“When they arrived back in Jerusalem, Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out the merchants and their customers. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the stalls of those selling doves, and he stopped everyone from bringing in merchandise. He taught them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be called a place of prayer for all nations,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves.””
- Mark 11:15-17 NLV
This was the scripture that I heard used in a sermon nearly thirteen and a half years ago; it changed my whole perspective of Christianity. I had understood that Jesus Christ was for the Caucasian person and as a Sikh; I had my own deity. I specifically recall Jesus’ quotation of Isaiah 56:7, which speaks of the integration of Gentiles into a relationship of worship with the God of the universe. Isaiah writes, “I will bring them also to my holy mountain of Jerusalem and will fill them with joy in my house of prayer. I will accept their burnt offerings and sacrifices, because my Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations.” It was the fact that this temple was to be a house of prayer for all nations that caused me to pause. In fact it really caught my attention! From that key moment I was open to the possibility that my concept of Christianity was distorted.
Now many years later I sit at my desk as a Pentecostal pastor, pondering how the Holy Spirit had been wooing me and drawing me into a relationship with the one living God of the universe; a relationship that has ultimately changed my life for eternity.
As I think about the love and mercy the Father had on me, I am drawn to another thought. Why was it that I was the only Indo-Canadian young person in my congregation for so many years after becoming a Christian? Why when visiting other churches, did I find myself usually being the only one of my particular ethnic background?
A number of years ago I had heard about an Indo-Canadian congregation that met in a Mennonite church. I visited that small congregation one Sunday morning and was blessed beyond words to be able to fellowship with believers of like background. Today at Delta Pentecostal Church we have an Indo-Canadian congregation that meets on the premises of this church and has done so for a number of years. Along with this Indo-Canadian congregation we have an assortment of ethnic believers meeting here including Spanish and Fijian congregations. These congregations are separate entities from the “main-line churches”. How do I know this? Because the amount of intermixing between groups is minimal or non-existent. The question I pose is – Is this right?
When I think of the blessed hope of the church, to worship the Lord in heaven one day, I do not see numerous separate groups of believers of differing ethnic backgrounds worshipping the King off in some corner of heaven, I see a symphony of voices singing and praising in unison unto Jesus Christ. If this is how it will be, then should we not be worshipping together now?
There seems to be an “us-them” mentality that assumes that ethnic groups need their own separate churches in order to reach their own people, because Caucasian Christians, supposedly, cannot possibly relate to the needs of ethnic Christians.
I believe this type of thinking is damaging our church throughout this land. We are to spread the Gospel to the ends of the earth, to all people. Sure we talk about it, but just look at the makeup of most of our congregations – they are mostly of similar ethnic backgrounds.
In March 2003, with help and support from our British Columbia District Ethnic Ministries and British Columbia District Youth Ministries Department, we launched a new initiative to reach out to the ethnic as well as our “main-line church” youth and young adults. With the hopes of bridging the gap and creating relationships between english and non-english youth and young adults in our area. The initiative was named “No Boundaries: An International Worship Explosion” which was born out of a desire to see “a house of prayer for all nations”. A prolonged worship experience in the form of different cultural styles all in the english language is a main component. The worship is followed by a focused and relevant message and conluded with an extented altar ministry experience and fellowship time. The short-term goal is simple: to provide a place for youth and young adults to come together and experience Christianity in various multicultural flavours, to build relationships and intermix with english and non-english believers of similar ages. The long-term goal is to create a mindset shift from a “someone else will reach those people” to a “it is my responsibility to tell all types of people the Good News”. The hope is that these youth and young adults as they become adults and active members of the local church, they will have international mindsets. Both english and non-english alike will have more of a kinship and acceptance and understanding of those around them. Living in this country we are surrounded by muliculturalism. The missions field has come to us. Who will reach out to them if we do not.
To date we have held three “No Boundaries” events. Each one has yielded greater numbers coming to worship and meet together. I anticipate this vision spreading throughout this province and across Canada through our denomination and others – it is time to break the boundaries we have erected amongst ourselves and God and allow the non-Christians around us to see how God is bringing all people to His family.
Pastor Jaz S. Ghag
No Boundaries Director
-This article was featured in the national PAOC Testimony magazine March 2004 edition and the British Columbia PAOC Fellowship News February 2004 edition
"No Boundaries" (Jan. 2004)
