Multicultural vs Mono-Cultural Congregation Retention

Executive summary

The homogeneous unit principle (HUP), popularised by Donald McGavran in 1970, predicted that churches grow fastest when composed of people from the same racial, linguistic, or class background. This principle has been both influential and controversial in church growth theory, with critics arguing it prioritises sociology over biblical mandates for unity. For Adventist congregations in multicultural Australia—where the church is "more multicultural than average Australians" (Avondale, 2024)—the ...