The document discusses who belongs in God's family based on passages from the Bible. It summarizes that God's kingdom banquet includes authentic outsiders, as shown through Jesus welcoming sinners and the example of simple trust from a Roman soldier. While people in the past argued that only certain races or groups belonged, the document advocates that all people have equal rights to migration and improvement, as determined by our common faith and humanity, not nationality or appearance.

1. Do I Have a
Twin Brother
in Hong Kong?

2. WHO IS
FAMILY?

3. How Do We Know Who
BELONGS?
LANGUAGE?
APPEARANCE?
C O M M O N
BLOOD? CULTURE?
ANCESTORS? BELIEFS?

4. Matthew 8
5-6 As Jesus entered the village of
Capernaum, a Roman captain came
up in a panic and said, “Master, my
servant is sick. He can’t walk. He’s in
terrible pain.”
7 Jesus said, “I’ll come and heal
him.”

5. Matthew 8
8-9 “Oh, no,” said the captain. “I don’t
want to put you to all that trouble. Just
give the order and my servant will be
fine. I’m a man who takes orders and
gives orders. I tell one soldier, ‘Go,’
and he goes; to another, ‘Come,’ and he
comes; to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he
does it.”

6. Matthew 8
10-12 Taken aback, Jesus said, “I’ve yet to come across this kind of
simple trust in Israel, the very people who are supposed to know all
about God and how he works. This man is the vanguard of many
outsiders who will soon be coming from all directions—streaming in
from the east, pouring in from the west, sitting down at God’s
kingdom banquet alongside Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Then those
who grew up ‘in the faith’ but had no faith will find themselves out
in the cold, outsiders to grace and wondering what happened.”

7. Matthew 8
10-12 Taken aback, Jesus said, “I’ve yet to come across this kind of
simple trust in Israel, the very people who are supposed to know all
about God and how he works. This man is the vanguard of many
outsiders who will soon be coming from all directions—streaming in
from the east, pouring in from the west, sitting down at God’s
kingdom banquet alongside Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Then those
who grew up ‘in the faith’ but had no faith will find themselves out
in the cold, outsiders to grace and wondering what happened.”

8. Who Belongs in God’s Family?
Simple
Trust
Tangible
Faith
Infectious
Grace
G O D ’ S K I N G D O M B A N Q U E T

9. Matthew 9
10-11 Later when Jesus was eating
supper at Matthew’s house with his
close followers, a lot of disreputable
characters came and joined them. When the
Pharisees saw him keeping this kind of
company, they had a fit, and lit into
Jesus’ followers. “What kind of example
is this from your Teacher, acting cozy
with crooks and riffraff?”

10. Matthew 9
12-13 Jesus, overhearing, shot back,
“Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the
sick? Go figure out what this Scripture
means: ‘I’m after mercy, not
religion.’ I’m here to invite
outsiders, not coddle insiders.”
Lutheran Pastor Nadia Boltz-Weber

11. Who Belongs in God’s Family?
Simple
Trust
Tangible
Faith
Infectious
Grace
G O D ’ S K I N G D O M B A N Q U E T

12. Who Belongs in God’s Family?
Simple
Trust
Tangible
Faith
Infectious
Grace
Authentic
Outsiders
G O D ’ S K I N G D O M B A N Q U E T

13. How Do We Know Who
BELONGS?
In the Goodness, Grace & Mercy of Jesus
C O M M O N
F A I T H

14. In the late 1800s, thousands of Chinese came to America, seeking economic opportunities.
But they faced myriad discriminations, legal injustices, and fear-mongering.

15. February Is Black History Month
“Between the Christianity of
this land and the Christianity
of Christ, I recognize the
widest possible difference.”
—Frederick Douglass
(1818-1895)
Leading American abolitionist, former
slave, statesman, and preacher

16. His Speech of 1869
“I submit that this question of Chinese immigration should be settled upon higher
principles than those of a cold and selfish expediency.
“There are such things in the world as human rights. They rest upon no conventional
foundation, but are external, universal, and indestructible. Among these, is the right of
locomotion; the right of migration; the right which belongs to no particular race, but
belongs alike to all and to all alike. It is the right you assert by staying here, and your
fathers asserted by coming here. It is this great right that I assert for the Chinese and
Japanese, and for all other varieties of men equally with yourselves, now and forever. I
know of no rights of race superior to the rights of humanity, and when there is a supposed
conflict between human and national rights, it is safe to go to the side of humanity.

17. “The apprehension that we shall be swamped…”
“…or swallowed up by Mongolian civilization; that the Caucasian race may not be able to
hold their own against that vast incoming population, does not seem entitled to much
respect. Though they come as the waves come, we shall be stronger if we receive them as
friends and give them a reason for loving our country and our institutions. They will find
here a deeply rooted, indigenous, growing civilization, augmented by an ever increasing
stream of immigration from Europe; and possession is nine points of the law in this case, as
well as in others. They will come as strangers, we are at home. They will come to us, not we
to them. They will come in their weakness, we shall meet them in our strength. They will
come as individuals, we will meet them in multitudes, and with all the advantages of
organization. Chinese children are in American schools in San Francisco, none of our children
are in Chinese schools, and probably never will be, though in some things they might well
teach us valuable lessons.

18. “Not the least among the arguments…”
“…whose consideration should dispose to welcome among us the peoples of all
countries, nationalities and color, is the fact that all races and varieties of men
are improvable. This is the grand distinguishing attribute of humanity and
separates man from all other animals. If it could be shown that any particular
race of men are literally incapable of improvement, we might hesitate to
welcome them here. But no such men are anywhere to be found, and if there
were, it is not likely that they would ever trouble us with their presence.
“The fact that the Chinese and other nations desire to come and do come, is a
proof of their capacity for improvement and of their fitness to come…

19. “Let the Chinaman [sic] come…”
“He will help to augment the
national wealth. He will help
to develop our boundless
resources; he will help to pay
off our national debt. He will
help to lighten the burden of
national taxation. He will give
us the benefit of his skill as a
manufacturer and tiller of the
soil, in which he is
unsurpassed.”

21. C O M M U N I O N
Simple
Trust
Tangible
Faith
Infectious
Grace
Authentic
Outsiders
G O D ’ S K I N G D O M B A N Q U E T
The UNCOMMON Family of Christ