Christian Leadership in Diverse Societies

Introduction

In contemporary society, increased diversity has been experienced as people find it easier to move from one place to another. The result has been increased diversity across the world, something that increases cohesion among people who share the same values but can easily result in conflicts for those people with different values and beliefs. Through the study, it will be possible to examine the current perception of Christian leaders, with a special focus on Kingdom Dynamics Fellowship which focuses on spreading the word of God and uniting people with different cultural backgrounds.

Rationale

The study will play a significant role in analysing the current situation in Christian organizations across the region. Additionally, it will point out the main issues experienced by Christian leaders, as a result of diverse cultures. This will be through an extensive study of the different cultures in the region, and their beliefs that might conflict with other cultures. As a result, it will be possible to create solutions that can work to the members and the leaders, and this will increase cohesion among Christian families.

Research Community

The research paper seeks to address how leaders and members in the Kingdom Dynamic Fellowship centre focus on their problems. Given that the community is largely diverse, the leaders are usually unable to perceive the issues with a diverse cultural view, Many times, they focus on the dominant culture when solving the problem. As a result, Christians from the other culture assume that the dominant culture is favoured and that their needs are not fully addressed by their leaders. This has created an indirect conflict in the church and if not addressed, it can escalate to a bad situation in future. However, leaders are somehow unaware of this situation because they find it normal and easier to focus on a problem using the view of one culture. Additionally, they assume that by focusing on Christian values alone, it will be possible to solve the issues experienced because they are dealing with Christians.

Research Questions

1. Is focusing on the Christian values enough in challenging the conflicts experienced in churches especially between members and leaders?

2. Given that in church we have a mono culture, how can we deal with people from another culture who want to join the church?

3. Is it possible that the cultural attitude of the church promotes the monoculture spirit?

Hypothesis

The contemporary society demands that Christian leaders should adopt a multicultural perception when addressing the challenges experienced in the church.

Literature Review

Various scholars have been seeking to address the issue using different approaches. Strecker (2018), explains that leadership in any ministry plays a crucial role in ensuring that diversity does not bring divisions in the church. Through the study, the author focused on the participants' world from their own perspective and how they lived their lives. The author was focusing on youth leadership and argued that leadership should be focused on identifying and promoting diverse leaders and this way, it will be possible to incorporate a multicultural perspective when dealing with challenges experienced in the ministry.

Perez (2011) notes that leaders, especially Christianity leaders, who are tasked with uniting Christians across the world despite their cultural backgrounds, need to create a perception of challenges in a multicultural orientation. This is usually hard as most leaders usually follow the culture that seems to be dominant in a given area. This, however, can easily result in conflicts in the church, hence working against the Christian teachings.

Tahaafe-Williams, (2013) elucidates that a multicultural ministry can impact processes in a way that it blocks the participation for the minority people in the church. Additionally, in many churches, the minority people usually lack equal opportunities in committees and councils and this further affects their participation. It is therefore important to ensure that there is a multicultural ministry that will be able to address the cultural disparities experienced in the church, something that can only be achieved by commencing from the grassroots.

Methodology

Qualitative design of data collection was incorporated in the study. Notably, interviews were used to collect data from the respondents. The variable in the research was the perception of the church members towards multicultural churches and how they solve their issues. The research will be ethnographic in that, it will focus on the cultural practices of the participants and how it affects their contribution to the church. Notably, the research method enables the researcher to collect data ion behaviour and attitudes of different respondents. The respondents included various leaders and members in the church, where their attitude in conflict resolution was sought. The leaders and members also explained their roles and the cultural diversity of the church. Through the interview, they were asked of possible changes that should be implemented in the church to ensure that there is a multicultural approach in all aspects.

Ethics

Ethics ensures that the research achieves its true intention. By seeking permission to conduct the research, it will be possible to have a checklist of ethics that will ensure that no harm will come to the participants in the research. Notably, there are usually changes in cultural perspectives that are mainly determined by factors outside the Christian ministry. This includes social, political and economic factors. Different cultures respond differently to the issues and it is therefore important to study their behaviours for a long length of time without exposing the participants. Additionally, some members of the church might refrain from giving their true opinion on the issues as they fear it will come out as if they are complaining about the church practices.

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Conclusion and Recommendations

The research found out on the importance of maintaining a culturally neutral environment in the church. Notably, all Christians should be united by the biblical teachings and cultural issues should only come after. It is, however, important to note that culture gives people identity and it is, therefore, important to respect the ethnic beliefs of the Christians as long as they do not compromise the biblical teachings. This can only be achieved by adopting a multicultural leadership system which will, in turn, establish a multicultural approach in dealing with issues experienced in the church. Additionally, leaders need to adopt a flexible attitude when dealing with challenges especially if they are culturally oriented.

References List

Perez, A., 2011. Living into multicultural inclusive ministry. Anglican Theological Review, 93(4), pp.659-667.

Strecker, A., 2018. A practical theological study of multicultural youth work in Pretoria, South Africa (Doctoral dissertation).

Tahaafe-Williams, K., 2013. A multicultural church? Multicultural ministry as a tool for building the multicultural church (Doctoral dissertation, University of Birmingham).