To all brothers and sisters “who by the one Spirit have access to the Father,” grace and peace to you.

Last week at the Parents’ Academy, I shared about the relationship between the church and education. I read Ephesians 3:11 to the parents, emphasizing the glory and purpose of the church:

So that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Ephesians 3:10-11, ESV)

Prior to this, Paul mentioned that the “manifold wisdom of God” has a focal point: the mystery of the gospel. In verse 6, he says that this mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

In this letter, I discuss church diversity and unity using these two verses. I’ve pondered and studied this topic for the last two years.

Besides the unity found in the gospel, there are two counterfeit forms of unity. The first is coercive unity, where people “conform outwardly” but harbor unspoken dissent. The second is token unity. It appears all-inclusive yet remains detached from everything. The former represents an overreach of authority, while the latter, an overabundance of love. Coercive unity eliminates love, leaving behind a fleeting order. In formal unity, unconditional love becomes a new form of tyranny, as it removes the space for differences to exist. This type of unity is also usually short-lived.

In today’s church, the Catholic Church leans towards high-authority unity, while evangelical churches favor low-authority, all-embracing love. Reformed churches aim to achieve (and sustain) a balance.

There is another phenomenon resembling gospel-centered unity, which we call homogenous unity. Many feel that small churches are more intimate and unified, while larger churches lack that closeness. They mistakenly believe that smaller churches are more “unified” and even better equipped to embody the grand purpose of the church described in the two verses mentioned above.

Those who think this way fail to realize that smaller groups are less diverse. Conversely, larger groups have higher diversity but less homogeneity.

The purpose of the gospel is not to achieve unity among a homogenous group, but to achieve unity among a highly diverse group. In Ephesians, Jews and Gentiles exhibit the

lowest homogeneity. The gospel’s greatness lies in uniting the irreconcilable, testifying to Christ’s impossible sacrifice and resurrection.

Birds of a feather flock together: Teachers easily connect with teachers; business people with business people; intellectuals with intellectuals; high-income earners with high-income earners; literature enthusiasts with literature enthusiasts; drinkers with drinkers; even children with children; and older adults with older adults.

Common connections in a church aren’t necessarily bad; they may even be good. However, it is highly likely not gospel-related. This is instead the norm in human society. When the church maintains social norms, this by no means reflects church life or the gospel’s power.

What, then, is the distinctive, gospel-powered unity that characterizes church life?

Let me pose a series of questions:

· Where else in this world could young men and 80-year-old women have lunch together, without any blood or legal ties between them?

· Where else do children under 10 attend funerals with parents for people who may be total strangers?

· Where else in this world do you see a company boss and an ordinary employee at the same gathering, with the boss serving and the employee being served?

· Where else could you see men of different incomes holding hands, talking, and weeping together, without being in a same-sex relationship?

· Where else can you find university professors, executives, designers, and engineers singing, shaking hands, and calling each other brothers and sisters with cleaners, repairmen, petitioners, and ex-convicts?

In Chinese society today, these are unusual, almost unimaginable scenes. However, dear brothers and sisters, over the years, I have witnessed these remarkable scenes among you. I’ve witnessed even more astonishing ones. It is these scenes that continually inspire my ministry because, in them, I see the glory of the gospel; the unity achieved solely through the cross of Christ. I believe the church is being used by God to silence the accuser in the heavenly realms. Moreover, it exemplifies the superior value of gospel wisdom over worldly wisdom.

Let me summarize with the following points:

1. The unity produced by the gospel is unity in diversity. Unity amidst diversity is only found in “the supernatural.”

2. Homogenous unity is often an illusion. When extroverts befriend other extroverts, their friendship is natural, not supernatural. It is also likely untested and not rooted in the gospel.

3. The church’s mission is to break down this natural state of unity constantly; to break the tendency of “homogenous association” within the church; and to shatter our own cultural identities, making us willing to humble ourselves. Through continuous evangelism, church planting, and missions, the church reduces the cultural homogeneity of the covenant community. Thus, the gospel’s glory can shine, silencing the accuser and condemning the wicked world.

4. This is a risky endeavor. As the church’s homogeneity decreases, greater interpersonal conflict is bound to arise. “Being fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel” becomes an ongoing challenge to the lives of Christians. And this identity can hold the church together as she grows and diversifies.

5. The mission and task are undeniably great. It is even the purpose of our lives. Many believers leave a church because it has grown too large, relationships are not as close as before, or they feel less loved. In reality, they are unable or unwilling to accept the further challenges to their spiritual lives brought about by the church’s decreasing homogeneity. Their thinking is, “Let’s just stop here.” Many Christians harbor a dreadful wish for the church to stop growing because they are not prepared to pay the personal price for its growth. They are terrified of their comfortable, middle-class fellowship being disturbed by outsiders and the intrusion of someone with different habits. One theologian poignantly calls this tendency, which opposes the Great Commission, the “Great Disobedience.”

6. Many Reformed churches in the United States today, particularly Presbyterian churches, have long been in a state of homogeneity. Church members often come from similar socioeconomic backgrounds and have comparable educational experiences. They tend to dress alike, speak alike, earn similar incomes, and even share the same skin color. Their faith has successfully shaped their cultural identity, and their cultural identity has produced a false unity, becoming an obstacle to their continued brokenness by the gospel. The power of the gospel inevitably recedes in such churches. Thankfully, numerous Presbyterian churches have recognized and are prioritizing the gospel. They’ve become missional churches again, willing to face a fresh round of challenges brought about by community diversity.

7. Compared to other local churches, the chief characteristic of the Early Rain Covenant Church is not its size but its low homogeneity. Our diversity is higher than most churches. Whether it’s income disparity, social classes, educational attainment gaps, the proportion of migrants and temporary residents, geographical origins,

occupations, and even cultural or political stances, we differ widely among each other. The challenge this brings can be acceptance, comparison, humility, pride, clinging to cultural identities, letting them go, breaking through self-imposed limitations, or setting boundaries. We have been brought by the Lord into a complex “Christian community,” not merely a “Christian fellowship.”

8. We have witnessed the supernatural power of the gospel more profoundly in the breadth of our unity. (This is something that self-centered brethren often struggle to acknowledge.) We have encountered significant setbacks in the depth of our unity, even losing our testimony. However, the lesson is not to homogenize the church for a supposedly safer reliance on natural unity. Instead, we must pray for the Lord to revive the gospel, to grant us its power, so that our unity in depth may match our unity in breadth.

Our lower homogeneity is partly because of our size, but not entirely determined by it. In fact, it is driven to a greater extent by the church’s vision. While there are several local churches larger than ours, they are far more homogeneous. Our dedication to the Gospel allowed this church, once known as the “New Urban Intellectual Church” by the wider world, to become the diverse community it is today. It now encompasses various social strata and cultural identities. The church has been developing gospel work among prisoners of conscience, petitioners, intellectuals, and university students under the “Threefold Vision” mission for many years; including establishing education, praying for the nation on June 4th [TN: the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre]; and engaging in anti-abortion ministries. All of this constantly pushed the boundaries of the gospel within China’s social and legal spheres.

Therefore, I want to conclude this letter with two simple propositions:

1. The lower homogeneity in a church community, the greater the life challenges and relational conflicts we may encounter.

2. The greater the life challenges and relational conflicts we encounter, the greater the power and glory of the gospel may be manifested among us.

Dear brothers and sisters, we need both; we cannot have just the one without the other. After the church split, I discussed the composition of our congregation with the church council members. Although it has not been precisely assessed by a mathematical model, we all noticed the same thing. The homogeneity among ERCC members has not increased despite the reduced congregation size. Rather, it has remained largely stable, and the overall reduction in size may have even made these differences more noticeable.

This observation brings me much encouragement and affirmation. It means that the challenge of diversity and unity will continue among us. This battle is what we yearn for.

The preservation of the diverse congregation shaped by ERCC emphasizes the urgency of the gospel and clarifies the church’s vision.

I don’t know if persecution will come. However, I know that if persecution arrives in accordance with the Lord’s will, it will not diminish but rather intensify two things—it will make the gospel’s urgency more acute and the church’s vision more distinct.

Oh my, this Pastoral Letter has already exceeded my intended length. But I want to add one more point to avoid any misunderstanding among the weaker ones.

Now, some may ask, “Does the pastor mean we shouldn’t have men’s or women’s fellowships? Or that we shouldn’t have any functional fellowship based on cultural identity?”

I would say not necessarily. It can be a wonderful thing, and God often builds friendships in the church with people of similar age, occupation, or interests. There’s nothing wrong with forming relationships with people similar to yourself. However, if the church is defined by homogeneous friendships and groups, the gospel’s diversity may be at risk. The “supernatural unity” that showcases the gospel’s glory will be in danger of vanishing and fading away.

The priority of the gospel is manifested primarily in congregational differences, not uniformity. If you are a Jewish Christian, this means you can discuss food preparation and dietary considerations with a few fellow countrymen. Greek Christians can discuss a specific Platonic ideal with brothers who have visited Athens. But in a fellowship where both Jewish and Greek believers are present, you both need to set aside your cultural identities and turn your focus to the gospel itself.

This is the source, power, and purpose of the “supernatural unity” that comes to us. The vision for which I live with passion and commitment is thus: that from north to south; from citizens to officials; from rich to poor; from young to old; from the political left to the political right; from foolish to wise; from celebrities to prostitutes; from prime ministers to tax collectors; all are made one through the cross of Christ.

The mission “to the ends of the earth” implies an inclusive church community and embracing all peoples. Without the gospel, even section chiefs and division chiefs wouldn’t take part in the same Bible study group. Yet on this very day in this ancient city of Chengdu, university professors and elementary school graduates sweep the floors of the meeting hall together. Mayors and visitors will one day take Communion together in the church, and judges and ex-convicts will share a fellowship meal.

Gracious Lord, I know unless you help us, these things will not happen.

Your brother and fellow heir, Wang Yi September 2, 2017, AD