Being a Diverse Church

This sermon is the series opener for our series called: Being a Diverse Church

In the third section of Jesus' prayer in John 17, Jesus prayed for all future believers, that's us today. 

Jesus prayed that all future believers would experience the same unity with each other as Jesus experienced with His Father. Jesus' followers are the most diverse group of people on the planet. We are: 

1. Generationally diverse (young and old)
2. Ethnically diverse (black and white) 
3. Socioeconomically diverse (rich and poor)
4 Ideologically diverse (right, wrong and the blurry middle) 

So how, amid all this diversity are supposed to experience unity? What does the Church Jesus envisioned, the one He prayed for actually look like?? 

We cannot experience the unity Jesus prayed for without the Holy Spirit. If anyone other than Jesus had prayed this prayer I would struggle to say Amen. But, Jesus is the founder of the Church, He is the Son of God, He is God in the flesh...and He has revealed His desire for our church, that we would be one. Since He is Lord, we must say amen to that!