The Narthex: A Publication of the Young Pietists

Community in Diversity

by Peter Ahn

I CONSIDER MYSELF NEW to the
Covenant family. I have only been a part of
this denomination for the past three years. I
believe some of the greatest Christian leaders
in the world are a part of this great family we
call the Evangelical Covenant Church.
Over the past several years, the ECC has
made great strides to become an ethnically diverse
denomination. Through church plants,
adopting ethnic churches, and empowering
ethnic leaders to take office in the ECC, we
have become recognized as a multi-racial
denomination. This is no small feat because
not too long ago, the ECC was predominately
an Anglo-American denomination.
Why does the Covenant desire this kind of
diversity? And why does a church like Metro
Community Church share the same passion
for diversity? I believe it’s because we take
very seriously the Great Commandment. To
love our God with full devotion requires us to love our neighbor. And when you look at
who our neighbor is contextually in the New
Testament, you find that our neighbor is
someone from a different race and a different
socio-economic class. Our neighbor is someone
who is outside our box. In Luke 10:25-
37, Jesus tells the story of the Good Samaritan.
In this passage, we learn that a Samaritan
person has compassion on a Jewish man who
was bludgeoned to near-death by thieves.
To understand the implications of this you
must be aware that the Jews and Samaritans
were staunch enemies, due to the fact that
Samaritans were half-breeds of Gentile and
Jewish blood. And in this story Jesus teaches
us that if we really want to love our neighbor,
it requires us to love people who are from
different ethnic backgrounds – people who
might have at one time or another been our
enemies. This is counter-intuitive to what
many denominations and churches advocate
today. I applaud the ECC for being non-con-
formist in this area. However, it will continue
to require of the ECC a radical commitment
to spread racial diversity in its churches and
offices so that rather than this being just a
novelty it becomes a major identity of who
we are as a denomination.
The other reason why the ECC has this
passion for diversity is to be relevant to the
next generation. The postmodern generation
is the first generation that has taken great
strides in crossing the racial divide. When you
look at the unchurched population of Gen X
and Y, you find that many of them have best
friends who are from a different race; they
even date and marry people from a different
racial affinity. And because of these radical
steps, a church that desires to be relevant to
these young people must be multi-racial in its
congregational makeup. Why? Because if an
unchurched person who does not have God
in his or her life is able to cross the racial divide
all by themselves, and yet
the church which proclaims
to have God on their side
doesn’t, then non-Christians
will deem the church to be inauthentic,
and thus irrelevant.
This is more than just keeping
up with the trends; it’s about evangelism. It’s
about being fully devoted to the Great Commandment,
and in the 21st century it is going
to be hard to fulfill the Great Commandment
in America if churches do not intentionally
challenge their people to open their
doors to people from all walks of life.
We take this very seriously at
Metro and it has been a blessing
to see God bring people
that are so different from one
another, not just ethnically
but also socio-economically
and generationally. We have
over eleven different ethnic
groups represented at Metro.
Our socio-economic makeup
is quite diverse, from extreme
poverty to the upperclass, although
the majority of our people are lower
middle-class. Another surprise is our
diversity in age. Metro’s average age just
six months ago was in the late twenties to
early thirties. However, within a few months
we have seen an emergence of high school
youths coming out. In addition, there are also
a growing number of baby boomers at Metro.
Many people have asked me how Metro has
accomplished this. What it comes down to is
taking the Great Commandment and Great
Commission seriously. In the 21st century,
if the Church is to take the two greatest
mandates of Jesus seriously, it must be about
diversity. This passion for diversity burns
deep within my heart every day. The leadership
of this church shares in this passion with
me. In fact, all leaders at Metro must have
a passion for four things: fostering ethnic
diversity, building community with others
in the church, growing as a disciple of Jesus
Christ, and reaching the poor and oppressed.
These four things are the DNA makeup
of our church. Our leadership team is also
diverse ethnically. If a church is really serious
about becoming multi-racial it must be willing
to share power multi-racially.
The ECC which Metro is a part of is very
serious about fulfilling the Great Commandment
and Great Commission and that is why
we are committed to diversity. It is not just
about being politically correct, but it’s about
reflecting the very heart of God.