LEADERSHIP IN A MULTICULTURAL CONTEXT
22-23 JULY 2014
PRESENTER: REV. RENE POTGIETER
INTRODUCTION.
I am a member of the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) in Beaufort-West, a small Karoo town.
This congregation became a multi-cultural church about 12 years ago due to the changing
population in the suburb where the church is situated. As a child I was part of a
predominantly white congregation that was secured of finance, buildings and pastors. I
thought this is the way all churches function. But this was only an illusion. There is a bigger
picture of the church. And today more than ever the church have to be part of ‘n tremendous
changing world. And we need leaders who are willing to cross boundaries of culture, gender,
race, religion and age.
It is the 21st century. And the church has to face tremendous conflicts as stated in the
Lausanne 111 declaration. “Almost everything about the way we live think and relate to one
another is changing at an accelerating pace. For good or bad we feel the impact of
globalization, the digital revolution, and the changing balance of economic and political power
in the world. Some of the things we face cause us grief and anxiety – global poverty, war,
disease, the ecological crisis and climate change. But one great change in our world is a
cause for rejoicing and that is the growth of the global church of Christ”. With this in mind I
want to talk about Leadership for a church in a changing world. Especially in a multi-cultural
context.
Managing culture-change is a significant skill, since many congregations are faced with the
need to move toward the multi-cultural model just to survive. As congregations learn to deal
with the reality of changing population, it is inevitably that existing mono-cultural
congregations become multi-ethnic or otherwise have tot close their doors. If they change
from a mono to multicultural congregation they have to go through a redefinition of their
identity, vision and goals to begin to function multi-culturally.
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Over the past decade, international and domestic organizations have recognized the critical
need for their leaders to become competent in cross-cultural interactions. Competent
multicultural leaders are essential to an organization’s success in the global market. This is
also true for the church of the 21st century. But what are the requirements for leadership in
such faith communities? Before we answer that, let’s stop for a while and think of:
WHO IS THE LEADER IN A MULTICULTURAL CONGREGATION?
A typical definition of leadership suggests leaders to be people with "the capacity to influence
the thoughts, behaviours and/or feelings of others to achieve a specific goal". The term
"leaders" refers to those persons who have oversight of the policies and practices that
develop and sustain the vision and goals of a local congregation. In a Congregation the term
includes both ordained pastoral leaders and the elected and informal leaders who take on this
responsibility.
In Howard Gardner’s book, Leading Minds: An Anatomy of Leadership, Gardner identifies
three kinds of leaders visionary, ordinary, and innovative. Visionary leaders are rare, only
occasionally making their mark on a community. They are distinguished by their capacity to
envision new possibilities for communities. Gardner identifies figures such as Moses, Jesus,
Mohammed, Gandhi and Mother Teresa. More common, however, are the ordinary leaders
who simply manage the traditional story of their group as effectively as possible. These
leaders do not really challenge the status quo of their community, but empower members
through communicating the identity, values, and institutional goals in such a way that forward
movement continues. Innovative leaders, in contrast to ordinary leaders, take a story that has
been latent in the community and give it new attention or a fresh twist. These leaders
identify stories and themes in a community’s heritage that have been neglected and bring
them to the foreground as a resource for the renewal and transformation of the community’s
life together.
Leaders of multi-cultural faith communities will draw from all three leadership patterns that
Gardner describes. They have to be visionary, ordinary and innovative leaders. This is a
mouth full. This is a big responsibility. Lets narrow it down a little bit and talk specific about
the profile of a leader in a MC context.
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A PROFILE OF EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP FOR THE MULTI-CULTURAL
CONGREGATION
Leaders in multi-cultural congregations will:
KEEP THE VISION ALIVE
We know how important a vision for an organization is. In the church it is just as important
that we know where we are heading to. What is the reason for our church existence? What is
God’s intention for us? Now a very important question for a multi-cultural church is. Whose
vision
of
multi-culturalism
do
we
take?
The
white/privileged
view
or
the
coloured/disempowered view? This question is irrelevant if inter-cultural dialogue take place.
Communication between the different groups is very important. By doing this we can learn
from each other and construct a new vision that includes all. One key to multicultural team
harmony and effectiveness is to create a new vision for the group. Therefore the whole team
works together to develop a vision that reflects the image of God and creates a shalom
community.
This vision should be alive in the congregation. Actually the members of the congregation
must feel it is their vision. The new vision must be powerful enough to sustain the
congregation through the fears experienced in the midst of often radical changes. And
therefore this vision should be bigger than the leaders’ ambition. No “my-vision”. But Our
Vision!!! The leader should actually stand out of the way so God can lead His church. It is not
about the leader. The leader only seeks God’s face so he as leader knows what is God’s will
for His people.
Leadership involves influence, vision, and motivation to bring people together to focus on a
common goal. Cultural differences in multicultural members are a catalyst for conflict and
disagreement. Therefore, a major responsibility of cross-cultural leadership is to help
members coming from different cultural backgrounds have a common vision and to build an
environment of trust.
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LEADERS EMBRACE DIVERSITY
It was Oscar Wilde who first wrote: “Two men looked out from the prison bars. The one
look out and say: “There is only mud”. The other one said: Look at the beautiful stars. In the
multi-cultural environment we must remember that there will be people with us who only see
the mud. There will also be the person who see the stars in difficult situations. Diversity is
described as love across the boundaries between people. A multicultural congregation or
ministry recognizes, embraces, utilizes and celebrates the racial, cultural, generational,
gender, and other diversity represented in the community and the church. The leaders in the
congregation actually honour and promote diversity within the context of the body of Christ.
Multicultural leadership is more than tolerance or the assimilation of minority groups into the
dominant culture of the congregation. Individuals and groups who all form part of the
diversity in the congregation must be accepted, understood, appreciated and allowed to bring
their distinctive or unique gifts and contributions to the bigger body of Christ. Leaders in
multi-cultural congregations know that they continually need to understand more about intercultural dialogue. They know they need to hear the other stories without passing judgement.
They know they need to develop knowledge regarding how different ethnic groups think, act,
and feel in different contexts. To be successful it requires that members of each racial and
cultural group grant the others ‘sufficient respect’ to listen, and trust one another. Train
yourself to treat everyone with great respect.
Therefore leaders in a multicultural context do not embrace titles; they embrace the person
for who he/she is. They see human beings not for the title as managers, factory workers,
maids, guards, servants, but for their worth as a person. We are all the same before God. We
must have a great respect for the person, not because he/she does ‘n certain type of job.
Whenever you can, a leader should always treat all people as special and unique individuals.
In his book, Embracing Diversity: Leadership in Multi-Cultural Congregations, Charles Foster
writes the following: “It is my believe that leaders in multi-cultural congregations need to
reflect an awareness of their role that is rooted in a view of God as one who welcomes all
persons, regardless of their cultural frameworks.” Leaders need to be able to externalize their
own assumptions and ideas and to open their mindset for the ideas en ways of thinking of
the new group in the church.
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People bring their cultural background with them when they participate in multicultural
teams. You have to take time to interact with a person to know the person better. When
people of diverse cultures share information, it is often cultural in nature. Their words and
actions are loaded with cultural meanings built on foundational beliefs and values they have
been taught. Therefore, in order for effective communication and planning each person has
to make an intentional effort to truly understand the other.
LEADERS EMPOWER PEOPLE
Leaders empower people to use their skills and talents for the Kingdom of God. There is no
question to it; you have to invest in people. Team members and leaders need training in skills
that focus on intercultural communication that is effective in building trust, resolving
problems, leading effectively and making decisions within the context. This empowering gives
away power from the "expert" or "core group" to multiple leaders.
In our congregation the leaders was people who did not necessarily performed in school, who
don’t have a higher education diploma, who did not attend leadership workshops. But they
are people who love Jesus Christ and want to be His disciples. So we equipped them over the
years with the skills they thought they needed. They were willing; all they needed was the
tool to do it. We see this principle also in Jesus way of doing things. For three years he
equipped His disciples for their important mission.
DEVISION OF POWER
“They should know who is in charge”. These kind of remarks, power and might and do not
work in a multicultural church environment. As someone once said:”Shout good-bye to
hierarchy”. We as leaders have to learn how to share power. There are so many ways to
think about leadership. But I think for the leader in a multi-cultural context it is not about an
important position above other people. It is more about walking together hand in hand on the
same road.
The multi-cultural congregation, in particular, requires that power be de-centralized, so that
all those sitting around the table are recognized as having a valid voice, equal in value and
worth to the community as a whole. Every person has a role to play in maintaining the health
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of the diverse church community. Ultimately the multi-cultural congregation will rise or fall
based upon the sense of belonging and ownership that each participant experiences. No one
must feel he/she is not part of the church.
This will mean that we change from:

set roles to more flexible roles;

individual responsibility to shared responsibility;

autocratic leadership to co-operational leadership and

power to empowerment.
Therefore you as a leader must change from boss to team mate, colleague and friend
Leaders in multi-cultural congregations must give up their leadership "power" and their
"expert status" in order to develop a spirituality rooted in servanthood. Those who have a
sense of their personal power must come to a place of disempowerment before the cross.
There is no place for a power imbalance at the foot of the cross. Likewise those who lack a
sense of personal power must recognize their empowerment in Christ in light of the
resurrection.
REFLECT THE VALUES OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD.
As a leader your ways of doing must consistently be related to a set of values. This makes a
leader effective and principled. And a Christian leader’s values must be in line with the values
of the Kingdom of God.
What people will admire of such a leader is their soft skills. Their sense of time for other
people, their ability to listen, their courage and honesty and their capacity for empathy. I
once red the following: I have learned that people will forget what you said, people will
forget what you did, but them will never forget how you made them feel. Leaders in a
multi-cultural church context cannot lead the group of people if he/she does not care for
them. Great leaders in a multi-cultural context are servants of those they lead. Real
leaders ask the question: “How can I help you?” One of the very important messages
Jesus gave is in His life. We are here to serve others.
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One other value is listening to each other. Lance Secretan wrote a book Higher ground
Leadership. In this book he writes that leaders must learn to listen to other people. We must
learn to be silent and listen. This silence listening means you listen to understand what the
person says from his point of view. So you can understand what is going on in their hearts,
minds, and circumstances. Then Lance write this important thing: “It is only after we have
listened in this way and weighed what we have learnt against our moral values that we earn
the right to take position that we can stand by and champion as leaders.”
CONCLUSION
The church is in need of leaders who inspire people not through words but by serving other
people. As Dr. Braam Hanekom once said: “True Spiritual leadership is not found in council-
chambers but in the streets where the people are. Isn’t that what Jesus Christ also showed to
us.” People in a multi-cultural church ask for leadership that makes a difference in their lives.
Leaders in multi-cultural context are there to serve and not to build or maintain their own
kingdom.
The church is called to be both a sign and an instrument of the kingdom of God. It's an
instrument in the world through sharing the word of Jesus to a broken and hurting world.
But it's also a sign by witnessing to world. So that people can look to the church and say,
"That's what the kingdom of God looks like."
I want to conclude with the words of a well known Afrikaans gospel singer and writer
Annalise Wiid. She once wrote the following.
A True spiritual leader has tears in his/her eyes
Marrow in his/her bones (murg in sy pype)
Light in his/her heart and
Callus on his/her knees for praying for the people.
I thank you.
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SOURCE MATERIAL
 Foster, C. Embracing Diversity: Leadership in Multi-Cultural Congregations. Alban
Institute Incorporates. 1997.
 Howard G. Leading Minds: An Anatomy of Leadership. Basic Books New York. 2011

Moon, D. Multicultural Teams: Where Culture, Leadership, Decision Making, and
Communication Connect. William Carey International Development Journal. Vol 1,
Issue 3: Summer 2012

Niemandt, N. 2013. Nuwe leiers vir nuwe werklikhede. Vereeniging. CUM Uitgewers.

Van Wyngaard, C. 2012. The language of diversity in reconstructing whiteness in the
Dutch Reformed Church. Paper read at the 2012 meeting of the Transatlantic
Roundtable on Religion and Race. Birckbeck College, University of London. 2012.
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