The Multicultural Leader

This book is intended as a resource for provoking dialogue on the nature of leadership in

multicultural congregations. When the first edition was written, more than a decade ago, there

was a limited pool of resources available to help practitioners in the field, even less addressing

the Canadian context. Dan Sheffield brought a missiologist's perspective to this discussion

that had been shaped by lived experience in North America's multi-ethnic reality and churchplanting

experience in post-apartheid, urban South Africa.


Over the past decade, however, a proliferation of resources on multi-ethnic, intercultural,

multi-racial, multicultural churches have entered the marketplace. Again, almost all written

through the lens of the American experience, and often, focused on the mechanics of

multicultural community, rather than the challenges specific to the leadership task. With

another 15 years under his belt, of working with leaders in multi-ethnic congregations across

Canada, USA, Mumbai, Manila, Accra, Bangkok and Budapest, Sheffield brings further

reflection on the development of intercultural leadership skills.


This second edition of The Multicultural Leader deals with the role of congregational

leadership in embedding the multicultural vision as a way of "seeing." The author draws

from various disciplines to develop a profi le of leaders necessary to initiate and sustain the

multicultural congregation. Sheffield's conclusion is that leaders in multi-ethnic congregations

must move through a developmental process from an ethnocentric, monocultural perspective

to a multi-ethnic, intercultural approach in order to serve as enablers of multicultural

congregations.