The Diversity Issue

ISSUE 01 >>

2016

a newfrontiers usa publication

the diversity issue Jesus Brings an End to the Hostility >> Sam Poe Contextualization >> Andy Martin

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GOSPEL COMMUNITY • APPS

JOHN LANFERMAN >> Team Leader >> Newfrontiers USA

GOD’S

DIVERSE PEOPLE!

One of the great delights in Newfrontiers is the representation of our biblical and apostolic value of diversity. I love our international events that gather Africans, Pakistanis, Russians, eastern Europeans, Asians, Latin Americans, and other nations from across the globe. We all gather as one family, praying for each other and worshiping together. In Jesus we find our oneness; racial and cultural barriers are eliminated and the presence of the Holy Spirit unifies us in Jesus, making us one people.

Cultural diversity was built into the Christian faith. When Peter first preached to non-Jewish people at Cornelius’ house (a Roman centurion) the Holy Spirit came upon these Gentiles in the same manner as the Jews… to Peter’s amazement! Early on it was evident that the inclusiveness of the gospel brings us together as one new family. Christianity embraced various Gentile cultures (as seen in Acts 15) and these Gentile Christians weren’t asked to enter into Jewish culture. These new Christians were free to work out their faith in a culturally sensitive way. While some in the world today view Christianity as a western expression that destroys cultures, the fact is no one owns the Christian faith.

Christianity takes more culturally diverse forms than other faiths. In Christ we are a new people; a new family. Our roots

RECOMMENDED READING

What on Earth is the Church For?

by David Devenish

go back to God’s promise to Abraham that all nations would be blessed. Even at the beginning of the church on the day of Pentecost, the many languages testify to the phenomenon of a new family in Christ that is international.

The church doesn’t represent a western culture. It represents Christ, who makes us one new people and culture from all nations. We do not impose western values or forms upon any other culture. I do understand that western missionaries have often imposed western culture, but that is not true of Newfrontiers. Our value of diversity is based on our understanding of the gospel, which celebrates diversity with a unity found in Christ. At the beginning of creation God, as Creator, celebrates diversity; creation is not uniform.

Personally, I am thrilled as I worship in my home church with people of many nations and cultures. I find my own worship experience is greatly enhanced by experiencing other cultures, and the miracle that we all are brought together in Christ.

In Christ we express our oneness with healthy diversity in our church families. Being diverse in age, race, socially, economically, and educationally, we demonstrate genuine love and respect testifying that the gospel is inclusive. It is

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Gospel Community While some in the world today view Christianity as a western expression that destroys cultures, the fact is no one owns the Christian faith.

interesting that in the church at Antioch the leadership team was racially diverse: Simeon and Lucius were two black men, Paul a Hebrew, and Barnabas a Cypriot, and this team was undoubtedly a reflection of the diversity in the Antioch church.

However the church’s purpose is not to make diversity, but to live it out. We are to not allow race, religion, culture, age, or gender hinder us from embracing any particular group of people. How do you label such a culturally diverse group? They were first called Christians in Antioch as that was they only way to describe them!

It was Christ and the Spirit’s presence that united them.

We must rise to the challenge we face in today’s world of increasing hostility and misunderstanding toward those of other races and cultures. We do this by teaching about Christ and embracing, fully, the Holy Spirit’s empowering presence that unifies us. We reach out to those different than we are and demonstrate the inclusiveness found only in Christ. In a world of hostile attitudes and prejudice I want our churches to understand and live out Peter’s sermon at Cornelius’ house: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to Him.” (Acts 10:34-35)

NICK CONNOLLY >> Charleston, South Carolina How did your church start?

Our church started out of multiple failed attempts. I felt like God called me to plant a church in 2008 and from there we set out three different times to plant in Boston, MA. After Boston did not work out, we still knew God wanted us to plant a church, we just didn't know where. After some prayer and my wife, Jess, and I talking through it, we felt like God was leading us to Charleston, SC. So with four friends we set out to plant Gospel Community in downtown Charleston.

What is a particular area of focus/ strength for your community?

God has given us great people. We have people who are passionate about what God has called us to do in Charleston.

Our focus revolves around helping people take the next steps towards abundant life. No matter whom God brings to us or where they are in life, God has abundant life for them, and we want to help them get there.

Recent Wins: One crazy thing we did was starting our church with no one to help lead us in worship (through song). I knew God was calling us to step out and start the church, but this would be a missing piece we would have to trust Him with. Some Sundays we would have a sermon and "respond in community". People would circle up and talk about what God was speaking to them through the sermon and how that was going to lead them to life change. This was ok, but we knew God wanted our church to sing.

After much waiting and praying we started to hit our stride with worship through music. God has continued to send us more and more musicians and we look forward to all the ways God is going to reveal Himself as we worship through song.

Nick & Jess Connolly

SAM POE >> New Frontiers Church >> Portsmouth, NH

JESUS BRINGS AN END TO THE

HOSTILITY

“For [Jesus]…is our peace, who has made [Jews and Gentiles] one and has broken down…the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man… so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.” Ephesians 2:14–16 Paul declares that Jesus is our peace. Through his obedience in life he fulfilled all the righteous demands of God’s law. Through his obedience in death he paid the penalty for our rebellion against God’s law. Jesus is our peace with God and each other.

The implications of this are incredible. At the cross Jesus destroyed all walls of hostility that existed between a rebellious mankind and a Holy God, as well as the walls of division between races, classes and backgrounds. He has made the way for healing relationships between individuals and groups where there has been offense and enmity.

For this reason, Paul refers to the body of Christ as ‘One New Man’: a “new humanity” made up of men and women of every race and culture who live together in the unity of the Holy Spirit. God has called the Church to be a blessing to

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Peace Child

by Don Richardson

every people group on earth. We exist in the world to show what life looks like in God’s kingdom, which will be known in all its fullness when Jesus comes again.

On the Island of Patmos, John saw amazing visions of the throne of God. In one of these he proclaimed, “…I looked, and behold, 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,… crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”’” (Rev.7:9-10 ESV) This is a vision of God’s purpose for us: people from every nation around the throne of God, delighting in relationship with him and each other forever. This glorious vision draws the church into Christ’s mission today. It is his desire that people of every race, tribe and culture would put their trust in him and be made a part of this great multitude—called to make this good news known everywhere they go.

In his book Peace Child, Don Richardson tells the story of how this great truth came alive among the Sawi people of New Guinea where Don and his family went to share the gospel in the 1960s. The Sawis were a warlike and cannibalistic people with a culture of violence and treachery. As Don told the story of Jesus’ betrayal, the Sawis considered Judas the hero of the story! When told of Judas betraying Jesus, they chuckled and cited one of their favorite sayings, “Fatten him with friendship for an unsuspecting slaughter.”

At the cross Jesus destroyed all walls of hostility that existed between mankind and God, as well as the walls of division between races, classes and backgrounds.

Don and his wife, Carol, wondered how they would ever be able to get the great story of God’s salvation across to these people. War broke out between this village and another and for weeks the tribesmen fought and killed each other. Finally Don said to the tribal leaders, “If you don’t stop fighting, we will have to leave.” The Sawis did not want this because the Richardsons had brought medical care and other things they wanted. They also saw having a foreign family among them as a status symbol.

Some leaders came to Don that night and told him, “Tomorrow we will make peace!” The next day Don and Carol watched anxiously as the warring tribes gathered opposite each other. Emotions were high; women were crying. Finally, a young man from their village grabbed his only child, a small baby, and rushed toward the enemy lines. He said, “I give you my son, and with him, my name!” A man from the other side approached and presented his baby in the same way in exchange. Each child was referred to as the “Peace Child.” As long as the Peace Child lived in the village, peace was supposed to be maintained with the child’s home village.

Don found a cultural bridge that allowed the gospel to come to the Sawi people. As he again told the stories of Jesus, he spoke of a loving Father who wanted to make peace with us—his enemies—and crossed to our side by sending his Son to us. “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called…Prince of Peace.” (9:6). Don was able to tell the Sawis that because Jesus died and rose from the

Discover more about Sam’s efforts to see the Gospel penetrate unreached people groups: http://biblicalstorying.com/

dead, he is God’s perfect Peace Child once and for all. He brings peace between mankind and God the Father, and peace between one tribe and the other: a peace that lasts forever for those who trust in him.

As Don shared the story of Judas’ betrayal this second time, one man said, “If Jesus was the Peace Child, it was the worst thing anyone could ever do to betray him.” The room fell silent…from that time on those Sawi people began trusting in Jesus.

These believers began sharing this good news with other tribes. All who heard and trusted in Jesus began to experience peace with God and each other: a peace that could only come through God’s eternal Peace Child. They had tasted the reality of that One New Man; that redeemed multitude from every tribe. This propelled them into Christ’s great mission!

ANDY MARTIN >> Churchcentral >> Birmingham, England

CONTEXTUALIZATION “In order for the Christian message to be meaningful to people it must come to them in language and categories that make sense within their particular culture and life situation. It must be contextualized.” Dean Flemming For the gospel to be heard as good news in our racially and socially diverse communities, we need to understand that ‘one size fits all’ does not work. Learning to communicate and relate across cultural and social divides is a priority for the church. As John Stott says,

God so loved the world he stepped right into it—into one particular culture—and lived, loved, ate, slept, served, taught, did miracles, laid down his life, and rose again to then say to his followers, “Now you go and make this good news of the Kingdom known in the way I have.”

“The overriding reason why we should take other people’s culture seriously is that God has taken ours seriously. God is the supreme communicator. And His Word has come to us in an extremely particularized form. Whether spoken or written, it was addressed to particular people in particular cultures using the particular thought-forms, syntax, and vocabulary with which they were familiar.”

The subject of contextualization receives a lot of attention and rightly so. There is plenty of debate and disagreement on different aspects, and there can be a danger that we over complicate the power and simplicity of the example Jesus gave us. Contextualization isn’t simply a technical term to describe aspects of mission. It’s meant to be how we live in our communities and with our neighbors and friends. We must not miss the importance of Jesus’ example of how the gospel overcomes social and cultural differences.

Jesus talked about loving your neighbor as yourself, laying down your life, and serving others. All of these things are how the gospel will overcome barriers. Loving our neighbor means listening to them, spending time with them, eating with them. Serving others means we will find out about their needs; what is important to them. Laying our lives down means understanding that other people see the world differently from us and have different priorities.

Read Dave Devenish’s article on Contexualization here: http://confluenceblog.com/component/k2/421contextualization-the-apostle-paul

In the West we are a task-oriented culture. We like to achieve things. Getting a job done is the priority. Relationships matter, but time is short and life is pressured so let’s do everything we can to accomplish what we need to. However, for our neighbors that haven’t grown up in the West,

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For the gospel to be heard as good news in our racially and socially diverse communities, we need to understand that 'one size fits all' does not work.

relationships have a far higher value and spending time together—finding out each other’s stories and history, and doing this over a good, long meal—IS getting something done! If we don’t understand things like this then it is easy to cause offense. We talk about a gospel of love, but demonstrate the opposite because we haven’t entered into our neighbor’s context.

This is just one example, there are many other issues we need to consider and be sensitive to. How we dress, how we raise our children, our strong individualistic lifestyle: these can all be areas that can cause offense or be misunderstood when it comes to cross-cultural relationships and fulfilling what Jesus taught us to do—love our neighbors as we love ourselves.

It would be so helpful if there was a manual that listed all cultural differences and values so we could simply look things up and have a list of mistakes to avoid. However, that is, itself, a very Western way at looking at relationships and building community (i.e. a list of solutions)!

Love takes time, effort, and sacrifice. When it crosses barriers, the gospel is at its most powerful: that is contextualization in action. Jesus knew this. This is why he didn’t give us a seminar or a manual, but rather gave an example to follow.

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What We Learned From Ferguson Bryan Mowrey Jubilee Church >> St. Louis, MO Mourn with those who mourn.

With all the tension and division in our city regarding what was true and what wasn’t, one thing was for certain: Michael Brown was dead and a mom and dad would never see their son again. Paul commands us in Romans 12:15 to “weep with those who weep.”

When you study the emotional life of Jesus, compassion and empathy are prominent. We learned to practice this in a deeper way.

Biblical foundations are important.

As a multi-cultural church, we had previously wrestled with how the gospel addresses diversity. While you’re never really prepared for an event like Ferguson to happen in your city, having a Biblical foundation helped us to better orientate our mind, heart and actions. However, these types of “storms” help you more fully see how much of your life really is built upon the “Rock.” While I was encouraged to see a solid foundation, Ferguson uncovered areas we need to grow as well.

Gospel unity goes deeper than we thought. “…His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two…” (Ephesians 2:15) God’s purpose isn’t simply that white and black people learn to stand side by side in a worship service, but rather they become one. At the very minimum this means lots of conversations seeking to understand each other to become one in heart and mind.

Churches who pray together, stay together.

One of the bright spots during the Ferguson riots was when we gathered to pray. With multiple races represented, we lifted up the name of Jesus with one voice. It was awesome and 10 times more inspiring than any message I have ever heard on unity.

Listening > Speaking in spreading the Gospel “He who gives an answer before he hears, it is folly and shame to him.” (Proverbs 18:13) It became very clear to us that the church needs to lead more in being better listeners; otherwise we will lose credibility (hint: tons of application here).

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