This past week I had the privilege of being on a pastor’s
panel on the subject of multi-ethnic churches at Transformation Church. I was there to learn, to absorb. The servant leadership in the room was hard
to capture in words. These were leaders who
loved God’s church and wanted it to reflect the diversity that will be present
in heaven. These were leaders who
believed the power of the Gospel to reconcile all people groups to God. These were leaders willing to sacrifice their
own agenda to be a part of that story.
I wonder how compelling would it be if more local churches
became multi-ethnic? And I’m not talking
about a veneer of diversity either. You
know, the kind you see on TV commercials.
The united colors of Benetton. It
looks good on an ad, but you know it’s all staged. The families you see are not doing life
together. Their kids are not playing
with each other on the weekends.
The church has the unique ability to go beyond the veneer of
diversity and truly become God’s people of all nations. In heaven, God’s people will be “…from every tribe and language and people
and nation” (Rev. 5:9). How compelling
would the church be if we actually looked like this on the earth?
But it’s not
going to be easy. We are all steeped in
stereotypes and prejudices. We all have
cultural baggage that we want to protect.
It will mean a radical dying of self for other people. It will mean loving people who don’t look
like us, sound like us, or even hold the same priorities. But when Jesus died, he tore the veil in
two. This means that there is no longer
divisions among God’s people based on ethnicity, class, social status, gender
or any other demographic. His death
brought total reconciliation.
The question is,
what are you going to do about it?
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