Q&A with Mark DeYmaz, Author of Building a Healthy Multi-ethnic Church
Q. What is the big idea of your book?
A. Local churches should increasingly embrace ethnic and economic diversity for the sake of the Gospel.
Q. What prompted you to write your book?
A. An increasingly diverse and cynical society is no longer finding credible the message of God's love for all people as preached from segregated pulpits and pews. For too long segregation along the lines of race and class has been promoted as a strategy for planting, growing and developing local churches. While pragmatic, this strategy is not biblical and unintentionally undermines the very Gospel we preach.
Q. What is the most challenging concept in your book?
A. That the multi-ethnic church is not optional, but biblically mandated in the New Testament for the sake of the Gospel: envisioned by Christ (John 17:20-23); described by Luke (Acts 11:19-27); prescribed by Paul (Ephesians).
Q. How does your book improve leaders' lives?
A. By challenging and correcting long-held, erroneous, assumptions concerning the segregation of the local church, this book equips and empowers leaders to be more biblical and relevant in the 21st century for the sake of the Gospel.
Q. What's your favorite sentence/quote from your book?
A. "Jesus taught us to pray, 'Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.' So if the kingdom of heaven is not segregated, then why on earth is the local church?"
Q. If leaders only have time to read one chapter of your book right now, which one would you recommend and why?
A. Chapter 3: The Pauline Mystery. This chapter will completely rework the reader's understanding of Paul's letter to the Ephesians in an exegetically sound way.
Q. Step out of your role as author -- if you were recommending your book to a friend, what would you tell them?
A. This book will help you understand and articulate what it is you've been feeling for a long time: that diverse people ought to be able to walk, work, and worship God together as one in and through the local church.