Multiethnic Ministry Essentials

There’s a dynamic tension between unity and diversity in the body of Christ. I discuss this tension and our role as Christians in my four MEM blog posts, “Multiethnic Ministry Essentials.” Here is an overview.

When Christians assume we’re all the same and our differences don’t matter, that’s pursuing unity and uniformity without diversity. But if we focus too much on our differences, the church fragments into tribalism that divides over race and class. That’s diversity without unity.

Christian theology holds unity and diversity together. It’s a both/and. It’s in the very identity of God. Christians are TrinitarianGod is one and three. If we only affirmed the oneness of God, we wouldn’t be Christians; we’d be Jews, Muslims or Unitarians. If we only affirmed the three persons of God, we’d be polytheists, worshipping three gods.

Holding unity and diversity together is what makes us Christian.

Read the rest of Al Hsu’s article, “Why Unity and Diversity are the Foundation of Multiethnic Ministry” from InterVarsity’s MEM blog.

As Christians, we affirm the unity and diversity of being one body with many parts, but how do we actually live this out? In the Bible, 1 Corinthians 12 suggests at least three dynamics at work which I have described in three additional blog posts:

We’re all parts of the body of the Christ, working together and growing in multiethnic identity, multiethnic relationships, and multiethnic witness.

May we together be God’s agents of transformation in the world!

--by Al Hsu


Find more articles about race, ethnicity and the Christian faith on InterVarsity’s Multiethnic Ministries Blog.