The New Humanity
Circle of Hope's Ongoing Dialogue on Diversity

We are using this statement to help us think and talk about the challenging vision God has given us for being a diverse church: reconciled, of all races, cultures and ethnicities. It's not our last word. It's a reflection of our ongoing process.

"Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practicies and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knoweldge in the image of its Creator. here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumsised, barbarin, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all." -Colossians 3:9-11

The Possible Dream
We envision a diverse church because we hear the Spirit of God calling to us to be one: calling personally, through the scripture, and through the events of our time. God wants us to be part of the NEW HUMANITY that has been created in Jesus Christ. where Jesus reigns, a new kind of people are formed whose allegiance to Christ transcends their differences. They are a people in which the only thing that matters is that "Christ is all and is in all."
Biblical References:

• When people are one in Christ, other ways we define our identities are not primary. Galatians 3:28-29
• The reconciliation Christ achieved between all who believe and God is the basis for removing the barriers of hostility between people. Ephesians 2:14-19
• The new self Christians put on finds a home in "Christ culture." Colossians 3:9-11
• Since we have a common Father, we should love one another. 1 John 4:7
• Jesus commissions us to reach out to "all identifiable groups of people." Matthew 28:19-20 * We are called to embrace "the stranger." Exodus 12:49, Matthew 25:35, Hebrews 13:2
• All people are made in God's image. None are superior or inferior. Gen. 1:26, Psalms 8:4-6, Romans 3:23
• God reveals himself by making unity from diversity. Corinthians 12:12-13, Ephesians 4:12-13, John 17
• A church that excludes people on grounds apart from allegiance to Jesus makes a mockery of God. James 2:1-12, Acts 10:34-36

It Won't be easy...
We are building the NEW HUMANITY in our cells, and demonstrating it in our worship times and efforts to serve. This is not always an easy assignment; we know the effort requires a lot from each of us. But we want God to have His way with us and to bring light to the world through us. We believe God's dream of a new humanity will be realized...

• If we can stick with a long process. We need endurance and patience to build relationships based on Christ and to overcome the wounds of prejudice, paternalism, mistrust and systemic racism.
• If we can keep changing. We need commitment to the goal of building a new humanity even when new understanding requires responses that may feel uncomfortable.
• If we can keep asking the hard questions. We need to stay conscious and keep evaluating, because any living organism, even the body of Christ, tends to revert to familiar patterns.
• If a "critical mass" believes it must. Many people must be able to answer: "Why are we building a diverse cell?" and "Why are our worship times so eclectic in style?" or any of many questions that need to be asked. One typical answer will be: "We intentionally go against the divided ways of our society because a diverse church fully represents the kingdom of God! we are part of the transcultural, transnational body of Christ! We are a circle of hope in Jesus Christ open to all people, a safe place to experience, share and express God's love.

But we are determined to do what it takes.


To be the new humanity takes...

• Commitment to telling people the good news of Jesus Christ. For real change to happen, people have to trust Jesus.
• Commitment to relationshps. That means overcoming accumulated barriers, making persistent efforts, getting beyond the inevitable conflicts.
• Intentionality. Racial reconciliation, especially, will not happen on its own. We need to keep working at it with God
• Sincerity. Vulnerability and honesty breed trust.
• Sensitivity. Practicing good listening and seeking mutual understanding minimize the threat of change and of having big ideas.
• Interdependence. We not only need one another because we are called by God to be one in Christ, we need one another's gifts and struggles to be fully ourselves in Christ.
• Sacrifice. Selflessness breeds love. On a personal level, caring for another before oneself takes time and effort. What's more, on a public level, demanding that the domination system become just is never popular; it may require getting into trouble.
• Outdoing one another in showing honor. Showing honor empowers another person (or group or race) to lay aside anger and blame in order to create a relationship of trust. Justice grows best in a field of mutual repentance and forgiveness.
• Constant prayer. The whole idea takes a miracle

In order to become the New Humanity...
We celebrate the diversity built into God's creation and seek to model the unity in diversity of the new humanity created in Jesus Christ

We set goals to keep ourselves engaged in the process of reconciliation between people because that is what God calls us to do and because we are fulfilled in the struggle to obey him.

We form a multiethnic leadership team to promote and demonstrate solidarity.

We process our feelings and conflicts deliberately so we can build relationships of mutual trust.

The church's task is neither to destroy nor to maintain ethnic identities but to replace them with a new identity in Christ that is more foundational than earthly identites.
- Manny Ortiz