In 2010, nearly four thousand believers in Jesus gathered in Cape Town, South Africa. Participants from 198 countries were represented at the conference—a gathering considered to be the most representative meeting of the Christian church in the two thousand years since Jesus walked the earth.
There will come a day when a gathering needn’t be “representative” because all believers will be together. John, in a vision from God, describes it this way: “I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb”. . . “and they cried out in a loud voice: ‘Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne’ ” (Revelation 7:9-10).
Our local churches may not always reflect the many kinds of diversity that exist in God’s eternal kingdom. Sometimes that’s the result of factors outside our control—such as not being able to worship in person with those who live on other continents. Other times we may be drawn to worship with those we perceive to be similar to ourselves culturally, generationally, politically, and economically.
But we honor God when we embrace—and even seek out—the beautiful differences He has endowed to His children. They offer a foretaste of that diverse, heavenly gathering when all those who trust in Jesus’ sacrifice will worship Him together.
