HOW TO EMBRACE DIVERSITY
Excerpt of the Message Preached by John Ojewole at the Multicultural Sunday of Grace Bible Fellowship of Antioch on May 22, 2011
The plan of God is global. God loves everyone regardless of their ethnicity, language and geographical origin.
The New Testament provides us with principles for embracing diversity. I am going to cite three passages to support of this subject. In embracing diversity, we must consider doing the following:
1. We must have a Cross-Cultural mindset for the lost.
(Mat 28:19 NIV) Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
God wants the gentiles to participate in his salvation. As Jesus was winding down his earthly ministry, he told his disciples to engage in a global evangelization of the lost. The Great Commission is cross cultural in nature. The disciples are told to make disciples of all nations.
(Mat 28:19 NIV) Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
The Greek word for “nations” is ethne, which is the plural of ethnos from which we got our English word: ethnic.
Jesus commanded his disciples as follows in scriptures:
(Luke 24:47 NIV) and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem
The gospel of Jesus Christ is meant for all. Apostle Paul writes: (Rom 10:13 NIV) for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
2. We must be Compassionate to everyone, including those who are culturally different from us.
As we venture into incorporating people into our churches cross culturally, we must be aware that it could come with its implications.
The early believers in Jerusalem
In Acts 6 , we noticed a cultural crisis that was caused by what one could call neglect. To use the modern day term, one may say that some people perceived that they were marginalized. The Bible says,
(Acts 6:1 NIV) In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.
The distinction between Hellenistic and Hebraic Jews probably refers to the languages that they speak or their geographical place of origin. The Hellenistic Jews must have been Greek speaking Jews who were in Diaspora. While the Hebraic Jews may have been those who lived in and around Jerusalem
The apostles of Christ addressed the issue. Seven Greeks were chosen to oversea this neglected area of ministry.
The Bible says: (Acts 6:5 NIV) This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch
3. We Must Celebrate Cultural Diversity.
In doing so, we must stay away from imposing the viewpoints of the dominant culture on those who are culturally different from us.
Here is another crisis caused by the rapid grown and the inclusion of the gentiles
In Acts 15 , this issue at stake was whether gentile converts must abide by Jewish laws. Peter addressed the council as follows:
(Acts 15:9 NIV) He made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith.
Basically, Peter let them know that the pattern of Gentile conversion was the same as for Jewish believers. God was making no ethnic distinctions in building His church. Everyone is the same before the Lord.
The early church concluded that salvation is by grace through faith and the gentiles are not compelled to be circumcised in order to be a part of family of God.
Conclusion:
Please let us embrace diversity.
