Churches, do you really know your communities?

Who is missing from your church?

Who feels at home in your church? And who doesn’t?

It’s a question at the heart of a new cross-cultural resource from London City Mission, designed to help church leaders build and equip their congregations to reflect their communities.

Across the UK, churches are ministering to increasingly diverse communities. Yet many congregations remain shaped by unspoken cultural norms that can make it harder for people from different backgrounds to feel like they truly belong.

The challenge is not simply about diversifying; it’s about discipleship.

'The very purpose of the church'

On London City Mission’s Everyday Evangelism podcast, FIEC National Director, John Stevens, observed: “We shouldn’t think that unity and being intercultural is somehow an add-on to the gospel … it’s the very purpose of the church.”

That vision runs throughout Scripture, from God’s promise to bless all nations through Abraham to the heavenly multitude of every tribe, nation and tongue gathered around God’s throne. The question, therefore, is not whether cross-cultural mission matters, but whether our churches are willing to take the next step towards it – no matter how uncomfortable it might feel.

'Everybody will be changed'

Becoming a genuinely cross-cultural church is costly. As Rev. Dr Israel Olofinjana, former Director of the Evangelical Alliance’s One People Commission, commented: “When you move towards an intercultural church … everybody's going to be inconvenienced. Everybody will be changed.”

But isn’t that the point? The New Testament vision of church was never built around personal preference or cultural comfort. It brings together Jew and Gentile, rich and poor, slave and free.

In today’s society, many churches find themselves divided along class lines; social classes also often have their own cultural tendencies that should be considered alongside those that can emerge from ethnic or national differences. London City Mission’s new guide, Growing a Cross-Cultural Church, highlights that more than 81% of practising Christians hold a university degree, compared with around 33% of the wider UK population.

That figure should prompt reflection. If our churches are predominantly attracting and retaining people from particular educational or social backgrounds, what barriers might others be experiencing? As LCM’s Director of Ministries, Jason Roach, often asks: Do we really know our communities?

Welcome

The encouraging news is that change often starts with simple acts of welcome. So perhaps the first step is not a programme, but a prayer: that God would help us see those we currently overlook and give us courage to welcome the stranger among us.

Church leaders can explore London City Mission’s new Cross-Cultural Resource Hub at lcm.org.uk/crosscultural.