According to John’s vision in Revelation 7:9, heaven will be filled with people who are still recognized by their ethnicity (every nation, tribe, people, and language). So, if we want the church here and now to reflect that, Sunday mornings must stop being the most segregated time of the week.

That’s the premise of Karl Vaters’ conversation with Jamaal Williams and Timothy Paul Jones, the co-authors of In Church as It Is in Heaven: Cultivating a Multiethnic Kingdom Culture, which Karl named as one of his best nonfiction books of the year for 2024.

Jamaal and Timothy focus on what we can do to create a more kingdom-minded approach to ethnic diversity, while acknowledging that ethnic diversity is not the point of the church, but a byproduct of the gospel message.

Links:

• In Church as It Is in Heaven: Cultivating a Multiethnic Kingdom Culture

Bonus video

3 Steps to Move Your Church Toward Multiethnic Generosity, with Jamaal Williams and Timothy Paul Jones

One of the habits (liturgies) that Jamaal Williams and Timothy Paul Jones suggest in their book,  In Church as It Is in Heaven: Cultivating a Multiethnic Kingdom Culture, is to help your church move toward multiethnic generosity.

Karl Vaters talks with them as they suggest a simple plan to visit a faithful, gospel-driven church outside your own ethnicity or culture once every three months. Embrace this habit as an opportunity to learn from sisters and brothers in other cultures. And when you do, walk through these three steps:

1. Consider your own preferences
2. Visit the other church
3. Be grateful for your preferences—and be willing to lay them down