God Brought the Nations to the Prairie

In my early years as a pastor, I led a small church on the windswept flatlands of Oklahoma, within a grid of gravel roads and dusty cattle trails. Pumpjacks dotted the prairie, and the occasional box canyon held the story of outlaws hiding or westward-leaning pioneers finding shelter from the intense sun. 

Those years also found me within a tight, homogenous community very similar to me: women and men of European descent—German, Irish, Scottish and French stock; salt-of-the-earth cattle ranchers and wheat farmers, oil men and schoolteachers.  

When we gathered to worship within the sturdy walls of our Works Projects Administration building, we were a united and joyful bunch, growing in both the gospel and an imagination for making disciples. Despite the cultural dynamism of Oklahoma, with beautiful Native American communities, a rich African American history and a fast-growing Spanish-speaking population, within our part of the prairie there was not a lot of ethnic or cultural variety.  

It was hard to imagine the kind of diversity evidenced in Revelation 7:9, where John writes of “a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.”  

On one hand, it seems so appealing and hopeful. On the other, the homogeneity of our community made such an aspiration ostensibly out of reach. It was mysterious. The mystery naturally reinforced our cultural and relational borders. 

Yet this also created an opportunity. Is it possible to move such an intimate, rural community of disciples toward the all-peoples experience witnessed in Revelation 7? Can the Lord’s will in heaven be found on earth?  

It makes sense for a church in cities like Minneapolis or Miami or Montgomery to reach for such things. The divergent political, cultural, economic and ethnic complexities common to America’s metropolises all but demand attentiveness to these matters. But in western Oklahoma? Or among the lakes of Greater Minnesota? Or the misty mountains of East Tennessee? Is such even necessary within rural spaces? If it is, how does one meaningfully move forward in ways that are accessible, helpful and enduring?  

There most certainly is a way.  

Signposts along the road 

These five helpful words serve to advance an all-peoples perspective, whether one is in a large city or a quiet corner of the prairie. Think of each word as a signpost along the road toward the gloriously diverse gathering before the Lamb. 

Engage 

Whether in cities or rural spaces, it is necessary for us pastors to engage, from God’s Word, Jesus’ passion for the many tribes and tongues and peoples and nations. We are people of the Book. Let us start there, not within political diatribes or cultural manifestos or cable news hot takes.  

It is important for us to ask how the vast array of people groups and languages peppered throughout the New Testament might inform us of Jesus’ passion for the ethnos. His heart is evidenced when He stepped into Samaria. His spirit is seen in Paul crossing into Macedonia or longing for Spain. Truly, it is no small matter that Luke records at least 17 different people groups present on the Day of Pentecost. We must pay attention to these details. How will these inform us? 

Grow  

Grow your own competency around the genuine, defining stories of people who are not like you. Find out why “The Talk” is so crucial to African American families. Become familiar with what drives Guatemalans or Bolivians to ride atop the trains northward to the Rio Grande. Books, movies, podcasts and purposeful conversations can place you in the lived experiences of others whose journeys are nothing like yours.  

The writer of Proverbs pleads, “Buy truth, and do not sell it; buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding” (Prov 23:23). Here in Minneapolis, my friend Jeff Westman often said at our elder board table, “We don’t know what we don’t know.” This was his way of provoking us to ask the hard questions and set aside our own preconceived notions. Such wisdom applies in urban spaces, suburbia or in vast rural stretches. It may move us far beyond our comforts and quarters. Yet it matters. Grow cultural competency.  

Connect 

Connect with people beyond your own social network whose lived experience is different from yours. Proximity is transformative. Invite folk to your table. Give yourself permission to be messy. Take a risk, ask questions, hear the stories and have the posture of a humble learner.  

If it is welcome, cultivate the relationship. Immerse yourself within the narratives of their lives. “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep” (Rom 12:15). Of course, Jesus embodied this, crossing no end of cultural, political, socio-economic, religious and ethnic borders. Matthew 9:36 is particularly striking. “When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless.” He saw them, connected with them and was deeply moved by their experiences. May we do likewise. 

Embody 

Embody the heart of Jesus for all-peoples in your community. Be moved in your gut, like Jesus, when He saw the harassed and helpless. Model what it is to “let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (Amos 5:24). Advocate for those who are dismissed because of cultural, ethnic or socio-economic differences. Share place and platform, when possible, to underscore that in Jesus’ Kingdom there “is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:28). Leave a legacy of humility, teachability, and willingness for proximity that will outlive you and your generation.   

Various languages and nations may not be represented in your midst today, but they likely will tomorrow. If nothing else, those journeying away from your context will most certainly step into a world of many tongues and tribes and peoples and nations. Give them vision. Point the way. Show them the heart of Jesus.  

Pray 

Importantly, pray for the Holy Spirit to do a unique work in keeping your hearts soft, your hands open and your own biases in check. Pray for the Lord to bring the ethnos into your midst. Pray that those who come, few as they could be, will experience genuine shalom. Pray they will flourish and experience the best that the “new humanity,” of which Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:15, could give them. Pray that when some fall short in how they relate to each other—and this will most certainly happen—that grace will superabound and goodwill may be restored.  

A coat of many colors  

Today, like a vibrant coat of many colors, the precious fabric of that rural church in western Oklahoma has beautifully received the additional threads of a growing, diverse community. It is common now to hear Spanish spoken alongside English, to see Haitian friends enjoying the hospitality of western ranch life, and to observe Arab ministry leaders sitting around the table, strategizing with their American sisters and brothers how to further gospel proclamation. God has brought the tribes and tongues and nations and peoples to the prairie.  

And that tight, homogenous community was ready.