Opportunities for multicultural evangelism

Australia is becoming increasingly diverse in ethnicity, language and religion. According to the 2006 census, 45 percent of the national population were either born overseas or had at least one parent born overseas. Of those born overseas, 32.3 percent came from either the United Kingdom or New Zealand. The remaining 67.7 percent came mainly from non-Western nations such as China (4.7 percent), Italy (4.5 percent), Vietnam (3.6 percent), India (3.3 percent), and the Philippines (2.7 percent). 3,208,900 people – 16.2 percent of the population – spoke a language other than English at home. Between the 2001 and 2006 censuses, non-Christian religions demonstrated the following increases:

• Buddhism increased by 17 percent to 2.1 percent of the total population;
• Islam increased 20.9 percent to 1.7 percent;
• Hinduism increased 55.2 percent to 0.7 per cent.

The Australian government is committed to a policy of multiculturalism, which “recognises, accepts, respects and celebrates cultural diversity”, within the bounds of “mutual civic obligations”. Christianity is not necessarily theocratic, and flourishes under a broadly tolerant secular government. Ethnic church planting makes the most of these social opportunities.
Data culled from the foll. govt publications, all available from the Dept. of Immigration & Citizenship: Population Flows: Immigration aspects, 2007–08 edition; Multicultural Australia: United In Diversity; Australian Multiculturalism for a New Century: Towards Inclusiveness