Being Part of the Multitude

by Marta Castillo

Thirteen people were recognized as newly credentialed leaders at the 2024 Mosaic Conference Assembly. They represented seven nations, four continents, five languages, and ten Mosaic congregations. What a beautiful sight! What a wonderful work of God’s Spirit!  

“After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: ‘Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.’”

Revelation 7:9-10, NIV

Salvation belongs to our God! These are the leaders that God has called forth and into Mosaic from the east, the west, the north, and the south. These are the ones whose lives and ministries share the Good News. These are the ones who bring their calling, faith, experiences, culture, and love to share with us. What a powerful experience to be joyfully received and acknowledged by the gathered assembly and immediately empowered to anoint others in that space of hospitality and grace! 

After years and years of receiving predominantly white males as newly credentialed leaders, we began to see white women emerge as leaders alongside the men. Now we are experiencing a significant shift toward a diversity of men and women that reflect the multitude of heaven. It is cause for celebration and will mean a shift in the ways we are “conference” together.   

Do we understand what these shifts mean to our system? Being together is the same and yet different. Prayer is the same and yet different. Worship is the same and yet different. Making decisions is the same and yet different. Time is treated differently, and we flex to be less linear and less concerned with completing tasks and getting to business. We make time to drum together.  

We ALL need to graciously move aside to leave space for others. Our covenants of conversation are necessary to leave more room for Spirit movement and voices that are new and different as well as those who have been around for a long time.   

We are all feeling it; a deep sense of being welcomed and belonging and at certain times feeling out of place and unsure, no matter who we are. When prayers are spoken in only Spanish, Indonesian, or another language and there is no interpretation. As people around us at Assembly greet each other with hugs and excitedly chatting in a language we don’t understand.  

If you are used to understanding everything that is said everywhere you go, it is hard. If you are used to a certain way to process decisions and carefully track time and productivity, it is hard. If you are used to being more focused on the conversation and not watching the clock, it is also hard.  

If you are used to being the only one in the room who doesn’t understand or looks different, it is freeing to hear others speak your language and look like you. In whichever of these experiences, you find yourself, be gentle with yourself and others in the discomfort and in the joy. 

We are learning to be united in diversity. We are being mutually transformed. God is moving quickly before us and we are seeking to be obedient by getting out of our own way to receive the gift of being together in new ways, to see new people in leadership, and to experience being part of the “multitude.” Together we worship God and cry out, “Salvation belongs our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” 

Let’s recognize that our experience together is beautiful and complicated as we “embody the reconciling love of Jesus in our broken and beautiful world.”