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Key Bible Verse: "Your blood has ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation." (Revelation 5:9). Bonus Reading: Revelation 7:9-17

Beginning with the first Pentecost, the Christian church dismantled the barriers of gender, race, and social class that marked Jewish congregations. Paul marveled over the radical change: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3:28, NIV).

One Indian pastor told me, "Most of what happens in Christian churches, including even miracles, can be duplicated in Hindu and Muslim congregations. But in my area only Christians strive, however ineptly, to mix men and women of different castes, races, and social groups. It's the real miracle."

Church offers a place where infants and grandparents, unemployed and executives, immigrants and blue bloods, can come together. Just yesterday, I sat sandwiched between an elderly man hooked up to a puffing oxygen tank and a breastfeeding baby who grunted loudly and contentedly throughout the sermon. Where else can we find that mixture?

When I walk into a new church, the more its members resemble each other—and resemble me—the more uncomfortable I feel.

—Phillip Yancey in Christianity Today

My Response: On a scale of 1 to 10, how open am I to embracing the cultural and ethnic diversity of the entire body of Christ?

Adapted from Christianity Today (11/08). All rights reserved by the copyright holder and/or publisher. May not be reproduced.

Copyright © 2010 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.
Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.

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Prayer for the Week

Lord, if I'm part of the problem for unity in your church, make me willing to take action so that I become part of the solution.

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