Abstract
Using a qualitative study of interviews with ministers who work in ethnically diverse British Methodist congregations, I explore the practices that encourage a sense of belonging together as one body in Christ and how these influence a congregation’s ethos. Analysing how the respondents see their own role in this work I argue that the key challenge is the enabling of power-sharing, to which ministers contribute but which they cannot determine alone. I conclude that the decisive factor is the willingness of the members to allow the whole body to be changed by those who are ‘other’ and ‘different’.