Church of Diversity
by Taehoo Lee
I am Korean. I am not Korean-American, if you know the difference. When I came to the States, I was 29 years old. I already had my M.Div. degree from a seminary in Seoul. Nevertheless, I came to study theology from a country that sent the majority of missionaries who laid the foundation of the Korean church. I wanted to be able to discern cultural elements that were so deeply embedded in “proper theology” in the Korean church.
My first culture shock came in witnessing the very distinct racial line on Sunday morning. For two years I visited different “non-Korean” churches in the greater Philadelphia area. I wanted to see theology in practice. As I was visiting more and more churches, it became clear that eleven o’clock on Sunday was still the most segregated hour of the week. What was more surprising was that I did not hear much lament about the segregated state of the body of Christ.
Is racial reconciliation irrelevant to the gospel message?
On the day of Pentecost, Diaspora Jews gathered in Jerusalem witnessed the undoing of the curse of the Tower of Babel. The wall of suspicion, prejudice and hostility collapsed as diverse people groups heard the apostles praising God in their own language. As they were amazed, they realized that the new day of God’s redemption had dawned. Not only were individuals brought to the saving grace of God, but ethnic groups were reconciled to each other through the workings of the Holy Spirit.
The apostle Paul makes it an imperative: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28, NIV).
The Bible does not stop there. Racial reconciliation is the picture of the new Jerusalem: “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” (Rev. 7:9, NIV). Racial reconciliation was the beginning of the new community of God’s people and the culmination of God’s redemptive work. It is not just something fashionable or trendy. It is the gospel mandate that we cross the racial barriers and work for racial reconciliation.
My church is racially diverse church. We take racial reconciliation as one of the core missions of our church. When we go out for lunch after the service, we hear people saying, “You must be Christians.” It is not because we carry Bibles around. It is the ethnic diversity they see in us. If non-Christians recognize the glimpse of the Gospel in us, I believe there is a very powerful message in racial reconciliation.
I will be blunt here. There is no other hope for racial reconciliation outside the gospel. When people see a racially mixed group, they assume it is their faith that brings diverse people together. It is time for the body of Christ to show the world what the Gospel can do for racially divided global communities.
Taehoo Lee is an instructor and InterVarsity staff member at Temple University. He also ministers at Spirit and Truth Fellowship in Philadelphia, PA—a church planted and pastored by Manuel Ortiz, author of One New People.
Unless otherwise noted, all materials on the urbana.org web site are Copyright InterVarsity Christian Fellowship / USA. All rights reserved.
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