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On October 20, 2007, more than 400 Christian leaders from 45* different ethnic and cultural groups and Native American tribes throughout New England gathered at Grace Chapel in Lexington, Mass., for the 2007 Intercultural Leadership Consultation (ILC). The purpose of the Consultation was to foster intercultural relationships and intercultural learning as well as gain a better understanding of what is happening in and through the ethnically diverse church community in New England, all with the aim of strengthening and advancing the Kingdom of God in our region and beyond.

Throughout its history, God has brought people from around the world to Boston, including people from parts of the world where Christianity is growing at rapid rates—most notably the Global South. Through research, EGC has documented that the number of churches in Boston has doubled in the past 35 years. Most of this growth has gone unnoticed because it occurred in immigrant and storefront churches, leading EGC to refer to this growth as “the Quiet Revival.”

The vision of the ILC was to bring Christian leaders together from across New England from many ethno-linguistic groups as well as people working with international groups and in the marketplace, to dialogue and learn from each other, explained Rev. Dr. Gregg Detwiler, Director of Intercultural Ministries at EGC. “The consultation was a unique gathering, because many of these leaders would never naturally relate in their usual circles,” he said. “But the Consultation brought them together to have a very meaningful exchange around issues of common concern.”

Gregg says he is “extremely grateful to God” for enabling the process. “It is so hard to bring people together across racial and ethnic lines, and to do something together on all the different topics, in ways that we are really hearing from one another. There were times when I felt we were not going to be able to do this. More than once we said, ‘If this comes off, we will know the Lord has done it!’”

Now that the ILC is over, the hard work has just begun, Gregg points out. His team is wrestling through what they learned in the whole process, and how that learning will inform what ministries do in the days ahead. “That is the hard work we are in right now. We have gotten much valuable feedback including attendees’ evaluation forms, oral comments, and emails. We are carefully pursuing an appropriate and thorough process to learn what the outcomes were.” EGC’s Intercultural Ministries team hopes to have a report this winter to distribute to all the leaders who participated, and an executive summary that will be sent to all who attended the event, as well as posted on EGC’s website.

by Dana Wade and Steve Daman

[published in Inside EGC, January-February, 2008]

*Among the 45 nations and tribes represented at the ILC: Bangladeshi, Burmese, Cambodian, Chinese, Congolese, Czech, Dominican, Egyptian, Filipino, Ghanaian, Honduran, Indian, Indonesian, Israeli, Japanese, Jordanian, Kenyan, Korean, Liberian, Malawian, Malaysian, Mashpee Wampanoag, Natick Praying Indians, Nigerian, Pakistani, Pocumtuc, Russian, Rwandan, S African, Sri Lankan, Thai, Ugandan…