Pursuing biblical diversity through the gospel and ministry partnerships

“What can wash away my sin?” the well-known hymn asks.   

You may know the answer, but here’s another question: “What can unite the world’s diverse peoples?” 

Converge pastors and church planters already know the answer. Today, these servants continue building ministries upon the gospel, which washes away sin and unites people in Christ, no matter how varied their ethnicity, background and culture. 

Nearly everyone in Phoenix, Arizona, comes from somewhere else, explains Christ Culture Church pastor Ta’Hon King. Only 19% of that city was born and raised there. 

Asians, Blacks, Hispanics, biracial people and Anglos call Phoenix home. Since starting the Converge Southwest church, King has baptized former Buddhists, longtime Christians and new believers.  

In addition to the cultural diversity, metro Phoenix shares a wide religious diversity, including Baptists, Catholics, Pentecostals, interdenominational believers, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists and Hindus. 

“You get all these different backgrounds,” King said. “Trying to navigate those things is hard. We just preach the kingdom of God and preach the Bible.” 

That strategy mirrored that of the Apostle Paul when he started a church in Rome. He told believers in that diverse city that he was not ashamed of the gospel “because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.” 

To help even more people encounter that salvation, Converge recently organized the first Church Planters Assessment Center conducted entirely in Spanish. 

Marlan Mincks, Converge’s national director of church planting, understands more about the Lord because people of another culture shared their faith and story. 

“It’s a really great opportunity to see what God is doing in someone else’s life in someone else’s culture,” Mincks said. “If you come from that culture, I will bet you have a clarity of the gospel that sometimes we don’t see in the Anglo church.” 

The gospel’s hope for diverse humans is exceedingly clear to Walter Angelica, who pastors Iglesia Ciudad in Jacksonville, Florida. Angelica helped plan the Spanish-speakers assessment so more churches could make more disciples of every tribe, nation and tongue. 

“You don’t have to be Latino to attract Latinos,” he said. “You will attract who you love. We don’t want to attract who we are but who we love.” 

That compassionate conviction will provide compelling answers to many of the questions our diverse world is asking about Jesus and his church. 

Converge Biblical Diversity is dedicated to uniting churches around God’s biblical guidance on cultural and social issues. Their mission is to empower and equip churches to champion biblical diversity, reflecting the rich tapestry of the body of Christ. Learn more about Converge Biblical Diversity.