Our Objective
Our objective is to grow as a community where people from diverse racial and cultural backgrounds can find and experience their common identity in Christ expressed in gospel fellowship.
Guest Speakers
“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”
1 Peter 2:9
In light of this objective we will be having a special church-wide focus on diversity on Sundays 14 October and 21 October, with two guest speakers with insight into cultivating a multi-cultural church community.
Simon will also be hosting a special diversity dinner for core leaders in the church.
Simon Lerefolo
Simon studied Mechanical Engineering & Economics and has worked as an engineer, manager and consultant. He is the Senior Pastor at Every Nation Church in Rosebank and serves on the City Wide Eldership & Executive Committee of Every Nation Johannesburg. Simon also serves on the Every Nation Southern Africa Apostolic Team and sits on the boards of various companies including Heartlines.
Martin Morrison
Martin is a practised Attorney and the rector at Christ Church Midrand and Bishop of REACH SA. He helped to plant Christ Church Midrand in 1994. Through steady attention to race and an eagerness to embrace all cultures, the church is now 50 percent black. Martin also co-founded Christ Church Preparatory School and College.
The Biblical Basis
Genesis 1:26-27 – “Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”
Galatians 3:26-28 – “You are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
Ephesians 2:14-18 – “For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.”
Ephesians 4:1-6 – “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit- just as you were called to one hope when you were called- one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”
Colossians 3:11– “Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.”
Revelation 5:9-10 – “And they sang a new song: ‘You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.’”
Our Resolutions
In the light of the Word of God, we, the leaders and members of Rosebank Union Church, resolve that, God helping us…
- We will seek to glorify Christ by building a local church on earth that in its unity and diversity increasingly resembles the redeemed community.
- We will seek to be guided by the Word of God in our relationships with people from different racial and cultural backgrounds.
- We will seek to be patient, understanding, and forgiving in relating to people who are different to ourselves, recognizing that change is a process and that we all carry differing amounts of emotional and psychological burdens from our past experiences.
- We will intentionally seek to build cross-cultural relationships by noticing, greeting, engaging in conversation, listening to stories, and offering hospitality.
- We will be open to having our own blind spots and hurtful comments and behaviour pointed out by brothers and sisters from backgrounds different to our own.
- We will faithfully teach what God’s Word says about unity in diversity in our Sunday services, LOLMD and Community Groups, and in the youth and children’s ministries.
- We will intentionally strive for diversity in the composition of all serving teams, devoid of tokenism and favouritism, without compromising our values.
- We will strive to involve people of all race groups in Sunday services and to be sensitive to different cultures.
- We will, without compromising Biblical standards and necessary skills, work toward diversity when it comes to the appointment of leaders (elders and deacons) and ministry and administration staff.
- We, as a church will continue to acknowledge the injustices of the South Africa in the past.
- We will continue to use English as the primary medium of communication but we will be sensitive to other languages and seek to be inclusive.
- We acknowledge that we will not always get the above right, but we will strive and pursue the above goal with the help of our Lord and the Holy Spirit.