Multiculturalism: the good, the bad and the ugly (Part 4)
Christianity: multiethnic and monocultural
“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 before the Lamb.” —the apostle John
In my travels to various countries in Africa, Europe, the Middle East, South and East Asia, Central and South America, I have spent lots of time with other followers of Jesus from many different ethnicities and language groups. Indeed, my home church in Toronto is characterized by all shades of the skin color rainbow and dozens of countries of origin.
By contrast, houses of worship in Toronto representing other faith groups such as Hindu temples and Muslim mosques are relatively homogeneous ethnically speaking. The multiethnic dimension of the Christian church can be seen not only in multicultural communities like Toronto but also in the ease with which Mary and I have been accepted into the local church community in other countries, language groups and cultures. As per the apostle John’s revelation, the multiethnicity of the global church is a major feature and distinguishes Christianity from all other faiths.
Followers of Jesus around the world have adopted a new culture altogether, the kingdom of God’s earthly rule.
Jesus came to earth 2,000 years ago to reconcile people from every culture to God through his sacrificial death on the cross and subsequent resurrection. That said, the case can be made that Christianity is monocultural. Of course, those surrendering their lives to Jesus don’t give up all aspects of the culture in which they were raised including food, dress, family traditions and other cultural distinctives. In the most fundamental sense, however, followers of Jesus around the world have adopted a new culture altogether, the kingdom of God’s earthly rule.
By followers of Jesus, I mean individuals who have personally encountered Jesus Christ and surrendered their lives to him. Excluded are those who identify as Christians primarily on the basis of church attendance and agreement with Christian values but have not truly encountered the person of Jesus. Many in this category are actually functional atheists, since they conduct themselves autonomously without reference to God.
The core features of the kingdom of God’s earthly rule are:
Its members love God and, flowing from that love, want to please Him in every aspect of their lives.
They recognize their calling to love everyone around them, even those with whom they disagree.
Their desire to please God is not to earn His favor. That is the essence of “religion” and it animates all non-Christian faith groups.
Rather, they understand and agree with the following assertion by the apostle Paul: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”
In short, Christianity is not a religion but a living relationship with the One who created humankind for relationship with Him, which includes fulfilling His unique plans and purposes for our lives until we pass from this life directly into His presence.
Of course, none of us identifying as a follower of Jesus is perfect. Our inability to follow Jesus perfectly, however, is the very reason that he, the perfect Son of God, sacrificed himself for us, thereby liberating those who believe from the penalty of sin and, having overcome death through his resurrection, opening the door to an eternal relationship with God.
In conclusion, the monocultural, multiethnic kingdom of God’s earthly rule is utterly unique.
Photo by Matt Botsford on Unsplash
