A pastor argues that church elders should be chosen for character alone, not popularity or race. He warns against assuming American culture is superior, saying every culture reflects God's image and Christians should seek grace in other traditions.
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And it just so happens that, you know, we look to the people that God is raising up to serve as elders. It is never a popularity contest with us. It's never something— it's never a color contest with us. It's always a character contest and only a character contest. But, but having all these men together, I mean, we shape each other and we're all different. Because of the quality of our relationship and going deep in that relationship with one another. But you have to start out, you have to, it requires a bit of humility. You have to understand that American culture, for example, I know we have an American audience largely, and I'm an American, so I can speak this way. Amen. Please do. But American culture is not the best culture in the history of the world. It's not the only culture that has carried the image of God in the history of the world. I'm thankful for the United States. I'm thankful for our history, our heritage. I'm thank you, thankful for how Americans still number one missionary supporting nation in the world financially. You know, those things are amazing and they're God's gift to the world. But at the same time, you have to be looking— and this is a theme that comes up in the book, Free to Flourish Together— you've got to be looking for the grace in other cultures and other people. You know, what is unique about that person? What is unique about that culture? What does that culture, that person, tell me about being created in the image of God? Amen. How does that culture, how does that person contribute to my understanding of who God is by seeing them knowing that they have been created in the image of God, just as I, as a light-skinned American, has been created in the image of God. Amen. And it's essential. It's essential.
