Missions Resources - Bibliography
One New People: Models for Developing a Multiethnic Church
Authors: Ortiz, Manuel
ISBN: 0-8308-1882-0
Publisher: Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1996
Type of cover: Soft Cover
Summary:
To know God from only one cultural perspective is to limit him.
So says Manuel Ortiz in One New People: Models for developing a multiethnic church. Written by a Puerto Rican pastor raised in a diverse Manhattan community, One New People is a book that uses careful case studies to call the church back to a reconciliation modeled after Christ’s example.
The multiethnic church, Ortiz argues, is one that allows God’s people to dig into the Word more deeply, to cut through haughtiness and to depend on one another. While hiding from multi-ethnicity, we, like Jonah, are preventing the work of the kingdom in a changing world.
In response to this problem, Ortiz does not simply provide one straightforward answer. “We need new and effective models,” he writes, “but it is wrong for us to assume that a model that works for one church will also work for us.” Particular situations, neighborhoods and histories require equal attention when figuring how to draw a church toward multi-ethnicity.
Not all of the existing models are healthy, however. Ortiz provides the difference in definition between a church that is multiethnic and one that is multi-congregational. According to Ortiz’s studies, a church building that houses separate ethnic services does little to draw communities together; “it is not enough to have a smattering of one culture or another.”
A total integration of people groups in the church should be motivated by obedience to Scripture, Ortiz clarifies, rather than inclusiveness. The author includes other appropriate cautions: while the idea of the multiethnic church can be the most exciting, it is one of the hardest to both embrace and maintain. Readers are warned that due to the complications aspects like multilingualism will cause, “all is not rosy in multiculturalism. Danger lurks about and comes in unexpected clothing, usually growth and success.”
Though not the most entertaining read, One New People fulfils its purpose by getting down to business with a matter that grows more pertinent every day. This guide intended for churches applies to the individual as well. Ortiz’s book changes the individual reader’s attitude toward other cultures and provides a lesson on the actual steps and effort that racial reconciliation requires.
Complete with discussion questions and transition how-to’s, One New People is a training book that belongs in the hands of every church leader.
by Shannon Whiting
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