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Ethnic Diversity Within the Local Church


           Part of the beauty of the gospel is expressed by Paul’s words in Galatians 3:28, “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.” The gospel crosses ethnic and social lines. It cannot be confined to one culture, and the beautiful result of the gospel is that men, women, and children believers from all cultures can worship Christ together, without the ethnic or social prejudices that are common in every culture.

        The question arises, however: should churches express a single ethnic or social identity or multiple ethnic or social identities? Should churches be formed around a single cultural identity that will attract others from that culture? Or should churches seek to be multi-ethnic? Ralph Winter argues that the question should be answered in terms of Christian liberty and, ultimately, evangelistic effectiveness.[1] When put in these terms, since churches that express a single cultural identity more effectively attract non-believers from that culture, it is better to focus on one ethnic or social group.

However, this method mistakenly defines the gathering of the church as primarily an attractive force instead of primarily a gathering for the purpose of worshipping Christ in song, through the preaching of the Word, and through the partaking of the Lord’s Supper.

When we fix the culture of the church to a single culture for the sake of attracting those of that culture, we tend to reaffirm cultural and social prejudices instead of exemplifying the unity the church has in Christ. Churches should form around the gospel and the doctrine handed down by the apostles through the Bible, not around ethnic or social similarities.

I am not arguing that churches should take on an “American-style” or any single style of church or that one must abandon their culture in order to join a multi-ethnic church. I am arguing just the opposite. A church service should be a foreshadowing of the time when “a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages” gathers before the throne of God and worships him (Rev. 7:9).

Thus, a church should, when possible, seek to be multi-ethnic. This implies that churches should be open to leadership that represents multiple ethnicities, that churches should be open to various, God-exalting forms of singing and worship, and even that those who visit a multi-ethnic church may feel uncomfortable when they see people of a different culture. However, while the sight of people from multiple social or ethnic groups worshipping together in unity may cause some to be angry or uncomfortable, it is a beautiful sight in God’s eyes, and he is the One we seek to please.     




[1]Ralph D. Winter, “The New Macedonia: A Revolutionary New Era in Mission Begins,” in Perspectives on the World Christian Movement: A Reader, ed. Ralph D. Winter and Steven C. Hawthorne, 4th ed. (Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library, 2009), 360.
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