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.