church into multicultural ministry. The need for it was obvious. The expression of multiculturalism is admirable. I could go into detail.

Here’s the rub: the issues that First Baptist, Duluth confronts are not the issues of South Florida. In Duluth, an old-line, white dominant population is being changed by the large number of immigrant communities that are making Atlanta their home.  There is a sense of controversy about how the sociological change impacts the life of that church. South Florida is not experiencing the beginnings of multiculturalism. We are multicultural! There is no controversy related to the cultures in the formerly dominant white churches, because they are no longer dominantly white.  (Interestingly enough, the churches among us in Gulf Stream Baptist Association that will have to deal with a multicultural South Florida are those of other dominant racial makeups: our Hispanic, Haitian, Caribbean and African-American churches).

Again, Technicolor: inspiring your church to embrace multicultural ministry is an interesting read, but lacks much of relevance to our work here in South Florida.

Technicolor: inspiring your church to embrace multicultural ministry by Mark Hearn, Nashville: B and H Publishing, 2017.