Every Tribe, Tongue and Nation
The Bible verse for All Nations Heritage Sunday, which is this Sunday, October 3, encourages all people to live in peace.
The verse comes from Romans 12:18: "If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone."
The image of the olive tree trunk and its branches, which accompanies materials for All Nations Heritage Sunday, symbolizes God’s multicolored creation. The tree’s leaves symbolize peace.
For many years, the Christian Reformed Church has designated the week preceding the first Sunday in October as All Nations Heritage Week, focusing on celebrating the unity of faith and diversity of race among the body of Christ. The week culminates on All Nations Heritage Sunday with a special emphasis on race relations.
"The Christian Reformed family is becoming an All-Nations family," says the Race Relations office.
"As a denomination, we are beginning to catch the vision of people from all tribes and languages and nations standing before the throne of God. Each year during All Nations Heritage Week we celebrate our growing fulfillment of the vision."
Another verse that speaks to the theme of All Nations Heritage Sunday is described in John’s vision in Revelation 7: 9: "After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb."
"John seems to describe a world different from our own. Our world is painfully divided, often along these very lines of nation, tribe, people, and language. Violence and war often are waged along the lines of ethnicity and race. John’s heavenly vision seems remote," say Race Relations officials.
But there is another reality: Christ's church already spans all these lines of division. People already bow the knee to Christ from virtually every nation, tribe, people, and language in the world. The worldwide church of Jesus Christ is powerful testimony to the healing, reconciling power of the gospel.
The Christian Reformed Church is one small part of that worldwide church. Our church family includes 14 ethnic groups that identify themselves as Christian Reformed. Our denomination's ministries reach around the world and across the world’s greatest ethnic and ideological divisions.
On All Nations Heritage Sunday, your gifts and prayers enable Race Relations to offer student scholarships to continue building leadership for an increasingly diverse denomination in an increasingly diverse world.
As funds permit, the Office of Race Relations offers scholarships to students who plan to avail themselves to train for and to engage in the ministry of racial reconciliation in church and/or in society.
Normally, applicants will be members of CRCNA congregations who plan to pursue their educational goals at Calvin Theological Seminary or any of the colleges affiliated with the CRCNA.
This Multiracial Student Scholarship Fund is one of the strategies employed by the Office of Race Relations to develop multiracial congregational leadership in the CRCNA. Students receiving scholarships will avail themselves to train for and to engage in the ministry of racial reconciliation in church and/or in society.
Another way to learn about the need for racial reconciliation and how to raise up leaders who can take on this task is available in "God's Diverse and Unified Family," a booklet developed by a 1992 synodical committee of the Christian Reformed Church.
Published by Faith Alive Christian Resources, the $1.99 booklet includes the biblical basis for the development and use of multiethnic leadership, an assessment of current criteria for leadership in the life of the Christian Reformed Church, and biblical guidelines for church-planting principles to be used in the development of a racially and ethnically diverse family of God. To obtain this booklet, visit: God's All-inclusive Family.
The Ministry of Race Relations has been mandated by synod of the Christian Reformed Church to eradicate racism, develop multiethnic leaders, and promote reconciliation.
