Alive in Christ: Every Nation, Tribe, and Tongue

I’m writing this week’s newsletter on a high-speed train from Amsterdam to Brussels as the sun sets over the old city skyline. It’s beautiful. We’re here with a small group of Stone Table colleagues, shooting video and collecting stories for a portfolio of missions projects we’re working on this year.

This trip marks the 45th country I’ve had the privilege to visit over the years. I love experiencing the vast cultural expressions of the world—from the Far East to East Africa, India to the Arab Peninsula, Latin America to the Pacific Islands.

The world is full of unique people and places that make God’s Creation rich, vibrant, and beautiful. And here’s the thing:

Contrary to what the cynics say, global missions isn’t about flattening cultural distinctions or creating a spiritual monoculture. The Gospel doesn’t make every nation, tribe, and tongue the same—it makes them come alive. [continued below]

The Good News of Jesus doesn’t homogenize culture, it redeems it. It tears down the sinful distortions that have warped every people group and makes a way—through Jesus—for each one to flourish in the beauty of its original, God-given, God-glorifying design.

This global chorus of worship is where the whole Great Story is headed:

“The nations will walk by [the Lamb’s] light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into [the New Jerusalem]…The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it.” (Revelation 21:24, 26)

The Gospel doesn’t erase the world’s differences—it restores and unites us in Jesus. Every tribe, tongue, and nation alive in Christ, bringing their redeemed, image-bearing beauty to the feet of Jesus.

What part of your life—your work, your prayers, your giving—is participating in this redemptive Story today?

Accelerating the Great Commission through the Marketplace,

Erik Cooper | The Stone Table