Embracing diversity.

This is the fourth episode from our Proximity Conference series. Harvey Kwiyani, a Malawian living in Liverpool and working for Church Mission Society, talks to Abi about cultural diversity in the UK church. 25% of the population in England and Wales are people of colour, but do we have a truly a multicultural church? Harvey reflects on the phrase “island of strangers” and calls for intentional inclusion of diverse cultures in our churches.

Connect with Harvey: Website harveykwiyani.substack.com
Books mentioned: Decolonising Mission by Harvey Kwiyani

Episode quotes:

“There are many Christians in this country from around the world, but yet we don’t get together. So, yes I think we could at the moment be an island of strangers. That leaves us all lacking something that we bring for one another. The body of Christ, and Christ has only one body, is made up of every nation and every tribe, every variation, that’s what God sent Jesus to do, to make disciples in all nations.“

“Jesus, through the Spirit, is already at work wherever we are, right? He calls us to discern where he is at work and join in and make his presence more visible. If we are doing this in a colonial way we will want to try and ‘conquer’, make these people become more like us. If they receive Christ, if they become followers of Christ, then they have to begin to behave like us and that’s exactly the wrong way of doing mission. Jesus can be followed by anybody in any culture, in any place in the world and that’s what Jesus wants. So, lets go in and explore what Jesus is doing here, what is the Spirit of God doing here, and then plug in there without trying to transform people so they can be something they are not.”