John 10:16: "I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd." Although this passage does imply that there is diversity in the “folds” that belong to Christ, I do not read it as an insistence on the diversity of the folds. I recognize the "other folds" to be other socio-cultural groups. However, I read it primarily as Jesus' insistence on the oneness of the flock. His determination is to bring the other folds into the one flock.
It's a small difference, but an important one to the way we view ourselves and God’s purposes for the church of Christ in the world. I believe and have taught believers in the US that they have much greater commonality with Christ-followers in Pakistan or China than they do with Middle Class Americans who have no use for Jesus. It's very challenging for Americans to live in that reality, but I believe it is the Biblical truth. That's not to deny cultural diversity but it is to insist that all followers of Jesus belong to the "one flock." In the same way, I hope that Egyptian believers realize that they are "one flock" with Korean, European and Latino Jesus-followers.
So while I hope and anticipate the gospel will spread through cultures propagated by believers who remain inside their cultural heritage, I also believe the Kingdom of God calls people out of their culture as "aliens" (1 Peter 1:1, 17; 2:11) to be citizens of a new Kingdom and embrace many values that are counter to our culture--whatever that culture is. So Kingdom culture (if it's right to speak of that) overlays all human culture and calls for ultimate allegiance. So our goal is not to preserve diversity of human cultures although that is naturally a part of what we do, the goal is to bring all human cultures under the Lordship of Christ so that the rich diversity of human cultures will reflect Him who has been given as head of the church--the fullness of him who fills all in all (Eph 1:23).
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Michael: We are preparing to work through your book in a Sunday school class. One issue that will likely come up is, "On a practical (with the emphasis on this word) level, is there a different response to radicalized Islam as opposed to traditional Islam?"
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