A Community of Misfits on a Mission

Kingdom Hybridity

In the second half of chapter 2, Paul teaches that the cross of Jesus does more than just reconcile people to God, it also reconciles people groups to one another. Namely, Jesus’s life of self-sacrificial love shows us the way to peace and tears down the divisions between people of different cultures. The Way of Jesus creates an entirely new kind of human community. But, multiethnic churches might fall into the trap of thinking “multiculturalism” is what this text prescribes. What if, instead of multiculturalism, this text prescribes cultural hybridity rooted in our shared identity in Jesus? What would the potential pitfalls be? What would be some concrete pathways to such cultural hybridity?