Ethnic Diversity in Community 

Introduction

In July 2019, the British Guardian online newspaper published an article by Akram Khan titled “Ethnic diversity makes Britain’s culture great. It would be a disaster if we lost it.” This article spoke to what has become a global reality, acknowledging and celebrating the richness of ethnic diversity as a hallmark of human society.¹ Similarly, Ankasha Arora writes,

Before we celebrate too soon, however, we must acknowledge that ethnic diversity has been a significant challenge to humanity. People of different ethnicities often need help understanding each other. Misunderstanding tends to breed fear, which can cause problems like prejudice, stereotyping, racism, and homophobia.

To use Africa as an example, virtually every conflict on the continent has some ethno-regional dimension. Conflicts that may appear free of ethnic concerns involve factions and alliances built around ethnic loyalties. Ethiopia, Rwanda, Kenya, and the Sudan are but a few examples. 

What is generally true in society is even more pronounced in the church because of the church’s identity and mission. The diversity of the church is a reflection of the multi-ethnic nature of the church, and can therefore be a powerful witness in today’s world. But the world seems wiser than the church in understanding and celebrating the beauty and benefits of multicultural diversity. 

The church has a chance to show that the gospel can accomplish what the world yearns for but cannot attain. To discuss this, I’ll first define the church and its identity and then consider ethnic diversity and its positive dynamics in the Christian community.

What is the Church?

Christopher Morgan, in his article entitled “The Origin and Nature of the Church” defines the church as “the new covenant people of God, rooted in the promises to Israel and inaugurated by the Holy Spirit, which refers both to all believers in Jesus Christ, both living and dead, and to local gatherings of believers.”³

In Genesis 1-11, God created Adam and Eve in his image and formed them into a community, his people. While not all in this community responded positively to God, what we see throughout the Old Testament story is God’s election and preservation of a remnant in every generation, testifying to the enduring nature of catholicity.

In Genesis 12, God elects Abraham and establishes a covenantal relationship with the particular people of Israel. The purpose of this election is so that all the nations of the world will be blessed through Abraham’s seed.⁴ Although God’s work was concentrated in the specific people of Israel during this period, people of various ethnic backgrounds became associated with God’s people. They were incorporated into the community, indicating that the covenantal relationship was open to all and was never exclusive. Take, for example, Rahab the Canaanite (Josh. 6:25; Matt. 1:5), Ruth the Moabite (Ruth 1:4, 16-17; Matt. 1:5), Caleb the Kenizzite (Num. 32:12), and Uriah the Hittite (2 Sam. 11:3).

In the New Testament, Jesus’ ministry, though initially confined to Israel, took on a universal scope after the resurrection. In Matthew 28, Christ commissioned the disciples to go to all nations and to baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This commission, along with Jesus’ promise of presence in their ministry, underscores the universal identity of God’s people, not being tied to a particular ethnicity, nation, or set of institutional structures, but to preaching Christ’s word and his presence in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, instead of calling the people of God “Israel” (which refers to a specific ethnicity and nation), the New Testament calls the people of God the “church” (ecclesia). Ecclesia in Greek means “called out.” Read in this light, the church is the universal gathering of Jews and Gentiles who are defined by being “called out” by the Word of God. Hence, the church’s catholicity would be inexorably connected with the ministry of the Word of God, which calls and preserves the people of God in each generation.

In the New Testament, the term ecclesia is also applied to individual gatherings of the people of God, such as the apostle Paul’s application of the term to the Christian community at Corinth or Rome. In some of the later Pauline epistles, Paul applies it to the universal people of God present among all peoples and nations. All in the church are members of God’s household and are part of the body of Christ. The presence of the risen Christ in the power of the Spirit universally binds the people of God and places them together into one body.

The universality and continuity of the church stem from God’s preservation of his people through the preaching of the Word and the sanctifying power of the Spirit. This perspective emphasises that wherever people adhere to biblical teaching, the work of the Spirit is manifest and the church’s catholicity is preserved.

So, in the New Testament, all local and visible church gatherings are considered expressions of the one invisible and universal church. The church is, therefore, diverse sociologically, ethnically, and historically because it comprises all those who confess the same Lord and are unified through the indwelling of the same Spirit.

Ethnic Diversity and the Church

As people from various ethnicities believe in Jesus Christ, he reconciles them to God and to each other. The universal church, therefore, has an inherent and God-given diversity. Elements of this diversity are also experienced at the local church level. In 1 Corinthians 12:12, Paul uses the example of the body and its many different parts to teach unity and diversity in the church: “The body is a unit, though it is composed of many parts. . . . So it is with Christ” (MSB).

In Acts 11:19-20, Paul speaks of how he experienced a rich and blessed diversity in the church of Syrian Antioch, where, for the first time, Jewish and Gentile Christians worshipped God together on equal footing (Acts 11:19-26). Steve Ross rightly points out that this beautiful diversity can implicitly be seen in the multicultural names of its leaders that are listed by Paul.⁵ Ross continues:

What was strange to onlookers was the equality seen in all the followers of Christ.

The apostle Paul speaks of this unity in diversity in his letter to the Ephesians, arguing that it is Christ that tore down the walls of hostility that divided the Jews from the Gentiles, making former enemies into friends and equals in the faith (Eph. 2:14-16). We see this idea of  “redemptive equality” in other Pauline passages, like Galatians 3:28, where he writes, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus”  (ESV).”⁸

Again, the blessedness of multicultural reconciliation does not mean obliterating cultural distinctions or forming a new and monolithic “Christian” culture. Even the surpassing unity of final redemption can be expressed in Scripture with language celebrating the multicultural and multilingual heritage of the redeemed. Accordingly, in the Book of Revelation, “a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language” stands before the throne of God and the Lamb, singing praise (Rev. 7:9, NIV).⁹

What is happening in these churches is countercultural, and what gives them the courage and motivation to embrace this is a belief that diversity is an intrinsic God-given value for the church’s life and witness. It is God’s intended design for his creation and his kingdom. One author writes, “God intended from the beginning that human beings would ‘fill the earth’ with the processes, patterns, and products of cultural formation.”¹⁰

If we don’t see this intended design, we will overlook the benefits that diversity brings to the richness of our existence. Perhaps this is why the church has struggled to address issues related to racism, racial justice, and racial reconciliation. The only way we can demonstrate our hatred for these social ills is to fall in love with diversity as God’s original intent for creation.

Conclusion: Practicing Unity and Diversity

Having defined the church’s identity and the positive benefits of biblical diversity within the church, I offer some trajectories forward for the individual Christian, the local church, and the global church, and then conclude with some key affirmations of unity in diversity. 

The Individual Christian

The individual believer should seek to live out the twin principles of unity and diversity in balance. They must learn to practice unity by intentionally seeking the “other,” especially those who are different. At the same time, they can find comfort from those who are similar. This includes the need for believers to genuinely befriend non-believers, not only to share the gospel but also as an expression of the human need to know the other and be known. This is a call to love your neighbor.

The Local Church

The local church carries the burden of living out the twin realities of unity and diversity in the context of daily living. As Sujit Sivasundaram has helpfully written:

The Global Church

What are the implications of the missiological reality that the center of Christianity has moved from the global North and West to the global South and East, with a high concentration of Christians in Africa and Asia? One implication could be the realization for many of us who received the gospel from the global North that “Christianity is not owned by one continent. Moreover, the Bible is not European, let alone an English text.”¹² Recognizing this and calling it out, however, should help us affirm that there is only one church of which we are part. This doesn’t erase the fact that we come from multiple nations and backgrounds.

Sujit Sivasundaram again: “It is a fundamental mistake for one ethnicity to believe its understanding of the gospel is somehow superior to that of the other or that it has the right to teach and not learn.”¹³ The wisdom in being both a learner and a teacher is that you create a mutual platform to honestly challenge each other on “aspects of culture and cultural influences on theology that are inconsistent with the Bible’s teaching.”¹⁴ 

Unfortunately, it takes a long time for those who have always been receivers and learners to have the courage to teach. In addition, different cultures will have different approaches to and applications from the Bible. We must recognize and respect these hermeneutical differences.¹⁵ All this requires more wisdom, discernment, humility, and understanding.

Unity in Diversity Affirmations¹⁶

1. Ethnic diversity is a God-created good that reflects the Triune God’s unity (oneness) and diversity (three-ness). God’s oneness calls us to unity, while his three-ness affirms our diversity and uniqueness.
2. Ethnic, cultural, and linguistic diversity is not evil or sinful but fulfills a purpose in God’s plan for humanity.
3. Ethnic diversity is distorted by the fall into sin, turning into a systemic ideological idolatry that breaks down the community.
4. God’s mission of reconciliation inseparably includes reconciliation of people to each other, including racial reconciliation.
5. Distorted diversity is being restored in Christ Jesus. 
6. The church is God’s strategic vehicle for embodying, proclaiming, and promoting God’s reconciliation of all things, including racial reconciliation.
7. Being united in Christ through faith does not mean that ethnic and cultural differences will be erased. Instead, ethnic and other categories are no longer definitive in our identities. 
8. Everything will only be reconciled at Christ’s second coming with the new heaven and earth. Christians, individually and corporately, work towards that reality as God’s agents of transformation, with hope and humility.

Endnotes

1. Akram Khan, “Ethnic Diversity Makes Britain’s Culture Great. It Would Be a Disaster If We Lost It,” The Guardian, July 10, 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jul/10/diversity-uk-britain-culture-arts-sport.
2. Akansha Arora, “Most Ethnically Diverse Country in the World 2024, List of Top-10,” Adda247, February 10, 2024, https://currentaffairs.adda247.com/most-ethnically-diverse-country-in-the-world.
3. Christopher Morgan, “The Origin and Nature of the Church,” The Gospel Coalition, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/origin-nature-church.
4. See, Exod. 19:5; Isa. 49:6; 60:3; 61:6.
5. Steve Ross, “The Universality of God’s People,” ACTS29, October 9, 2018, https://www.acts29.com/the-universality-of-gods-people/?lang=de.
6. Ross, “The Universality of God’s People.”
7. Ross, “The Universality of God’s People.”
8. Nolen Spencer Wood, Jr., “Achieving Racial Unity and Oneness Through Biblical Authority and Application” (D.Min. diss., Liberty University, 2022), 44, https://core.ac.uk/download/516439763.pdf.
9. Wood, “Achieving Racial Unity and Oneness Through Biblical Authority and Application,” 45.
10. Richard J Mouw, When the Kings Come Marching In: Isaiah and the New Jerusalem. Rev. ed. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002), 11. 
11.  Sujit Sivasundaram, “Unity and Diversity: the Church, Race and Ethnicity,” Cambridge Papers, December, 2008, https://www.cambridgepapers.org/unity-and-diversity-the-church-race-and-ethnicity/.
12. Sivasundaram, “Unity and Diversity.”
13. Sivasundaram, “Unity and Diversity.”
14. Sivasundaram, “Unity and Diversity.”
15. Sivasundaram, “Unity and Diversity.”
16. Adapted from Shiao Chong, “A Biblical View of Diversity,” 3-D Christianity, May 4, 2012, https://3dchristianity.wordpress.com/2012/05/04/a-biblical-view-of-diversity.