Why Go Multiethnic?
- Ritchie Carbajal
- Mar 29, 2007
How it started
It was about two years ago that the focus on going multiethnic became quite clear. Several books on the topic, as well as the research available on the internet piqued my interest. Like pieces of a puzzle, everything started falling into place. Out of a church planting class at Saddleback in 2005, a simple assignment of writing a mission statement grew into a paradigm shift in my thinking. Jesus’ commission to His disciples in Matthew 28:19-20 had said it all along. This was nothing new although it is not very often that you find churches that
intentionally focus on ethnic diversity as an integral part of their mission and not just an after-thought. With the continuing growth of ethnic groups, especially in our larger cities in America, organizations such as the North American Mission Board are advocating the planting of multiethnic churches.
The preparation
For my wife and I, it was a no-brainer. We both grew up surrounded by so much ethnic and cultural diversity—as if God was preparing us for this task all along! I guess the dead give-way for me was realizing the ethnic makeup in all of the Bible study groups we’ve had in our home over the years—African-American, American-Indian, Anglo, Chinese, Filipino, Hispanic, Jamaican, Japanese-American, Lebanese, etc. We both find it so easy to relate to the various mindsets and cultures among ethnic groups. Over the past two years, we have visited other like-minded churches in Southern California such as Mosaic in Pasadena and New Song in Irvine. We’ve also combed through numerous demographic reports from the Bay Area to New Jersey just to find out that we are to stay put here in North County.
God's idea
One approach to answering this question—Why go multiethnic?—is to recognize that God is more inclusive as opposed to being exclusive. He desires to save as many individuals as He possibly can from as many people groups as possible. It might also help to realize that God himself created the various cultures coming out of the Tower of Babel incident (possibly erected as a human attempt to survive another catastrophe like Noah's flood). 
The context of fulfilling the command to spread the teaching of the gospel has always been, and will always be among “all the nations”. This has been God’s idea from the very beginning.
Word definition
The word “ethnic” comes from the Greek word “ethnos” or “people group”. The phrase “panta te ethne” means “all the nations” or “all people groups” as is the case in Matthew 28. Jesus Himself underscored the need for more awareness and acceptance when he shocked the neighborhood by carrying on a conversation with a woman on the other side of the tracks. He also related a parable where the good guy was a gentleman from the same detested ethnic group in Samaria. To put things in better perspective, God is no respecter of persons. Economic status, political alignment, religious roots, colors on your flag, or color of your skin carry no weight whatsoever in His greater scheme of things.
Nothing new, really
So, is Crossweave starting something new and reinventing the wheel? By no means. King David of the Old Testament wrote song after song referring to all the nations worshipping God. The first recorded community of Christ followers in the New Testament was unapologetically multiethnic. This is undeniably true based on the Holy Spirit’s gift of speaking a foreign language in the melting pot around Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost. Peter, still stuck in the old school of ‘chosen-people-of-God-only’ thinking of the day, was the recipient of God’s lecture: Multiethnic Worldview 101. Paul’s itinerary as a missionary included a vast number of people groups that were within his reach in this part of the world including the Middle East, Europe and Asia. The last time I checked, the demographic of the New Jerusalem (aka those who make it to Heaven) was unequivocally ethnically diversified. And this is the direction Crossweave is heading. Why not make the trip together with us?
