Building Christ's Beautifully Diverse Kingdom

Building Christ'sBeautifully Diverse Kingdom

by Michael Broughton

“11am on Sunday morning,” as a widely-circulated saying points out, “is the most segregated hour of the week in America.” While a bit trite, this phrase has an element of truth to it. Even though many would argue that levels of racial diversity and integration in general have progressed over the past several decades, Protestant Christian churches remain some of the most ethnically homogenous communities in American existence. This is not too difficult to notice. Conjure up an image of a typical congregation of any sort—Presbyterian, AME, Pentecostal, Lutheran, nondenominational—and I highly doubt that the population you’re thinking of could be considered racially diverse.

America’s historically unpleasant relationship with race has shaped the segregated church that we see today. In particular, the segregation that exists between black and white Christians is a direct result of slavery, as well as the later legal segregation that prevailed during the Jim Crow era. African

Americans’ experience with Christianity began during the time of slavery, so from the beginning the black church was already on severely unequal terms from its white counterpart. Jim Crow segregation, which lasted from the end of slavery untilthe mid-20th century, prevented most kinds of meaningful interaction between blacks and whites. It quite literally gave blacks and whites different levels of legallyrecognized humanity, and ascribed further inequality to the ways in which black and white communities were able to develop. This naturally spilled over into every aspect of life, including religious faith and practice. The fact that we have “black” and “white” churches at all today is a direct result of the segregated society that America

has historically perpetuated (and in many ways continues to do so).

Since it has been the case for so long, it can be tempting to think that separation between Christians along racial lines is normal or a non-issue. Many of us are at the point where we

The Body of Christ most effectively glorifies God when it reflects the fullness of the ethnic diversity that humanity has been blessed with.

take segregation as a given and can work comfortably within its confines. I, however, believe that racial and ethnic divisions are actually contrary to God’s desire for the Church. The Body of Christ most effectively glorifies God when it reflects the fullness of the ethnic diversity that humanity has been blessed with.

This has eternal significance. The Book of Revelation offers a strikingly colorful picture of the Kingdom of God that will

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reign after Christ’s return. This kingdom is described as containing “a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.” 1 When Jesus returns to restore everything to its full glory, ethnic diversity will play a key role in the beauty of humanity. The ethnic differences between us, rather than being hijacked for segregation or oppression, will instead be an essential part of our restoration and our ability to glorify God as one unified group of believers.

Christians don’t have to wait until Christ’s return, though, to start appreciating racial and ethnic diversity in their daily lives. Since every congregation should strive to be a small-scale reflection of God’s kingdom, it stands to reason that a healthy church should seek to comprise people from all kinds of ethnic backgrounds. The early church was no stranger to racial prejudice, and some of the most fruitful congregations

that we read about in the Book of Acts modeled ethnic diversity effectively. For example, Acts 11 describes the apostle Peter facing criticism from fellow ethnically Jewish believers, because they saw him socializing withnon-Jewish believers. Peter would have sympathized with their prejudice earlier in his career, but since then God had shown him a vision that changed his worldview completely. In this vision, God commanded Peter to “kill and eat” an assortment of animals that, according to Jewish law, were considered unclean. 2 Although he received this imperative directly from God, Peter resisted, on the basis that nothing “common or unclean” had ever entered his mouth. 3 God

The ethnic differences between us, rather than hijacked for segregation or oppression, will instead be an essential part of our restoration and our ability to glorify God as one unified group of believers.

showed Peter, however, that he had no right to reject contact with anything that God had made clean. 4 This idea was to be applied directly to the way that Peter had been discriminatory in his dealings with non-

Jewish believers.

Peter described this vision to the Jewish believers in response to their criticism, and further explained that he had witnessed the Holy Spirit fall on a group of non- Jewish believers just as he had on the Jews at Pentecost. “If… God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ,” Peter reasoned, “who was I that I could stand in God’s way?” 5 God had shown Peter, both supernaturally and via a life experience, that

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similarly fruitful and effective.

I recently had the opportunity to see what efforts toward diversifying our congregations look like in action. Over this past spring break, I was part of a service trip to the John and Vera Mae Perkins Foundation in Jackson, Mississippi. This foundation, started by civil rights leaders John Perkins and his wife Vera Mae, focuses on addressing issues of racial tension and systemic injustice through the lens of the Christian gospel. Part of the Perkins’ mission involves building strong Christhe

body of Christ is a place for all who call upon the name of Jesus, regardless of color or ethnic origin.

Immediately after Peter’s encounter with these Jewish believers, Acts goes on to describe the success of the congregation in Antioch. People from various regions, including both Jews and non-Jews, were present in this church preaching and learning about Jesus. God made the efforts of this congregation particularly fruitful; the text says that “the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number whobelieved turned to the Lord.” 6 What really set this church apart, though, was the seamless ethnic diversity present in the population of the church. Acts 13 begins with a list of the prophets and teachers there, including “Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen, a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.” 7 This most definitely qualifies as a diverse group. “Niger,” Simeon’s nickname, literally means “black.” Lucius was from Cyrene, which was a city in the North African country of Libya. These two men, likely both of Afri-

Why would we not try to emulate this picture of diversity every chance we get?

can descent, were serving in the leadership of the Antioch church alongside Jews like Barnabas, Saul (also known as Paul), and Manaen.

The church in Antioch, with its significant amount of racial and ethnic diversity, was the first congregation in which the believers were called Christians. 8 Since this is the very label we use for ourselves as believers today, why would we not try to emulate this picture of diversity every chance we get? I believe that if we made our churches today look more like the one in Antioch, we might find them

tian communities that bridge racial gaps in racially segregated areas, and a key element of this is the planting of intentionally multiethnic churches. I visited one of these churches during my time in Jackson, and was completely shocked. The service began with musical worship, and the songs were contemporary ones you might hear in a typical white evangelical church. The singing was led, however, by a multiethnic worship team that presented the songs in a musical style closer to gospel. Then, the pastor preached in a style consistent with his native African American tradition, yet the sermon’s length and subject matter could have easily belonged in a more mainstream evangelical service. We ended the service by singing a traditional Negro spiritual, but the worship team gave it more of a poprock feel. I could clearly perceive the cultural differences between black and white worship styles and faith expressions at this church, yet everything was woven together seamlessly into a service that brought glory to God.

The diversity and cooperative ministry that made the church in ancient Antioch so distinct were patently visible in this modern-day American church. Additionally, I could tell that this church was a fruitful community that regularly drew people

in the neighborhood closer to Christ—just like the church in Antioch did.

The issues of race, segregation, and their relationship to Christian faith had been on my heart both before and during the spring break trip. Visiting that church, and serving in other ways with the Perkins foundation, made it clear to me that the gospel is powerful enough to not only reach across our racial differences, but also use them to bring further glory to God.

The American church has a lot more work to do in terms of reconciliation and equality; integrated worship services won’t on their own solve structural issues. However, catching glimpses of Christ’s beautifully diverse kingdom both in scripture and in person has given me real hope, and has inspired me to do all I can to help bring his kingdom to Earth. r

Endnotes 1. Rev. 7:9, ESV 2. Acts 11:7, ESV; see Lev. 11 3. Acts 11:8, ESV 4. Acts 11:9 5. Acts 11:17, ESV 6. Acts 11:21, ESV 7. Acts 13:1, ESV 8. Acts 11:26, ESV

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