A multicultural church avoids intracultural leadership

Bob Whitesel Aug. 2, 2025

my saved content

VIEW AS
A PDF

Adobe

A doctoral student of mine brought up a problem almost every church faces when he said their church's outreach focuses on Gen Z & Millennials (ages 13-28 and 29-44), while neglecting the preceding generations (ages 45 and above).

But he noted that those 45 years and above comprise 60-70% of the population. This raises the question: How can outreach models innovate to accommodate future generational shifts without marginalizing existing generations?"

Reaching a new culture always begs the question, "What do we do with the previous culture?"

I have written several books about different models to keep the older generations (sometimes called the "status quo") in a church while reaching out to younger generations.

Here are the three strategies ranked from marginal to best:

Tactic 1: One-culture churches (marginal)
The most common tactic is to get rid of the old culture and focus everyone toward the new culture. This happens when GenZ/Millennials push out the Boomers and Gen X. The result is largely a youthful church, with a church primarily of GenZ/Millennials.

However, this has several negatives, not the least of which is that the younger cultures learn the tactic of pushing out other cultures that don't worship, look, or behave like them. Then one day, they may also be pushed out by a new, emerging youth culture. Aging churches may be reborn, but eventually will decline again. This is because generational gaps are not bridged, but rather just ignored and swept under the rug.

Tactic 2: Intracultural* leadership (better)
The second most popular option is to organize around multiple cultures, giving them each some separation. The separation is often accomplished by having different church locations, different times, or different venues. The caveat is that there is some cross-cultural pollination, but not a lot. In these churches, leadership decisions are usually retained by the dominant (usually older) culture. Intracultural describes this environment, where leadership decisions occur primarily within one culture.

For example, the older members may control most of the committees and make most of the leadership decisions. One church I coached promoted that it offered seven different cultural subcongregations as part of its megachurch. When I conducted a congregational analysis, I found that most people could only name four of the seven culturally distinct congregations. And not surprisingly, most of the sub-congregations felt that they were overlooked and did not have sufficient say in how the church was run.

Tactic 3: Intercultural** leadership (best)
The best option is to have multiple congregations, but share most of the organizational leadership duties together. This would mean sharing the important committees/boards such as the budget, future planning, worship planning, Christian education, etc. To do this successfully requires "intercultural leadership" (i.e., leadership that proportionally involves multiple cultures) in leadership boards and committees.

Churches often resist the tactic because they like the idea of others joining the church, but they don't like the idea of others making decisions on the board with them. But intercultural leadership must be undertaken in order to work more closely while we integrate and reconcile different cultures.

*Intracultural leadership describes an environment where leadership decisions occur primarily within one culture.
**Intercultural leadership describes leadership that realistically involves multiple cultures.

my saved content

VIEW AS
A PDF

Bob Whitesel (D.Min., Ph.D.) is a foresight coach, professor, and award-winning author of 14 books. For over 30 years, he has guided leaders and churches to pivot and engage what’s next. He holds two earned doctorates from Fuller Theological Seminary and teaches on leadership foresight, church health, and organizational change. His website is www.ChurchForesight.com. Learn More »

• 5 church communication resolutions (by Mark MacDonald)
• Eight unforced errors churches make (by Thom Rainer)
• Do you speak ‘guest’? Learning to speak community lingo (by Mark MacDonald)
• What is a leadership coach? Unlocking the secrets to transformational leadership (by Christian Muntean)

Free eBook

Success Unlocked: The Transformative Power of Questions

This isn’t just another leadership book—it’s your invitation to discover how Christ-centered questions can transform the way you lead and live. Packed with real stories and timeless wisdom, it shows you how to grow your influence, deepen your faith, and lead with the same life-changing impact Jesus did.

Download Now