The Spice of Life
I like vanilla ice cream. I prefer it over chocolate, strawberry, and most, if not all, other flavors of ice cream, of which there are many. But that doesn’t mean I never eat any other flavor of ice cream. Not at all. I like variety. After all, variety is the spice of life!
So, why don’t we see more variety in our churches?
Maybe it’s because of the homogeneous church growth principle which came out of Fuller Seminary. The homogeneous church growth principle teaches that churches that focus on people “like us” are more likely to grow. There is a great deal of truth in this teaching. People do not naturally like crossing cultural, ethnic, and economic boundaries, naturally being the operative word.
But the truth is people don’t naturally turn over their lives to Christ. Such an unnatural act only takes place as God’s Spirit opens their hearts to recognize the power of the cross and resurrection and the great love of Jesus for them personally. It also takes the prayers and efforts of God’s people called by our Lord to be his witnesses and ambassadors of his kingdom.
The Christian life is not natural; it is supernatural. That’s what makes it so awesome. It’s also what keeps so many of God’s people and churches from fully embracing it.
One of my priorities at Embrace Church is teaching our people how to live the supernatural life God has provided us through his Spirit. And just to be clear, the Spirit of God is the Spirit of Jesus Himself.
“I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you,” was Jesus’s promise to his disciples. And to us!
“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?” (I Corinthians 6:19)
“As God has said: ‘I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.’” (2 Corinthians 6:16)
It was easy when I served as pastor of Seoul International Baptist Church to attract a variety of people. Most of the time, we ministered to somewhere between twenty and twenty-five nationalities. And our people constantly crossed worldly borders, serving, praying, and enjoying life together with the wonderful variety that was our fellowship. It was easy because, in many ways, our bond was the English language. Even those who spoke English as a second or third language attended our church because they didn’t speak Korean.
Although English was often the door into our church, I can tell you that the dynamic of what Ephesians 3:10 refers to as God’s multi-colored wisdom is what made our relationships with one another so special. So special that now that I’m back in the U.S.A. I miss it. And as I’ve shared before, that’s why I feel so strongly about Embrace Church. We have just a taste of that variety in our fellowship, but I believe more is on its way.
It won’t be as easy as it was in Seoul. You would not believe the number of ethnic churches in our area - Hispanic, Chinese, Vietnamese, Burmese, Korean, Pakistani, Filipino, and many more. All of them minister in the language of their people, and I get it. It’s the homogeneous growth principle at work.
At the same time, I long to come together with these fellow believers to celebrate the unity we have in Jesus Christ. And it is to that end, that I am praying and working. It’s a daunting task, clearly supernatural in nature. But the variety of flavors to be had will be heavenly!
In Christ,
Dan
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You can listen to my weekly messages at Embrace Church, High Point.