Why should churches look like heaven?

The August 20 edition of the Texan Digital highlights a couple of churches making intentional moves toward greater multicultural fellowship, both within a congregation and between congregations. It sounds elementary, but such efforts have a lot of moving parts, just as the people involved have a lot of moving parts.

Perhaps this is well-illustrated as the nation watches the St. Louis-area community of Ferguson torture itself nearly to death over racial disharmony. I know there have been a series of provocations in this story, but the misunderstanding between communities is at the root of this sprawling event. I mention Ferguson because here we see in an extreme form the pattern of race relations in our nation. For a while it seems like we understand each other better than we do, and then something happens that highlights our differences in assumptions, expectations and experience.

Any simple explanations of the unrest in Ferguson—and there have been many—are reductionist and useless. In the same way, any simple explanation of misunderstandings between neighboring people groups elude us.

Among people of good will and great similarities—Christian folk—there is still a great diversity of style, language, culture and experiences. And these things sometimes divide us. In America we have the luxury of indulging that diversity; here in Texas I get to choose from among a variety of churches within 10 minutes of my home. If I prefer contemporary or traditional or gospel or Tejano music on Sunday morning, those options are right at hand. I can also pick from different preaching styles and doctrinal emphases just among the SBTC churches close to my home. These options give me the ability to worship with just the folks I prefer and in just the style I prefer. That privilege is rare in history and rare in the world. Perhaps it’s something that even we Texans should not take for granted.

Twenty-five years ago, I lived in one Midwestern town in a metro area of over a million but with exactly one Southern Baptist church within a 10-minute radius of my home. Expanding the circle to 20 minutes garnered two more small and struggling churches. I worshipped with the folks who were there and in the style of their tradition.

Other places in our country have fewer even evangelical churches sprinkled across the map. In Russia, a country with a long Christian heritage, we walked and rode busses for nearly two hours to get to the only Baptist church in a city of 2 million. Many of the Orthodox churches we walked past were closed, by the way. Some of you could tell similar stories in places where you’ve lived. Will hardships narrow our choices and eventually drive us to worship with people we don’t understand as well? It’s happened to other believers, and we can’t assume it won’t happen here.

There’s another thing that has helped believers in other nations look past ethnic and cultural preferences—persecution. In the past five years, I’ve heard more talk about persecution in the U.S. from serious people than in the previous 20 years. Perhaps more disturbing is that serious people less sympathetic with Christianity are suggesting limitations to religious liberty. We can now imagine a day when some churches will be taxed out of existence, when pastors will be penalized for preaching an unpopular gospel, and when believers will be more focused on what we have in common than on what we don’t. Is persecution what it will take for us to sincerely embrace those we know to be our brothers and sisters? 

Our convention’s Look Like Heaven emphasis is not radical. We’re not suggesting that churches merge but rather that they fellowship together and find ways to minister side by side. My mostly Anglo church has congregations of Black, Hispanic and Asian Southern Baptists nearly in sight of its parking lot. We share a community already, a common ministry field. When our church visits in our own neighborhood, we often find folks who prefer to speak Spanish or Vietnamese who will not likely worship with us, even if they are believers. A dynamic partnership with our sister churches will assist our ministries and be a provocative example to the community we’re trying to reach together with the same gospel.

Of course we know that heaven is going to be filled with the redeemed of all people. Nothing that formerly divided us will be worthy of notice in the presence of our Lord. But Christians begin to experience a taste of heaven in this life through our fellowship with the Lord and with his people. Consider what we’re missing if that fellowship is limited by our own imaginations and background. I just wonder if there are good things God intends us to experience and share with the world but that we are missing because we keep to ourselves. Wouldn’t it be pretty easy to find out?