Genuine Racial and Cultural Diversity (with Yannick Christos-Wahab)

How can churches that are culturally diverse, or that wish to be, foster genuine diversity and not tokenism?

In this episode of In:Dependence, Phil Topham (FIEC Executive Director) is joined by Yannick Christos-Wahab (pastor at Stockwell Baptist Church) to talk about his experience as a black pastor in FIEC and how churches with a desire for diversity can be genuinely diverse.

00:00 - Introduction
00:52 - Yannick's British-Nigerian background
03:24 - Growing up in British culture
07:53 - Growing up in a Nigerian church
10:44 - The journey to ministry at Stockwell Baptist Church
14:07 - What is it like to be a black pastor in FIEC?
16:04 - Avoiding missteps and welcoming well
20:54 - How to genuinely grow diversity
27:32 - Should we talk about white and black churches?
32:15 - Lean into the experience of other cultures

You can watch a video of this episode on the FIEC website.

About In:Dependence: In:Dependence is FIEC’s official podcast, where you’ll hear teaching and resources for church leaders from the FIEC Ministry Team and guests from FIEC churches and partners. You can access video podcasts by subscribing to the FIEC YouTube channel.

About FIEC: We are a fellowship of Independent churches with members of the family across England, Scotland and Wales. Our mission is to see those Independent churches working together with a big vision: to reach Britain for Christ. Being part of FIEC links you to a growing number of Independent evangelical churches and there are now more than 50,000 people who are part of churches affiliated to FIEC.

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