It is explicitly clear from Scripture that the Church, the New Man, is comprised of people from every ethnicity and nationality who respond positively to the gospel of Jesus Christ. The dividing wall has been broken down resulting in believing Jews and Gentiles (Gk: εθνη, “nations”) being united into one new entity, the Body of Christ (Eph. 2:15). The issue, however, is whether or not the multi-ethnicity of the nations so characteristic of the universal Church is to be tangibly manifested in the local church.
Some believe that diversity-in-unity, and specifically its expression in multi-ethnicity, need not be a characteristic of the local church. Peter Wagner, a strong proponent of the homogeneous principle of church growth states: “…whenever Paul speaks of Christian believers being ‘all one in Christ,’ he is referring not to a normative pattern for local congregations, but rather to a supracongregational relationship of believers in the total Christian body over which Christ himself is the head” (Peter Wagner, Our Kind of People, p. 132). However, if such is the case, in what way can Jesus’ prayer of John 17 be fulfilled? How will the world ever see a tangible, meaningful expression of the unity of believers from different ethnicities and cultures if it is not expressed in local churches? The “supracongregational relationship of believers in the total Christian body” means little to my next door neighbor or colleague at work. Apart from real-life expressions in the local church, it is little more than a Platonic ideal.
Some years ago I was walking with my youngest son in our neighborhood on a clear, summer night. As he looked in the sky, he remarked, “How awesome, Dad, look at the moon!” I immediately looked up, but saw only a thin, crescent moon. But that in no way hindered Justin from identifying the portion he saw as “the moon.” What he saw was genuine moon and fully united with the rest of the moon that wasn’t visible at the time. In the same way, each local congregation under Christ is genuine Church and intended to be a replica in miniature of the universal Body of Christ. In the local church, the intangible becomes tangible and the invisible becomes visible. At least, that’s the way it was meant to be. How do I know this?
In the Greek of Christ’s day, the word “church” (Gk: ἐκκλησία) could be used for any gathering of people, not just specifically believers. However, the focus was always on the assembly itself and the characteristic of physical proximity is clearly evident (cf. Acts 7:38; 9:32, 39, 41). In fact, those who met formed an assembly only when they met.
In the book of Acts and the New Testament epistles, this secular usage of the term ἐκκλησία gradually gave way to a technical use of the word, referring specifically to an assembly of Christians. In these cases there is not merely physical proximity, but also a profound spiritual unity derived from being “in Christ.” This is the church local, with a small “c.”
Beyond the secular and technical usage of the term, there is in the New Testament a gradual, nearly imperceptible development that takes the reader towards a metaphorical use of the word. In this sense the word ἐκκλησία refers not only to the gathered assembly marked by physical and spiritual unity (the local church), but also to the people who make up the assembly whether or not they are physically gathered together (the universal church). This is the Church universal, with a capital “C.”
Our question is this: Is the multi-ethnic character of the universal Church (with a capital “C”) also to be manifested in the local church (with a small “c”)? Part of the answer to that question is found in how the New Testament writers view the relationship between the universal and local church. From the standpoint of the New Testament, the universal Church (with a capital “C”) is never disassociated from the local church (with a small “c”). The universal church of the New Testament always met in visible, local assemblies. This is underscored by the fact that, of the 114 times the word ἐκκλησία is used in the New Testament, 90 speak of the local church rather than the universal church. For example, in Paul’s letter to the Colossians he takes us from the height of theological insight regarding the universal Church (1:18-19) right down to practical considerations for the local church (4:15). The transition is apparently seamless. The universal communion sanctorum “in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 1:1) was to be tangibly and necessarily expressed in local gatherings. In other words, the spiritual realities of the universal New Man (Church) are to be concretely and visibly manifested in the local New Man (church). The two are inseparable. The local church is intended to be a microcosm of the universal church. Thus Paul can write to one local church and say, “You are the body of Christ” (1 Cor. 12:27).
Today, God is raising up a new generation of Christ-followers who believe that the dividing walls of ethnicity and class have been deconstructed in the supernatural creation of the New Man, the universal Church. But more than this, they also believe and are committed to living and nurturing such unity in diversity in local churches which are the local, geographical expressions of the New Man. The New Man scattered must be the New Man gathered according to the New Testament model of local churches. To the degree that this takes place, those around us who look at the local church – which is but a microcosm of the Church universal in its multi-ethnic beauty – will respond like my son when he saw the moon: “How awesome! Look at the Church!”
