Nations Sunday - A diverse people united around Jesus

This is our Sunday teaching by our Senior Pastor, Tom Thompson. Recorded live at our "Nations Sunday" service in Harris Academy Purley, Croydon on Sunday 4th October, 2026.

Talk Summary - A Diverse People United Around Jesus

There is something beautiful about a church where people from different nations, cultures and backgrounds choose not simply to share a room, but to build something together.

That is the vision: a diverse people, united around Jesus.

The Bible’s story keeps widening our horizons. Jonah is sent beyond the people and places he knows, but resists a God whose mercy is bigger than his own boundaries. Jesus, by contrast, crosses those boundaries deliberately. He moves towards outsiders and, after His resurrection, sends His followers to make disciples of all nations.

Even then, the early church has more to learn. Peter is amazed when the Holy Spirit falls on the Roman household of Cornelius. A little later, the church in Antioch is led by people with strikingly different ethnic, cultural and social backgrounds. Finally, Revelation gives us a picture of where the whole story is heading: a vast crowd from every nation gathered before Jesus.

That means a genuinely multicultural church is more than an interesting reflection of modern Croydon. It is a sign of the future.

But diversity is not simply about having different faces in the room. It means making space for different voices, gifts, experiences and leadership. It means learning from one another — and understanding both the strengths and blind spots in our own cultural heritage.

Difference does not automatically produce unity. Bringing cultures, personalities and perspectives together can create misunderstanding as easily as enrichment.

The Christian vision goes deeper than simply allowing everyone to express themselves. We bring what we carry to a shared purpose: to lift up Jesus.

Jesus becomes the centre around which our differences can flourish without pulling us apart. His way shapes our culture more deeply than nationality, ethnicity or personality. The passion of one person, the steadiness of another, the faith of another and the wisdom of another become gifts to the whole church.

So perhaps the question is simple: is our heart becoming more like Jonah’s, drawing tighter circles around people like us — or more like Jesus’, moving towards the nations?

Every friendship across a cultural divide, every new voice welcomed, every act of curiosity, every person discipled and empowered to lead can become a small signpost towards the future God has promised.

One flock. One people. Many nations. One Jesus.