The Nations are Neighbors by David O. Cofield

We are living a smaller world than any generation has ever known.  No, the physical world is not smaller, but through the internet, TV and jet planes we live in a smaller world.  This is seen clearly in how the nations of the world are now living on our streets and in our cities.

According to census projections, the U.S. population will be "majority-minority" by 2044.  Since 1970, the foreign-born share of the population has nearly tripled. By 2060, the U.S. Census Bureau predicts, nearly 1 in 5 residents will be foreign-born.

In the past 15 years, for example, the foreign-born population of Gwinnett County, Georgia, outside Atlanta, has more than doubled.  The pastor of First Baptist Duluth, GA said, "In 2000, Duluth was 70 percent white.  Today the town is 41 percent white.  Our neighbors are from India, Korea, Zimbabwe, and South Africa.  Since 2010, First Duluth has seen the portion of its new members who are non-Anglo grow from 8 percent to 48 percent."

One has said, "By 2050 you will be hard-pressed to find an exclusively white church in America."

What does the church do?

The answer to that should be easy, but its not due to our culture.  Most of Christians are more influenced by the media than by the Bible, their local church, and national Christian leaders.

It's clear throughout Scripture God cares for the immigrant.  In the Old Testament, the stranger is frequently mentioned alongside widows and orphans as people who were particularly vulnerable.  In Matthew 25, God commands us to extend hospitality (literally, the love of strangers) with the suggestion they may bless us more than we assist them.  Scripture is a story of people in exile and on the move.

While I will not get into the political debate of how they come and what we should do, the point is the mission field is coming to us.  In Montgomery, Alabama, there are more than 3,000 Mixteco people who live in central Alabama and several interdenominational churches are reaching out.

Here is our own county, there are active ministries to the Hispanic community in Kilpatrick and Ft. Payne that our church supports through the DeKalb Baptist Association.

The church should welcome this...for the nations are now our neighbors.  The early church in Acts was multi-cultural.  Heaven will be multi-cultural.

Mark Hearn, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Duluth, GA said, "We want to see people of different language groups all worshipping together in the same body."

Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, recently said of the shifting demographic landscapes effecting our churches, "It's time to add a little bit of salsa to our churches across America.  Our job as Christians is not to be a donkey or elephant, but to advance the Lamb's agenda.  We're here to advance the gospel of Jesus Christ to all people."

The church's unity is to be Christ and our relationship with Him and mission is to reach our neighbors with the Gospel.  I believe the church in America is in a good place to be just that as never before.