Jesus’ goal is not to save America but to save all people, including Americans, from sin and death, Dr. Derwin Gray told his followers in a post on Saturday, July 6. Gray, who is pastor of Transformation Church in Indian Land, South Carolina, encouraged people to remember that Jesus’ kingdom transcends the nations of the world.
“I want you to marinate on this,” said Gray at the beginning of his Instagram post. “I run into a lot of Christians who say things like, ‘Y’know, it’s important that people believe in Jesus so that America can be saved because, without him, America can’t be saved.’ And so I get the sentiment of it, but I want us to go deeper.”
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Derwin Gray: The Church Is a ‘Holy Nation’
Derwin Gray is a former NFL player who is an author and speaker in addition to being the pastor of Transformation Church. He hosts “The Transforming the Church Podcast,” which is part of the ChurchLeaders Podcast Network.
His books include “God, Do You Hear Me?: Discover the Prayer God Always Answers” and “How to Heal Our Racial Divide: What the Bible Says, and the First Christians Knew, About Racial Reconciliation.”
In a 2021 interview with Dr. Ed Stetzer, Gray described what it was like to lead an ethnically and politically diverse congregation. “One church service,” he said, “we had an older white guy with a MAGA hat and MAGA shirt literally right next to a Black girl with a Black Lives Matter shirt on with an Afro, both hands raised worshiping the Lord.”
God’s invitation to follow him “transcends pandemics…transcends political division,” Gray said.
In his comments on Saturday, which came two days after the Fourth of July and over a week after the first debate of a contentious presidential race, Gray reminded people that Jesus’ followers are called to show his love to everyone in the world—including Americans—but that our savior did not come to redeem one particular country.
“Jesus’ goal is not to save America,” the pastor said. “Jesus’ goal is to save people in the country of America, and he’s saving them from the penalty of sin, the power of sin, the presence of sin.”
“He is saving us from the great enemy, death—for what?” Gray continued. “By grace, we’re brought into his kingdom so that we can be his hands and his feet on planet earth, and this is independent of a nation. Matter of fact, the church is called a ‘holy nation’ who exists to bring people out of darkness into light. Love you guys.”
