Christianity Today Award of MeritHeaven is multiethnic. Are you ready for that?The Bible tells us that the congregation gathered around God's heavenly throne will be "a vast multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language," all singing the praises of the Lamb. God's intention has always been to delight for all eternity in a redeemed community of ethnic diversity.But this diverse community shouldn't have to wait until eternity to begin! It can be a reality in our own local churches here and now. Patterned after a worship service, In Church as It Is in Heaven gives biblical warrant for such a community and shows how multiethnic churches provide a unique apologetic for the gospel. Along the way, the authors tell the story of their own churcha majority-white congregation which is being transformed into a family that reflects the diversity of heaven.The multiethnic kingdom is not just a nice idea, or an abstract theory. It's a realityone we can enter into today.

Jamaal E. Williams serves as lead pastor of Sojourn Church Midtown in Louisville, Kentucky, and as president of the Harbor Network. He regularly consults churches on leadership and issues related to the multi-ethnic church.Timothy Paul Jones teaches apologetics at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and serves as a preaching pastor at Sojourn Church Midtown. He has authored or co-authored more than a dozen books.

Introduction: Broken City, Broken WorldPart 1. Call to Worship: Learning to Love Multiethnic Kingdom Culture 1. The Evidence That Our World Has Yet to See 2. The Gap in Our Love 3. Liturgies of Love and LongingPart 2. Lament: Grieving What Stands in the Way of Multiethnic Kingdom Culture 4. Lamenting the Wound 5. The Lies That Blind Us to the Ties That Bind Us 6. Liturgies of LamentPart 3. Offering: Giving for the Sake of Multiethnic Kingdom Culture 7. Seeing Both Sides of the Ball 8. How God Made a Holy Mess and Turned It into a Heavenly Movement 9. Liturgies of GivingPart 4. Passing the Peace: Welcoming One Another in a Multiethnic Kingdom Culture 10. Going to War by Passing the Peace 11. White Is Not a Neutral Color 12. Liturgies of HospitalityPart 5. Communion: Feasting Together on the Victory Jesus Won 13. Knowing Your Place 14. Building Up Walls That Jesus Already Broke Down 15. Liturgies of Communion Benediction: A Blessing for the Road Afterword by Jarvis J. Williams Acknowledgments Notes