The Birth of the Multi-Ethnic Church: a Course # 64 15/02/2022
Out of Many , One People
Welcome. Something slightly different this week: a sermon and home group series on becoming a multi-ethnic church based on Acts; hopefully oven-ready and available to down-load. Please disseminate as widely as possible; and if you use it, please let me know how you found it.
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Seminar on ‘Racial Formation in England: A Critical Analysis of the Sewell Report’ by Prof Leon Tikly on Thursday, 24th February from 5.00-6.30 online. Sponsored by the Centre for the Study of Ethnicity and Citizenship. Go through their website for details and registering.
The Birth of the Multi-Ethnic Church
Materials for Five Sermons and Home Groups from the book of Acts
This is a free resource for a series based on Acts, intended to help churches grow in inter-ethnic unity. It could work as a series either between Easter and Pentecost, or immediately following Pentecost. The passages are:
1. Acts 2:1-13 The Spirit makes us one
2. Acts 6:1-7 Working through problems together builds unity
3. Acts 13:1-3. Multi-cultural leadership
4. Acts 15:1-21. Unity in Decision Making
5. Acts 21:27-22:22. Unity and Identity
There are plenty of good commentaries on Acts available and there is also a lot of helpful material in Aaron Kuecker’s ‘The Spirit and the “Other’: Social Identity, Ethnicity and Intergroup Reconciliation in Luke-Acts’ (T & T Clark 2011). I haven’t yet been able to read Willie James Jennings commentary on Acts.
Please feel free make full use this – all clergy are plagiarists. Also I would be grateful if you could make it known as widely as possible in ministerial and other groups you are part of.
It would be really helpful for me to know who makes use of this, as a return favour could you kindly let me know if you have.
Thanks to the congregation of St James, Alperton with whom this series was originally run.
Many thanks to Anita Kapila for voice-recording an earlier version for editing and re-publication.
1. Acts 2:1 – 13. The Spirit makes us one.
Notes for preachers.
Everyone hears God speaking in their own language (v 6). There is no special language of faith in Christianity (unlike Islam where Arabic is the only proper language for the Koran). Though these people are mostly Jews, with some converts to Judaism rather than pagan Gentiles, still it shows the good news about Jesus beginning to spread geographically, as Jesus promised in Acts 1:8.
Notice that as often in Acts, Luke gives us lots of information about where people come from. Geography matters to God! He is interested in where we come from, and we should be interested in where others are from.
But as well as diversity there is unity – that they all hear the one message about what God has done (v 11 b). And peoples’ curiosity is aroused (v 12) – when Christians from different places come together it is a sign and a challenge to a watching world that something is happening. Unity in diversity is a very powerful witness to Jesus today.
Aaron Kuecker: ‘The Spirit . . not only creates common identity, but the Spirit also powerfully affirms the validity of ethno-linguistic particularity’ (p 118). Note that unity in the midst of different languages prefigures the heavenly worship of Revelation 7:9.
Home Group Questions.
1. Do you think that there is a specially privileged language and culture (e.g. English!) in Christianity? Do you ever feel your background is somehow ‘second best’?
2. God takes geography seriously (verses 8 to 11). Do I? How much do you know about where the members of your church come from? How will you find out more?
3. Do you think people know enough about your background? What would you like them to know? [It may be good to go around the group and speak for 2/3 minutes on ‘What it was like where I grew up’; or let a few people speak for longer each week for the next few weeks.]
4. The coming of the Spirit was necessary for the task of evangelism to begin (see Acts 1:8). How should that affect our approach to evangelism today?
5. In v12 people are ‘amazed’ at the diversity of languages. Today people often think that Christianity is an ‘English’ religion (in fact only a minority of London church goers are white now). In what ways do you think a multi-ethnic church arouse people’s interest and is a witness today? Do you think there are ways we could make more of this?
2. Acts 6:1 to 7. Working through problems together builds unity.
Notes for preachers
A growing church means growing problems (6:1)! Your congregation needs to know: a) the Hebraic widows spoke Hebrew – they probably grew up in Jerusalem. The Grecian Jews spoke Greek, they were probably “Outsiders “. b) The early Christians were well known for feeding widows – with no husband to provide for them, they could easily be destitute.
It seems the ‘outsiders’ were getting a raw deal! The 12 apostles a) take the problem seriously; b) recognise It is not they’re calling to sort out these problems out. So they suggest appointing a group of men who will take responsibility for food distribution whilst they focus on preaching and prayer (verses 2 to 5).
Who did the church choose? a) They still had to be spirit-filled people (do we think it doesn’t matter if the practical jobs are done by “unspiritual “people? b) By their names they were all Greek speakers – they gave power to people from the disadvantaged group.
A squabble over food could have derailed the church. Instead it kept on growing (v 7) because a) they didn’t squash problems, they listened to complaints, b) the apostles kept their eyes on their main purpose – preaching and prayer; c) but they cared about practical issues and were intelligent in thinking of solutions; d) they gave special care and power to the people who felt excluded.
I cover this passage in greater detail in my blog #3 on ‘The Church’s first inter-ethnic conflict’ (12/11/20).
Home group questions:
1. As people grow closer together in a church problems and grievances will arise. List together what do you think are the three main relationship problems in our church. (Be honest!) Which ones come from our having different backgrounds?
2. What lessons can we learn about how apostles handled the problem? How can we apply those lessons to the problems that you have listed in 1 above.
3. Lots of problems in the early church centred over food – see also 1 Corinthians 11:17-22; Galatians 2:11-16. Why was eating together important to them? Why do you think that was the case? Is it still true today? How can we resolve the problems?
4. The church still grew (v 7); notably amongst the priests, who might have been most supportive of the Hebraic Jews. Together produce a list of pointers that this passage gives as to how churches grow. Which pointers are most relevant for our church today?
3. Acts 13:1-3. Multi-cultural leadership.
Notes for preachers.
Diversity: a leadership team - Barnabas (a Jew from Cyprus); Simeon (called Niger, a black man – was he the man who carried Jesus cross, Lk 23:26?): Lucius who came from Cyrene (roughly Libya in North Africa); Manaen, who had been brought up with Herod and so was of aristocratic background; and Saul, a converted Pharisee – they differed in ethnic, educational and religious backgrounds!
In a very mixed world this diversity was necessary to show that Christ “has destroyed the dividing wall of hostility “(Ephesians 2:14) and brings reconciliation between peoples. (The cases in Acts of the Spirit using direct speech, as in 13:2, but also 8:29, 10:19, are all calls to cross ethnic boundaries in mission. Kuecker, p 219).
Unity: but despite their diversity they were united in worship, fasting and prayer – these are unchangeable essentials for a church as it faces great evangelistic challenges.
Home Group Questions.
1. Luke gives us details about the church leaders in Antioch. Can you list the variety of backgrounds of PCC members at your church?
2. What can prevent churches from having diverse leadership? Ought we to be taking steps to increase our leadership diversity?
3. “Prophets and teachers “(13:1). Both are mentioned in lists of the gifts in Romans 12:6,7 and Ephesians 4:11; so we may assume that each have a different emphasis. How might those emphases be expressed in our church today? What do you think the differences are? What does this passage tell us about how a church hears the Holy Spirit speak to it? What does this have to teach our church?
4. Barnabas and Saul had a very demanding task ahead of them. Are there any pointers in this passage as to what might have encouraged them?
5. The church at Antioch sent off two of their five leaders. What does that tell us about the church there and what can we learn from them?
6. There doesn’t seem to have been one main leader here; though within a generation or two ‘bishops’ over one or more congregations seem to be emerging (see Paul’s instructions to Titus 1:5, 2:1, 3:1; and Timothy – 1 Timothy 1:3 and 2 Timothy 4:1). What do you think is best – one main leader or a team?
4. Acts 15:1-21. Unity in Decision Making
Notes for preachers.
Things are starting to change for the church and some people don’t like it! But help your listeners to be sympathetic to the people in verse 1. Jews had been brought up to believe that obedience to the law (including circumcision) was an essential mark of piety. (Could you get people to role play the dispute in church?) Disputes will happen in churches – but note how they are handled: by debate (v 2); by consultation with those who had known Jesus (v 2); by seeing what God is doing (v 8); by identifying basic principles of faith (v 11). Kuecker points out that Acts 15 (v 1 & 23) is the first time non-Israelites are referred to as ‘brothers’ (pp 187 & 213).
But they also make concessions to Jewish traditions (v 20). We don’t obey all these restrictions now (for example abstaining from blood, i.e. only eating halal meat). Why not?
Questions for home groups.
1. A ‘sharp dispute’ (v 2). If you think it will work, divide the group into two and get half to be the ‘men from Judea,’ and the other half to be Paul and Barnabas, and let them argue it out.
2. We bring different traditions to our church, often reflecting the parts of the world we come from. Are you aware of ways in which those traditions come into conflict with what happens here? (Possible examples: what sort of clothes you wear to church; how you observe Good Friday; how you express praise or thankfulness to God).
3. Do you feel upset about any of your traditions or ways of doing things not being sufficiently accepted here? Do you think there are traditions it would be good for our church to take on board?
4. What can we learn from the way the apostles handled this dispute? (Possible responses: by debate (v 2); by consultation with those who had known Jesus (v 2) – perhaps today that means reading the New Testament; by seeing what God is doing (v 8); by identifying basic principles of the faith (verse 11).
5. Ought we to be following all prohibitions of verse 20? If not, why not?
5. Acts 21:37–22: 22 – Unity and Identity.
Notes for preachers.
This is part of a long narrative. People will need help in understanding the story. For our purposes, it is a valuable case study in Paul’s understanding of his own identity.
1. He affirmed his background. In 21:39 to 22:21 he summarises it; indeed the whole story from Acts 21:17 onwards about his attempts to show that he is loyal Jew (Romans 9:1-5 and 11:1 make the same point). Being in a multicultural society does not require us to renounce who we are.
2. He is flexible – he speaks Greek to the commander and wins his respect. In 1 Corinthians 9:22 he has described how he has “become all things to all people. Paul learned to move outside his own culture and background and become comfortable with people in all sorts of situations.
3. He renounces his own background – the crowd listen to Paul attentively until he shows that he is not bound by Jewish exclusiveness, and that God’s concerned is bigger than his Jewishness.
NB Aaron Kuecker repeatedly (p 18 & elsewhere) uses the verbs ‘affirm’, ‘transcend’ and ‘chasten’ to describe the three attitudes to our ethnicity described above.
Home Group Questions.
1. ‘Identity’ is an important issue for many people in a multicultural society. In 21:39 Paul gives a potted summary of how he sees himself; that is, of his identity. In the group ask members of the group to summarise their identities in no more than three short phrases. It might be good to ask people to write them on a slip of paper first. How do you sense Paul’s feels about his identity? How do you think most people feel about theirs?
2. Paul speaks both Greek (21:37) and Aramaic (22:2) in this passage. How many different languages are spoken in the group? Who speaks the most languages? How important is it to worship in our mother tongue? In our church how can we overcome the difficulties caused by speaking different mother tongues?
3. Paul infuriates his fellow Jews (22:22). Are there times when following Christ has caused you to upset people from your own cultural background? What issues do you think are most likely to bring your faith into conflict with people of your own culture?
4. Paul’s aim was to “become all things to all people “(1 Corinthians 9:22) because he had a vision to win all people to Christ. Has anything helped the group members develop that ‘all people’ vision to share Christ? What would help you further in doing that?