Real Diversity
by John Kimball, Director of Church Development
When people hear the word “diversity,” it can foster many different ideas. Some respond negatively because their experience with diversity has been around quotas or a manufactured situation that may not have been genuine. These are certainly not what the CCCC means when it values “A Membership that Reflects the Harvest Field’s Diversity.”
In the work of church development and revitalization, authentic diversity in a local congregation is much more a product of the work than a target. It’s clearly a value, because we believe that as each local church faithfully works out the gospel ministry within their own community, the fruit of that work will be people who are saved. Therefore, we will ultimately look more and more like the communities in which we serve as our work is a faithful expression of the gospel, not about trying to reach as many different ethnicities or social strata as we can.
Churches that have become inwardly focused or even ingrown tend to also be “monotypic” when it comes to diversity – even in communities with great ethnic and economic variety. This often translates into fear of “differentness” and an avoidance of certain people groups because of the possible changes they may seed if assimilated into the congregation. All of this is antithetical to the gospel mission Jesus gave us. The Great Commission calls us to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19). The Greek word there is ethne (from which we get the English word ethnic). Dr. Ralph Winter rightly translated this word as “people groups” when he referred to the commission on the church to reach the whole mosaic of humanity with the gospel. The apostle John paints a picture for us of the completed work in his Revelation:
“After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb…” Revelation 7:9
Christ’s vision has always been one of wholesale diversity.
As a local church rediscovers the joy of making authentic disciples in her community, building on the foundation of consistent intercessory prayer and a need-oriented evangelism that is fully driven by love, she doesn’t have to try for diversity. It will happen. As fear and man-made barriers are removed, all of the people in the community will become potential disciples in the church’s eyes.
There are few things more beautiful than a congregation that embraces and celebrates the multiple cultural facets Jesus redeems and invests in her. And we look a lot more like heaven as we live this out before the world.
