6 ways pastors can teach their congregation to appreciate biblical diversity

It’s been nearly 60 years since the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. highlighted the fact that the 11 a.m. hour on Sunday morning is “the most segregated hour in America.” Unfortunately, the statistics still show that Dr. King’s observation is for the most part still the same.

An immense number of the churches in the United States are primarily mono-racial and not multiracial. In other words, Christian believers are still worshiping homogeneously in Anglo churches, Black churches, Latino churches and Asian churches. The Word of God teaches us that in heaven, people from every racial group will be worshipping God together. Since the divine demographics in heaven are going to diverse, wouldn’t it be wise to start preparing for that divine and diverse gathering while we are still on earth? Shouldn’t our earthly congregations be a foreshadow of what it’s going to be like when we all get to heaven?

Unfortunately, the sins of racism, discrimination and ethnic pride have manifested themselves in ways that divide us as an earthly family of God and are precipitating a lack of appreciation of our earthly diversity. Now, more than ever, the Christian church must be reminded that when our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ hung, bled and died on Mount Calvary’s cross, he did not sacrifice himself for one particular race or group. Jesus paid it all for every nation, every tribe, every people and every tongue (Revelation 7:9).

As Christian pastors and leaders, we have the privilege of partnering with God in his drama of salvation and providential preparation of all his people. Not only is it a privilege, but we also have a spiritual responsibility to teach the members that make up our congregations God’s kingdom perspective regarding biblical diversity. Please be advised, biblical diversity views don’t just happen. They must be taught.

“It’s never too late to give up hate and appreciate God’s divine diversity.”

Lewology

Here are six ways to help your congregation appreciate God’s desire and design for biblical diversity.

1. Teach your congregation what the Bible says about biblical diversity.

Biblical diversity was God’s idea and all through the Bible, we can find God’s plan and purpose to reconcile himself to people from every racial and ethnic group in the world. The Body of Christ is a beautiful bride that is multicultural, multiracial and multiethnic. Please note several Bible verses as they relate to biblical diversity:

Acts 17:26-27, “And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us.”

Galatians 3:28, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

The lesson in this text suggests that when Christ came to be born in the flesh and lived a sinless life of perfection, he died for all those who would trust in him. It did not matter who came to trust in him because for all who would be believe in him and repented of their sins would be saved. God is not concerned about a person’s skin color and his or her ethnic origin, because those who are children of God are citizens of his kingdom.

Revelation 7:9-10, “After this 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, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’”

In this text, Paul is teaching us that God is not concerned about a person’s nationality, but his desire is that we seek him through Jesus Christ and be saved. We are all made from the one man, Adam, and we all have the same human father. There are no races, only the human race with God.

If we want to get a sneak preview of how God’s divine drama unfolds at the end of human history, just take a scroll through the Book of Revelation. When Jesus Christ returns and establishes his kingdom, there will be a great multitude of people who will come from every nation and every tribe; and people from every language. They will all come together to worship the King of kings and Lord of lords. God loves diversity and is calling and saving people from every tongue and every nation. God’s own people will be like a beautiful tapestry of different peoples from around the world that will worship before his great throne.

Please note that biblical diversity is not reserved for when all get to heaven; we must teach it, preach it and pursue it now.

2. Possess the courage to correct cultural mistakes regarding the Bible and race.

All too often, within our Western cultures, it is a common for Hollywood films and literature to portray biblical personalities as Caucasians. These types of portrayals only reinforce the notion that the Caucasian persuasion is the norm and non-Caucasian is not normal. This is especially dangerous when it comes to spiritual matters, whereby one’s ethnic identity can be mistakenly associated with the favor and grace of God.

Pastors can teach their congregation that these portrayals and illustrations are not accurate representations of the people in the Middle East or North Africa, where darker features and complexions are the norm. Addressing these mistakes can provide opportunities for further diversity dialogue.

3. Encourage your congregation to explore and educate themselves about other cultures.

Unfortunately, for many of our Caucasian brothers and sisters living the United States, it is very possible for them to go a lifetime without ever having any meaningful social interactions with people of color. It is also all too common for our schools’ curricula to only focus on the accomplishments in Western civilization and when people of color are mentioned, they are depicted in a negative context or slavery.

Pastors can encourage their congregation to be intentional about reading and understanding other cultures outside of their own context. The internet has made reading and researching accessible to everyone and can serve as a great educational resource.

4. Challenge your congregation to seek out social interactions with people from different ethnicities.

One of the biggest barriers in appreciating God’s design for biblical diversity is the lack of proximity we have with people from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds. This may be more challenging for some more than others, depending on where you live.

However, the church is the perfect place to pursue these interactions. Unfortunately, Dr. King’s quote is still true, “that 11 o’clock on Sunday morning is one of the most segregated hours” of the week. On the other hand, if there is ethnic and racial diversity in your church, become intentional about inviting persons over for dinner or some other social activity.

Outside of church, this may mean participating in some auxiliary activities and civic groups where they can develop and build diverse friendships with people from other cultures. Bowling leagues, aerobic classes and the like provide wonderful opportunities for these relationships.

5. Model loving confrontation of racist words and behavior.

Racial and ethnic bigotry are social viruses that are spreading like an epidemic throughout our society. All too often, these viruses are being transferred from people in power and authority who say and behave in racially insensitive ways.

Whatever the case, these are divine opportunities for pastors to lovingly confront, challenge and correct persons in their congregations with rebuttals like, “As people of God, we don’t say things like that. Those kinds of remarks are sinful and unacceptable. We are called by God to love and accept everybody, regardless of their race or ethnicity, because that’s how God loves us.”

For some pastors, this will require a degree of courage. Nevertheless, it will be worth the cost relationally when you see your congregation honoring God by honoring people.

6. Remain faithful for a future when the Holy Spirit will tear down the walls that racially divide people.

Pastors, let your congregations witness your attitude, words and actions that you believe our God is at work in the world, drawing his people to himself and making us one in his Spirit and one in his love as Jesus prayed in John 17:20-26.

Yes, while we are still in this earthly realm there is much work to do, but we should have faith that the Spirit of the living God is our partner, our power and our provider. We should be faithful in knowing that what we can’t accomplish in our own strength, God will accomplish in his.

Pastors, in teaching your congregations to appreciate biblical diversity remind them when the New Jerusalem comes down out of heaven according to Revelation 21:1-2, and the kingdom of God is established here on earth, it will be said that, “God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God” (Revelation 21:3), but “the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality” (Colossians 3:25).

Remind them that heaven won’t be filled with homogeneous people, but that we will all be glorified. Remind them that there will be nothing in heaven to separate us from God or from each other. Remind them that we won’t have to fight against racism or wonder how to build and embrace biblical diversity. We will be divinely diverse, worshipping together and enjoying one another for eternity as a holy family of God.