The 'Wiki Encyclopedia of CityReaching' is collaboratively sponsored by the 'Center For Urban Innovation'... "Producing Innovative Multicultural CityReachers."

Big Question:  "Do our churches reflect the diverse, multicultural composition of the New Testament Church?" 
And:  "If not, can we really expect the Holy Spirit to break out in great evangelistic & compassionate works here in our city?"

Christ consistently taught about a harmonized kingdom, welcoming little children, widows, orphans, poor & poor-in-spirit, Jew & gentile.  The Holy Spirit led the biblical authors to reveal a heavenly multicultural eternity together.  Moreover on earth, Christ clearly indicated that our unity would be a testimony to our testimony.  And He consummately taught us how to pray daily, re such things as: "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven".

So for any of us or any of our Indianapolis churches to pray the Lord's Prayer,
and yet do NOTHING about it... is nothing short of hypocrisy.

"It is appalling that the most segregated hour of Christian America is eleven o'clock on Sunday morning,
the same hour when many are standing to sing:  'In Christ There Is No East Nor West.' " 
~Martin Luther King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story, 1958

Until the Church at Indianapolis more closely approximates kingdom values,
do we REALLY expect to make a dent in the Great Commission here?
If it the multicultural church hasn't happened yet by accident,
do we really think it'll happen by accident in the future?

Intentionality is the key to our future together in Christ!

Measurable Outcomes:  Any Multicultural Churches in Indy?

        (using Emerson's definition = better than 80-20 ethnic mix)

• Crossroads Bible Church 
• Brookside Community Church 
• The Blended Church 
• New Life Community Church 
• Calvary Temple? 
• Lakeview?
• LifeChurchIndy?
• Any 'sister-church' relationships underway?
• Trinity Baptist & ROCC
• Northview Christian Life (Carmel) & Brookside Community Church 

And What's the Intentional Strategy to Effect Change in 'The Church at Indianapolis'?

• Talk to God about it.  And ask our prayer organizations, teams, and known prayer-warriors to pray about this important issue.
• Keep pressing the issue, writing about it, talking about it, pointing people to scripture.
• We're now starting to measure progress, by finding & counting such models. And observing.  Maybe documentary.
• Discover who the local advocates are, and capture video interviews.
• Continue to actively support CCDA efforts in Indy.
• Continue bringing people to the UBcafe each Saturday, demonstrating multicultural hospitality.
• Each of us do what we can do, at the grass-roots level, to be a Christ-like model.
• Intentionally seek out and connect with international churches here in our city.
• Earnestly grapple with heart issues, as we the Church discuss 'immigration'.
• Ask for other great ideas -- feel free to add more actionable items below.

Connecting Resourceful Leaders (feel free to add your name):

• Dr. Charles Ware, Crossroads Bible College
• Hispanic Leaders here in Indy
• Marvin & Ielsa Calderon
• Ed Garcia
• Norm Wilson, IWU 
• Jose Lopez 
• Diane Cordell, BSA  
• Burmese Pastors, Churches, & Ministry Organizations in Indy
• Pastor Hre Mang, Falum Church
• Mr. Elaisa Vahnie, BACI-Indy  
• Justin Thang, videographer, YouTube  
•  

Resource Links:

• Research by Michael Emerson, etal.  His recent books are becoming classics on the issue... "Divided By Faith"... and... "United By Faith".  Here's the resulting April 2005 cover-article from Christianity Today:  "All Churches Should Be Multiracial"  [Yet only 5% of Christian churches are].
• Online Organizational Assessment Tool - by Chad Brennan, Endorsed by Dr. Michael Emerson 
• Perhaps this issue begs the larger question... What IS the Model Church taught in scripture?  [We'll attempt to grapple with that issue here in the wiki.]
• Race, Culture, and The Church ... the signature course at Crossroads Bible College. 
• EthnicAmerica.com - Diaspora ministry 
• Andrew Sears:  "Cost of Online Segregation"
• Adrian Warnock posts Tobe Koleoso mp3
• 'Out of Ur'... "Choosing Multi-ethnic Over Mega"
• Eph 3.
• International People Groups In Indy
• MultiEthnic Resources 
• Join The New Culture group on Facebook? 

Thoughts anyone?  We'll be building this page shortly -- please add your links, thoughts, ideas... or even more questions.

• Do any of you read something in the New Testament leading you to any other conclusions?
• Some other division in the Church other than just Geo-Church... city by city... down to house-by-house granularity?
• Here's an awesome, recent CNN article... "Why Many American Prefer Their Sundays Segregated".
• Wanna start making a difference at the speed of Light?  Begin MULTICULTURAL Facebook groups... eg. UBcafe.
• In Indianapolis, we'd like to measure the number of MULTICULTURAL churches... and work toward progress in that metric.  See the Indy Scorecard.
• Here in Indy, our CCDA Affiliates may well comprise the core leaders toward the multicultural Church.
• Here's a Multicultural Self-Assessment Tool ...affiliated with Chad Brennan, Columbus OH

  MULTICULTURAL tags