Mission starts here: A diverse church

1. Mission isn’t something special we do somewhere else

   “Mission is something that we do wherever God has located us.” 
Harvey challenged us to move away from the way mission was thought about 50 years ago – Westerners going to poverty stricken communities. He describes this as “decolonising mission”. You can read more about this subject in Harvey’s new book Decolonizing Mission.

2. Real revivals require people to pray

   Revivals don’t just happen, someone is praying, as Harvey said, “it’s the prayers that make the heavens open up”. 
In the UK for the past 10-20 years the serious growth in the UK church has been through migrant-led churches. Harvey argued that it’s these people who are praying for revival. “I’ve never seen a migrant church that doesn’t have a night vigil at least once a month…. A few weeks ago, I was hanging out with vicars and bishops of the Church of England, and I dared ask them a question, when was the last time we were in a night vigil?”

3. The make-up of the church is changing

   25% of the population in England and Wales are people with Black and Brown heritage. In 1991 this figure was 6%. As Harvey said, “one in every four of us is an African, an Asian, a Latin American, and yet our church movements don’t reflect that at all.” 
Today Africa has 300 million more Christians than Europe and we need to change our view on what church looks like. “There was a time when people thought Christianity was a white man’s religion. Christianity is increasingly a religion of Black and Brown people, it’s no longer a Western religion.”

4. The UK church must welcome migrant Christians

   We need to reflect on the culture of welcome in our churches, are people from all cultural backgrounds made to feel like they belong in our churches, whatever the dominant culture may be.
58% of all migrants who came to the UK in 2023 are Christians. Harvey reminded us that migrants  are bringing gifts with them: theological, ministerial and missional gifts, “they come really willing, really ready to share them with the people around them.” 
Is the church ready to accept these gifts?

5. It’s a two way process – different cultures and backgrounds can help each other

   “God has given Africa something that Europe needs just as much as God has given Europe something that Africa needs….we should come together, bringing our gifts on the one hand, but with an open hand on the other, so we can receive whatever gifts the other person brings to us.”
We need to lay down any arrogant views that our way of doing church is better! God does not give us everything we need, as Harvey said, “He gives you a portion, and then he gives the remainder to your neighbours and friends around you, so that you can engage in mutual exchange.”

6. Multicultural church is better than intercultural church

   In an intercultural church everybody leaves their culture at the door and tries to form a new church culture. But this normally means that the dominant cultures wins out.  Harvey argues for a multicultural church, “this is critical, because you want the Malawian to be Malawian, to contribute as a Malawian, but he cannot contribute as a Malawian if he has been forced to leave everything about being a Malawian [behind] and be assimilated into the into the larger group.”
Can we make space for people to bring the things that are beautifully different to church and to know that they are valued?

7. We must open our lives to each other

   Harvey related a recent conversation with a Nigerian bishop who has lived in the UK for 20 years and not once been invited into a white person’s home. He challenged us to look at our friendships and key relationships: do the people we surround ourselves with look, sound and behave just like us? This also extends to leadership, are people from backgrounds that are different to the dominant culture welcome to join our church leadership, and to influence and change it?

This blog has been written by Abi Thomas, taken from a seminar at Proximity Conference 2025, delivered by Harvey Kwiyani.