What Jesus Taught Me About Diversity, Equity, and Belonging

How Scripture—and the life of Christ—changed the way I see people, power, and justice.

These days, DEI sparks a lot of emotion—praise, suspicion, confusion—depending on who you ask. I get it. The phrase has been politicized, misused, and sometimes poorly implemented. But at its core, DEI simply means recognizing the God-given dignity of all people and working to create communities where everyone belongs.

After a decade of DEI trainings and lived experience, here’s the surprising truth I’ve discovered: nothing has deepened my faith more than learning to see others the way Jesus does.

Long before DEI was a corporate acronym or political flashpoint, it was the way of Christ. Loving your neighbor. Welcoming the outsider. Lifting up the oppressed. Jesus didn’t just preach these things—He lived them. Boldly. Personally. Uncomfortably. Again and again, He broke the rules about who was worthy, who belonged, and who deserved to be seen.

Diversity, equity, and belonging aren’t threats to faith. They are a return to it. A return to the radical, redemptive love of the Gospel. And when you look at Jesus’ life through fresh eyes, you begin to see: He didn’t resist inclusion. He embodied it.

The Woman at the Well: Who We Refuse to See

Take the woman at the well (John 4). A Samaritan—despised by the Jews. A woman—socially dismissed in her culture. With five former husbands and now living with a man unmarried, she was a moral outcast. Everything about her made her “the other.” But Jesus sat with her. Spoke with her. Saw her. He named her truth without shame and offered her living water without condition.

Too often, our prejudice keeps us from even engaging with those who are different. But here, Jesus teaches us a revolutionary lesson about inclusion and belonging: the boundaries we build—around race, religion, gender, and morality—are not boundaries God honors. In fact, this was one of the first times Jesus explicitly revealed Himself as the Messiah—and He chose to do it with a woman His world had written off.

In one of my earliest DEI trainings, I learned about the SEEDS model—a framework for identifying bias. It revealed something I hadn’t fully admitted: I was subconsciously more comfortable with people who looked, thought, or lived like me. SEEDS made it clear. Jesus made it real. His conversation with the woman at the well wasn’t just countercultural—it was radically human. He didn’t just tolerate her. He dignified her.

The Ten Lepers: Healing That Restores Belonging

And what about the lepers? In Jesus’ time, they were the most excluded members of society—marked as untouchable and forced to live outside city walls. Imagine their sorrow, isolation, and hopelessness.

In Luke 17, ten lepers cry out to Jesus for mercy. They stand at a distance—because society demanded it. And yet, Jesus doesn’t avoid them. He sees them. He heals them. He restores them. No hesitation. No conditions. And to the one who returns in gratitude, He says, “Thy faith hath made thee whole” (Luke 17:19).

Not just healed—made whole. He wasn’t just cleansing skin. He was restoring dignity, family, and community.

That’s the DEI lesson. True healing doesn’t stop at surface change—it reconnects people to the human family. Jesus doesn’t just remove barriers. He restores belonging. And the people we’re most likely to overlook? They’re often the ones closest to His heart.

The Workers in the Vineyard: When Grace Looks Unfair

There’s a story Jesus told that I never fully understood—until a DEI training helped give context.

In Matthew 20, a landowner hires workers throughout the day—some in the morning, some in the afternoon, and others just before quitting time. At the end of the day, he pays them all the same. The early workers grumble: “We worked longer. How is this fair?” But the landowner responds, “Friend, I do thee no wrong… Is thine eye evil, because I am good?” (Matthew 20:13, 15, KJV)

Here’s what I missed: those late workers weren’t lazy. They weren’t hiding. They were waiting to be chosen. Still standing in the marketplace, overlooked and underestimated. How often does that happen in our society? Some people are ready and willing, but systemic bias, discrimination, or lack of access keeps them from being chosen. And then they are blamed for it.

When those workers finally got their chance, the landowner gave them what they needed—not what others thought they deserved. He knew the circumstances that prevented them from working a full day and he accounted for it.

That’s not equality. That’s equity—accounting for the reality that our society is not fair to all.

Jesus isn’t just talking wages. He’s teaching us that grace isn’t rationed and dignity isn’t earned. Where God doesn’t reward the privileged for being first—He restores the forgotten because He is good.

The Good Samaritan: Relearning Who Deserves Our Respect

In Luke 10, Jesus tells a story that flips everything upside down. A Jewish man is beaten and left for dead. Two religious leaders pass by—men of status, purity, and respect. They walk away.

But then comes a Samaritan—a man from a group Jews considered heretical and impure. And yet he’s the one who stops. Who binds the man’s wounds. Who pays for his recovery. And Jesus doesn’t just commend him—He makes him the moral center of the story. “Go, and do thou likewise.” (Luke 10:37, KJV)

This isn’t just a lesson in kindness. It’s a challenge to revere the very people we’ve been taught to look down on. That’s the heart of DEI. It doesn’t just call us to show compassion—it calls us to question our assumptions about who deserves respect, leadership, and care. Jesus didn’t just redefine “neighbor.” He redefined who we should become.

Zacchaeus: The Power of Calling In, Not Canceling

One of the most meaningful DEI principles I’ve learned is “calling in”—engaging people in growth through connection, not condemnation.

And no one modeled that better than Jesus.

Zacchaeus (Luke 19) was a rich, corrupt tax collector—a traitor in the eyes of his people. The crowd called him a sinner. But Jesus didn’t cancel him. He called him down from the tree and said, “Today I must abide at thy house.”

That invitation changed everything.

Zacchaeus didn’t just feel seen—he repented, redistributed his wealth, and took accountability for past harm. Jesus led with relationship, not retribution. That’s what calling in looks like. And it’s what DEI invites us to do too.

Peter & Cornelius: When Faith Means Unlearning

Even Peter—a rock of the early church—had to confront his bias.

In Acts 10, God tells Peter to visit Cornelius, a Gentile military officer. Peter resists. Gentiles were unclean. “Not us.” But God sends Peter a vision, saying: “What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.” (Acts 10:15)

Peter obeys. He steps into a home he once would’ve condemned. And when he sees God moving, he says: “God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth him… is accepted with him.” (Acts 10:34–35)

This moment didn’t just change Peter—it opened the church to the Gentile world. And it started with a man confronting his prejudice and choosing obedience over pride.

That’s what DEI often requires. To unlearn. To cross boundaries we were raised to avoid. To trust that God’s Spirit moves beyond our comfort zones. Peter didn’t lose his faith. He found it again—bigger, freer, truer.

Jesus Didn’t Just Preach Love—He Practiced Belonging

These aren’t side stories. They’re not bonus lessons. They are the Gospel in motion.

Jesus didn’t build a faith that centers the powerful. He centered the outsider. He humanized the demonized. He dignified the rejected. “There is neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28)

This isn’t political correctness. It’s spiritual correction. This is what it means to follow a Savior who broke barriers for the sake of love.

If You’re Still Unsure About DEI, Read the Gospels Again

If you’ve wrestled with DEI or been told it doesn’t belong in faith spaces, I invite you to look again—not at the headlines, but at the Gospels. Look at who Jesus noticed. Who He stopped for. Who He defended. Who He believed in when no one else did.

Diversity, equity, and belonging didn’t begin in the halls of academia. They began in the heart of God.

And if we’re serious about being His people, then we need to stop fearing what He modeled—and start living it, defending it, and becoming it.

If Jesus made room at the table for those the world rejected, what would it look like for you to do the same—today, in your workplace, your church, your life?

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