OUR Vision

What is One Voice?

One Voice was birthed out of a desire for Christians of different ethnicities to walk together in unity. The heart of One Voice Church is to help people love God and love each other.

The multiethnic church is not the latest church planting idea, or even a modern response to racism in society. Instead, it is the divine purpose of God seen both in His creation of all individuals in His image and in His calling of all the nations of the world into His family.

When Jesus teaches us to pray, He tells us to ask for God’s kingdom to come “on earth, as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10) In Revelation chapter 7, the picture that God gives John of heaven shows people from every ethnicity worshiping God together.

“After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands. And they were shouting with a great roar, “Salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne and from the Lamb!” Revelation 7:9 NLT

Our prayer is that this picture of a united church from every nation, tribe, people and language will be seen on earth as it is in heaven. As we make disciples of every ethnos and learn to obey all that He has commanded, we believe that God will display His wisdom on earth in the visible unity of people in Christ from every ethnicity. This unity is not just something to be believed in theory but to be seen in local churches as people from various ethnicities, nationalities, and socio-economic classes learn to live as one new man in Christ.

The main reason for One Voice Church is because we clearly heard God tell us to build a multi-ethnic church.

Obedience is everything to the believer. In John 15:14 Jesus says, “You are my friends if you do what I command…” Following God requires obedience — he speaks and we respond in faith.

Kirby, Matt, and David have heard God speak and confirm this vision over and over again since 2018 and we are excited to build a New Testament Church in the modern world that reflects the diversity of God’s creative design.

The second reason for One Voice Church is to build a church like we see in the Bible.

In his death on the cross, Jesus reconciled Jews and Gentiles into one body, who are now citizens and members of the same family and becoming a holy temple for the Lord.

“Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death… So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit. ”  Ephesians 2:16, 19-22 NLT

The word reconcile here means to change from enemies to friends. Because of Jesus’ death on the cross, Christian Jews and Christian Gentiles are no longer bitter enemies, but friends, fellow citizens, and members of God’s family. Wherever Christian brothers and sisters are divided, the blood of Jesus compels us to lay our hostilities at the foot of the cross and pursue friendship with one another.

Before Jesus ascended into heaven, he commissioned his disciples to go and reach people of all nations with the gospel (Matthew 28:18-20). Philip, Peter, Paul, and others traveled to other nations and planted churches in diverse communities. One of those places was Antioch (Acts 13:1-3). The church at Antioch was one of the first churches established outside of Jerusalem and emerged as a church with multiple ethnicities. Antioch, the third largest city in the Roman Empire, was a city filled with ethnic tension as more than sixteen different ethnic groups made up over 800,000 residents. The city was divided into ethnic ghettos and at times hostility spilled over into race riots. It is against this backdrop that a group of faith-filled Christ followers began to share the gospel and build a church marked by unity and love. It is in this diverse church that the apostle Paul was publicly commissioned. 

When Jesus teaches us to pray, He tells us to ask for God’s kingdom to come “on earth, as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). In Revelation 7:9, the picture that God gives John of heaven shows people from every ethnicity worshiping God together.

Our prayer is that this picture of a united church from every nation, tribe, people and language will be seen on earth as it is in heaven.  As we make disciples of every ethnos and learn to obey all that He has commanded, we believe that God will display His wisdom on earth in the visible unity of people in Christ from every ethnicity.  This unity is not just something to be believed in theory but to be seen in local churches as people from various ethnicities, nationalities, and socio-economic classes learn to live as one new man in Christ.

The third reason for One Voice Church is to better reach our community.

We want to reach people from all walks of life and we believe One Voice Church creates the best opportunity to do that. There are many cultures and sub cultures in our city that even go beyond race and we want to reach all of them with the gospel.

We want to build a church that is for everyone and anyone. There is no demographic that we are aiming for. We want every type of person to be welcomed into our family. We want people of different ages, backgrounds, interests, and cultures.

We believe that one of the most beautiful ways we can surrender our differences and preferences at the foot of the cross is the multiethnic church.