20 Nov What is The Gospel And… Diversity?

By the way…you should read all of this.

You may know that at the first of the year, Mosaic Church began to commit to a process that would help us develop our God-given call to be a culturally and ethnically diverse church.

Our elder team, along with many others, looked up and saw a culture, that, by and large, doesn’t know how to grow people’s hearts towards reconciliation and a love of God-given diversity, and we asked the question,

“What if we could do something about that?”

We also began to ask ourselves, “How does God want to use us in the city?”

I believe, based on 1 Corinthians 12, that each church has a “redemptive gift” to offer the body of Christ, and that our ability to do multicultural, multiethnic, and multigenerational ministry really is a gift to the city, if for no other reason than the fact that there are very few who attempt it, and fewer still who pull it off. The fact that we are able to do that, to whatever degree of success we have, is a testament to the sovereignty of God and the deep desire of the people of Mosaic to press through our many challenges in doing so.

A few months ago, when one of our Board of Oversight members, Pastor Kevin York, was here (Kevin is a high-level church consultant, among his many roles), he told us that what we are doing, in his opinion, is the most complex and complicated kind of church—ethnically, generationally and socio-economically diverse, spirit-filled, evangelistically driven and orthodox—just to name a few broad strokes.

He summed up his thought with, “You do realize what that means? That means when no one is happy, you’re probably doing it right!”

I think what he humorously meant was, when we accept that church fundamentally isn’t about us, when we accept that we are all uncomfortable, when we all sense there is more to do along the lines in which we are called—then we are finally starting to be on the right track.

Therefore, one of the ways we are intentionally trying to “work out our salvation”, both as individuals in a literal sense and a church in a metaphorical sense, is through our “The Gospel And” (TGA) series of conversations, with the first several focused on Race, Cultural, and Diversity.

These have not been easy to get started, and we have had to overcome a number of bumps in the road to arrive at where we are. And by the way—the bumpiness and the difficulty are exactly why things like what we are doing are just rare, both in secular culture and in the church—it’s just risky, and that’s a fact. As a matter of fact, a pastor of a large megachurch here in Austin recently told me when his church thought about doing something like this, and made public mention of it, he got so much pushback that the whole thing collapsed. He looked at me and said, “So good luck!”

And as much as I appreciate his sentiments, to be direct, we don’t need luck—we just need the Spirit of God and committed hearts—and that’s where you come in.

Would you be willing to come take a look at what a heartfelt stab at cultural and racial reconciliation looks like? Not just sitting with others in a room on a Sunday, but diving down beneath the surface, asking hard questions, and learning how to obey the book of James:

“Now each one of you should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry, for the anger of man does not bring about the righteousness of God.” (1:19-20)

The Gospel and Diversity is a place to learn to have courageous conversations around topics that are difficult, instead of going off into our own cultural and political silos and seeing nothing change.

Don’t you wish, when you saw the news, and all the difficulties our nation has around the topic of race and ethnicity, that you can do something about it?

The good news is: you can.

On one hand, the fact that you are a part of this local church means you are doing something about it, in small part, and what we have each weekend is extraordinary.

And on the other, there is the opportunity to do even more, and trust God to bring power and healing to the city through us.

Tonight, at 7 pm, you are invited to a place where you will hear stories of those in this church who have been impacted and changed for the better by this process that we have committed to; you’ll have the opportunity to hear what’s on the heart of your brothers and sisters in Christ who are from a radically different place than you; and you’ll have the opportunity to cry out to God to do even more in your heart and our nation.

Above all, I believe you will be excited as you see the courageous hearts of your fellow Christians on display, and be even more encouraged about what God is doing in your local church.

I know I’ll be there. Hope to see you!

Morgan