Jeff Adams

The term multiculturalism means different things to different people. To some it is a politically-correct world view that blindly shuts its eyes to abuse and sin. If someone is from a different culture or ethnic group, we are to blindly and lovingly accept anything and everything in the spirit of fairness and equity. Those who disagree with this point of view often see multiculturalism as a threat to what is known and comfortable.

The Bible offers a different view of multiculturalism, teaching that God himself divided the peoples of the world according to language (Genesis 11), and yet he loves them all equally. Throughout scripture God expresses concern for all the peoples of the world. In Matthew 28:18-20 the Great Commission is to make disciples of Jesus Christ of all the ethnic groups in the world. This is our mandate. Jesus Christ is the Savior of all the peoples of the world. He is Lord over all.

The Bible addresses sin wherever it is found. Every culture has elements that fall short of God’s truth and need to be changed. Multiculturalism is not blind acceptance of everything different, but a biblically-bred tolerance of people from all backgrounds with the goal of banding together under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Ephesians 2 teaches that he is our peace who has broken down the walls that separated us. He doesn’t ask us to deny our cultural heritage, but to submit to him and his truth and allow that we are one with all believers regardless of background or language.

One of the greatest thrills of my life is to be part of a church that is genuinely multicultural. We didn’t set out with some grand plan and strategy to make this happen. God just decided to do it. We decided to embrace it. Some people are simply uncomfortable being around people who are not like them. This does not make them bad people; it makes them human. We all share a tendency to feel comfortable around those who look, talk, dress and act like us. Those of us willing to be stretched beyond our comfort zone, soon learn that the different peoples of the world have far more in common than the features that make us different.

Here are some of the benefits of being part of a multicultural church:

• We are a model of what the church will look like in the future and what we should strive for today (Revelation 5:9-10; 7:9-10).
• We learn how to view people as God sees them, learning to look at people on the inside, not the outside (1Samuel 16:7).
• We learn to prepare ourselves and our children for the coming reality in our country. By 2043 non-Latino whites will be a minority in the Unites States.
• We enrich our lives by learning different points of view, different customs, different ways of approaching the circumstances of life.
• We learn to overcome our ignorance, stereotypes and fears of people who are not like us, seeing them instead for the individuals they are.

I’m listing these benefits off the top of my head. Perhaps you can add some I am overlooking. Cheryl and I host a monthly reception in our home for new members to our church. Almost every month someone mentions that one of the characteristics of our church that drew them was our diversity. I especially hear this from people who are wanting to raise their children in a diverse environment.

Andy Castro is a young man in our church who is a recruiter for the Univeristy of Missouri in Kansas City. Last week he made a post to his blog about this very subject that I found interesting. I mentioned this briefly in my sermon this moring. If you would like to read the entire post, you can find it here.

¡La Cima 2009 viene! Estoy muy emocionado porque todo es resultado de la creatividad y convicción de un grupo de nuestros universitarios. Entienden bien que el mundo ha cambiado y que los paradigmas misioneros del pasado están pasando de moda y que se requiere un nuevo misionero para llevar el evangelio eterno al mundo entero. Puedes ver un poco del sabor que viene en este sitio. A cada rato estaremos agregando más. ¡Prepárate!

The Summit 2009 is on the way! I am really excited because everything is the result of the creativity and conviction of a group of university students. They well understand that the world has changed and that the missionary paradigms of the past are passing from style, and that a new missionary is required to take the eternal Gospel to the whole world. Below, you can get a little of the flavor of what is coming on this site. We’ll be adding more information every so often. Get ready!

I just finished a great book. What made it really special is knowing the person who is the subject of the story. Once an Arafat Man is the story of Tass Saada, a former Fatah sniper and aide to Yasser Arafat. Born in a Palestinian refugee camp, this is the story of a young man who grew up with a heart fueled by hatred and bitterness, a young man who learned to kill while still a teenager.

Read the book for the story, but suffice it to say that Tass providentially wound up in Columbia, Missouri and from there to Kansas City. Through an amazing display of character and determination, Tass mastered the language and culture of his new home and became quite a well-known figure in the restaurant scene here in our city. Moving to Raytown, his son Ben started dating a young lady who was, and is, one of our youngest daughter’s best friends. This young lady would eventually become Ben’s wife, but not before she was able to point him to faith in Christ. On a totally separate, but parallel track, a close friend of Tass was sharing the Gospel with him. It wasn’t long before the entire family came to Christ, and the transformation has been amazing.

Ben is now worship leader at our sister church, Grace of Overland Park. Tass and his wife Karen went through a remarkable spiritual pilgrimage that has led them back to Tass’ birth land where God is using them in a remarkable way. Now this former sniper works side-by-side with Jews, Muslims and Christians. I couldn’t put the book down.

A couple of weeks ago I used Tass as an example of transformation. I’ll be mentioning him briefly again this next Sunday. You might want to put this book on your reading list. It is a tangible example of God’s power to change lives. There is no other explanation that makes sense.

Texas pastor Bob Roberts uses this phrase a lot. I’m not sure if it is unique to him or if he is passing it on. I have heard others use it, too. I like it.

Traditionally, we think of the church as sending out missionaries. God raises them up, they are trained, raise support and the church sends them out to plant other churches where there are none. That’s more or less the image that we have. There’s nothing wrong with that scenario, and God will continue to do just that as he has for the past two thousand years. There is, though, a sense in which the entire church serves as the missionary. I want to begin talking about that little by little over the months ahead.

This morning I had a wonderful experience that may help to illustrate what I mean by speaking of the church as a missionary. I was walking around the lobby just before the first service. I turned around and saw a row of four Asian faces looking at me. Two were immediately recognizable. One was Elisha, a student from Japan who is studying at Calvary Bible College and in our Shepherd School of Ministry at the same time. Beside him was his girlfriend, Monica, who is a Chinese-American medical student at UMKC med school.  They introduced me to two young ladies who have just arrived a month ago from mainland China.

One of these young ladies in particular spoke wonderful English. As I shook her hand she immediately said sincerely and with a smile, “I’m not yet a Christian, but I have been reading the Bible and am very interested! I am very glad to be here this morning.”

“Doesn’t she speak good English?” Monica asked. “She taught herself by listening to some tapes.”

I asked if they were Mandarin speakers. They were. Monica speaks Cantonese. “You’d better learn how to speak a bit of Chinese,” teased Monica.

“Yes, I suppose I should. With English, Spanish and a wee bit of German, I can’t keep up with the Chinese explosion.” I love being part of a multi-cultural church!

Both of these young women seemed so pleased to be here and so eager to learn the Bible. No one was trying to convince anyone, or trying to sell something. It was all so natural and authentic.

A few minutes later they met another one of our pastors. The articulate one announced proudly, “This is the first time I have been in a REAL church!” They already said they want to come back next week.

As churches we pray to send missionaries to China. That’s great! However, we need to remember that God can use the whole church as a missionary, just as he did this morning. In today’s world, God is bringing the whole world to our neighborhood. All we have to do is be sensitive to what he is doing. As Peruvian missiologist Samuel Escobar has said, this is the era of the the gospel going from everywhere to everywhere.

Did you listen to the big VP debate tonight? I was looking forward to it, but I had the chance to hang out with some of our students tonight and discuss missionality. Sorry, Sarah! See ya later, Joe! By the time I got home I just got to hear the last little bit before the debate wrapped up. No big deal. I’ll watch later. And, I’m sure there will be many media heads to tell me what I’m hearing.

I did have some political thoughts this morning as I was reading through Psalm 85. Here’s the passage that captured my attention.

I will hear what God the LORD will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly. Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land. Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven. Yea, the LORD shall give that which is good; and our land shall yield her increase. Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set us in the way of his steps.
Psalm 85:8-13

The context of this psalm is messianic, of course. There are, however, some great principles to guide us even today as we contemplate the upcoming elections and the current economic crisis.

First, this is a time to learn to listen to God. Our prayer is often seeing how loudly we can cry out to God. I am thinking more and more that prayer ought to be as much as listening to God as it is talking to God. In the midst of an historic time in America, are we listening to hear what God might be saying? Have we learned to listen in the circumstances, crises and concerns? Or, as the psalmist would suggest, are we running square into the midst of folly driven by our fears?

Second, are we looking beyond the current situations to see the salvation and glory to come? Wisdom does not ignore the crisis of the moment, but yet looks far beyond the moment to see the big picture of God’s plan - surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him. Do we really see this, believe this? This long range, big picture thinking is what enables us to fear God, not to fear circumstances or current conditions.

Third, as we look toward November elections, putting all party affiliation and personal interests aside, which candidates reflect the beautiful and balanced truth of these verses? In which candidates do we see this balance of mercy and truth? Righteousness and peace? Think about this for just a moment. The question is not which is the “Christian candidate,” rather which candidate most perfectly reflects this balance of mercy and truth, righteousness and peace? Let’s be honest - there are plenty of Christians who are so messed up they are off the chart! And, while we are being frank, there are non-believing individuals who more accurately reflect certain aspects of biblical truth than many believers. Our societal elections are to elect people to govern by truth, mercy, righteousness and peace, not to elect a pastor.

Register to vote. Be an informed voter at all levels - local, state and national. Prayerfully consider the men and women who are running for office, and vote for those who most accurately embody biblical principle, regardless of their personal religious affiliation or lack thereof, and regardless of party affiliation.