Koinonia in a multicultural congregation, particularly when conflicts arise, requires a vital relationship with Jesus Christ and with one another. This thesis addresses preaching as a tool for calling a multicultural congregation into deeper koinonia. The context of this project is a Presbyterian congregation in a diverse and gentrifying neighborhood of Chicago. The church members are African immigrants, African Americans, EuroAmericans, Asian Americans, gay and straight, the chronically mentally ill and those of us whose quirkiness has avoided medical detection. In this thesis I explore how a diverse community of people who are displaced from their cultures and/or families of origin experience the church as "home." Through interviewing active members about their sense of displacement and experience of koinonia; through entering the "strange new world ofthe Bible;" through theological and homiletical reflections on koinonia; and through stories ofour life together at Edgewater Presbyterian Church, I invite preachers and pastors to release their own predetermined agendas for the multicultural church in order to make space for God to create spiritual home for all people.
