在2010年，約有4,000位基督徒聚集在南非的開普敦。這些基督徒是來自198個國家的代表，前來參加一場福音會議。這場大型的聚會被認為是自從耶穌降世兩千多年以來，教會最具代表性的福音會議。

將來有一天，大型聚會不再只是由「代表」參加，因為所有的基督徒都將齊聚一堂。約翰如此描述上帝所給他的異象：「我觀看，見有許多的人，沒有人能數過來，是從各國、各族、各民、各方來的，站在寶座和羔羊面前，……大聲喊著說：『願救恩歸與坐在寶座上我們的上帝！』」（啟示錄7章9-10節）

我們各自的教會不一定能反映出上帝永恆國度中的多元性。有時候，這是出自我們無法控制的因素，但有時我們可能會傾向與那些跟自己年紀相仿，或有相似的文化、政治或經濟背景的人一起敬拜上帝。

然而，當我們樂意接納上帝賦予祂兒女的美好差異，甚至主動地接近他們時，我們就是尊崇上帝。這些差異讓我們預先體驗，在天國裡多元族群齊聚一堂的景象，屆時所有相信耶穌賜下救恩的人都將一同敬拜祂。

In 2010, nearly four thousand believers in Jesus gathered in Cape Town, South Africa. Participants from 198 countries were represented at the conference—a gathering considered to be the most representative meeting of the Christian church in the two thousand years since Jesus walked the earth.

There will come a day when a gathering needn’t be “representative” because all believers will be together. John, in a vision from God, describes it this way: “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 before the Lamb . . . and they cried out in a loud voice: ‘Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne’ ” (Revelation 7:9-10).

Our local churches may not always reflect the diversity that exists in God’s eternal kingdom. Sometimes that’s the result of factors outside our control—other times we may be drawn to worship with those we perceive to be similar to ourselves culturally, generationally, politically, and economically.

But we honor God when we embrace—and even seek out—the beautiful differences He has endowed to His children. They offer a foretaste of that diverse, heavenly gathering when all those who trust in Jesus’ sacrifice will worship Him together.