Heaven is multiethnic. Are you ready for that? The Bible tells us that the congregation gathered around God's heavenly throne will be "a vast multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language," all singing the praises of the Lamb. God's intention has always been to delight for all eternity in a redeemed community of ethnic diversity. But this diverse community shouldn't have to wait until eternity to begin! It can be a reality in our own local churches here and now. Patterned after a worship service, In Church as It Is in Heaven gives biblical warrant for such a community and shows how multiethnic churches provide a unique apologetic for the gospel. Along the way, the authors tell the story of their own churcha majority-white congregation which is being transformed into a family that reflects the diversity of heaven. The multiethnic kingdom is not just a nice idea, or an abstract theory. It's a realityone we can enter into today.
| Introduction: Broken City, Broken World |
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PART 1 CALL TO WORSHIP: LEARNING TO LOVE MULTIETHNIC KINGDOM CULTURE |
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7 | (24) |
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1 The Evidence That Our World Has Yet to See |
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9 | (8) |
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17 | (8) |
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3 Liturgies of Love and Longing |
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25 | (6) |
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PART 2 LAMENT: GRIEVING WHAT STANDS IN THE WAY OF MULTIETHNIC KINGDOM CULTURE |
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31 | (28) |
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33 | (7) |
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5 The Lies That Blind Us to the Ties That Bind Us |
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40 | (10) |
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50 | (9) |
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PART 3 OFFERING: GIVING FOR THE SAKE OF MULTIETHNIC KINGDOM CULTURE |
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59 | (28) |
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7 Seeing Both Sides of the Ball |
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61 | (10) |
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8 How God Made a Holy Mess and Turned It into a Heavenly Movement |
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71 | (8) |
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79 | (8) |
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PART 4 PASSING THE PEACE: WELCOMING ONE ANOTHER IN A MULTIETHNIC KINGDOM CULTURE |
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87 | (32) |
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10 Going to War by Passing the Peace |
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89 | (9) |
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11 White Is Not a Neutral Color |
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98 | (11) |
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12 Liturgies of Hospitality |
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109 | (10) |
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PART 5 COMMUNION: FEASTING TOGETHER ON THE VICTORY JESUS WON |
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119 | (23) |
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121 | (7) |
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14 Building Up Walls That Jesus Already Broke Down |
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128 | (6) |
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15 Liturgies of Communion |
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134 | (8) |
| Benediction: A Blessing for the Road |
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142 | (5) |
| Afterword |
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| Acknowledgments |
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| Notes |
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Jamaal E. Williams (DEdMin) serves as lead pastor of Sojourn Church Midtown in Louisville, Kentucky, and as president of the Harbor Network. In addition, he regularly consults churches on leadership matters and issues related to building healthy multi-ethnic churches. Timothy Paul Jones (PhD) teaches apologetics at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and serves as a preaching pastor at Sojourn Church Midtown. In addition, he has authored or co-authored more than a dozen books, including Finding God in a Galaxy Far, Far Away; Christian History Made Easy; and, with James Garlow and April Williams, the bestselling The Da Vinci Codebreaker.
