Jeff Adams

The term multiculturalism means different things to different people. To some it is a politically-correct world view that blindly shuts its eyes to abuse and sin. If someone is from a different culture or ethnic group, we are to blindly and lovingly accept anything and everything in the spirit of fairness and equity. Those who disagree with this point of view often see multiculturalism as a threat to what is known and comfortable.

The Bible offers a different view of multiculturalism, teaching that God himself divided the peoples of the world according to language (Genesis 11), and yet he loves them all equally. Throughout scripture God expresses concern for all the peoples of the world. In Matthew 28:18-20 the Great Commission is to make disciples of Jesus Christ of all the ethnic groups in the world. This is our mandate. Jesus Christ is the Savior of all the peoples of the world. He is Lord over all.

The Bible addresses sin wherever it is found. Every culture has elements that fall short of God’s truth and need to be changed. Multiculturalism is not blind acceptance of everything different, but a biblically-bred tolerance of people from all backgrounds with the goal of banding together under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Ephesians 2 teaches that he is our peace who has broken down the walls that separated us. He doesn’t ask us to deny our cultural heritage, but to submit to him and his truth and allow that we are one with all believers regardless of background or language.

One of the greatest thrills of my life is to be part of a church that is genuinely multicultural. We didn’t set out with some grand plan and strategy to make this happen. God just decided to do it. We decided to embrace it. Some people are simply uncomfortable being around people who are not like them. This does not make them bad people; it makes them human. We all share a tendency to feel comfortable around those who look, talk, dress and act like us. Those of us willing to be stretched beyond our comfort zone, soon learn that the different peoples of the world have far more in common than the features that make us different.

Here are some of the benefits of being part of a multicultural church:

• We are a model of what the church will look like in the future and what we should strive for today (Revelation 5:9-10; 7:9-10).
• We learn how to view people as God sees them, learning to look at people on the inside, not the outside (1Samuel 16:7).
• We learn to prepare ourselves and our children for the coming reality in our country. By 2043 non-Latino whites will be a minority in the Unites States.
• We enrich our lives by learning different points of view, different customs, different ways of approaching the circumstances of life.
• We learn to overcome our ignorance, stereotypes and fears of people who are not like us, seeing them instead for the individuals they are.

I’m listing these benefits off the top of my head. Perhaps you can add some I am overlooking. Cheryl and I host a monthly reception in our home for new members to our church. Almost every month someone mentions that one of the characteristics of our church that drew them was our diversity. I especially hear this from people who are wanting to raise their children in a diverse environment.

Andy Castro is a young man in our church who is a recruiter for the Univeristy of Missouri in Kansas City. Last week he made a post to his blog about this very subject that I found interesting. I mentioned this briefly in my sermon this moring. If you would like to read the entire post, you can find it here.