Birds of a feather flock together, so they say. No surprise—it’s always easier to hang with people who look like you, talk like you, live like you. It’s comfortable.
But might we be missing out if we always stick with what’s comfortable? Might people who aren’t quite like us add deeper dimensions to our lives? Richer glimpses of what it’ll be like in heaven, when a great multitude “from every nation, tribe, people and language” will be crying out to God in praise of His salvation? (Revelation 7:9,10).
Our world likes to divide us into opposing camps; in fact, our sin nature compels us to create divisions. So of course it’s painful to break down the dividing walls of misunderstanding and outright hostility (Ephesians 2:14). But it’s part of God’s calling on our lives as individuals and as churches.
For that reason, the EFCA has committed itself over and over again to its mission: glorifying God by multiplying healthy churches among all people.
“All people” encompasses every aspect of our lives: our skin color, our gender, our physical abilities or inabilities, even our economic station in life. The EFCA’s dream is that its churches would be welcoming places for all people. This is true multiculturalism.
Within that desire, the EFCA also places special emphasis on multiethnicism. Multiethnic churches make a visible statement to a world too often divided by its ethnicities. “It’s not politically correct; it’s not something novel,” says David Myles, assistant/associate pastor of Brooklyn Park (Minn.) EFC. “It reflects the heart of God.”
To that end, the EFCA’s goal is that 20 percent of its churches would be either ethnic or multiethnic in congregational makeup. We’re not there yet, but we’re on our way. And that 20 percent matters, because research indicates that when any group reaches that level, the consciousness of the organization changes.1
“When you understand that it’s laid out in Scripture and it has gripped your heart, you won’t be able to sleep,” warns Danté Upshaw, EFCA director of African American Ministries.
Danté might be a black man, but his warning goes beyond skin color. “This is going to force our hand if we’re truly committed to this ‘all-people reconciliation’ thing. Because, generationally, we’ve forgotten some groups. And if we’re convinced that this is God’s heart, then we can’t think He has a secondary place in His heart for our sisters either.”
Yet a truly healthy multicultural church won’t be focused on reconciliation between ethnicities or ages, genders or socioeconomic groups. No, the focus will be on reconciling men and women to God through faith in Jesus Christ.2 May we never forget that, even as we live out God’s kingdom right here on earth. However uncomfortable it might be at times.
1United by Faith, by Curtiss Paul DeYoung, Michael O. Emerson, George Yancey and Karen Chai Kim, Oxford University Press, 2004.
2Mark DeYmaz, from the InnovateChurch Conference, May 2009 (innovatechurch.us).
