What Are People Groups?

The Idea That Every Group is Gifted

Have you ever considered why your group of people exist? Now I’m being vague just a little bit because this is an introduction. Don’t confuse the term people group with race. Maybe you’ve not given much thought to the group of people you actually belong to. In doing a little research on what I call people groups, I found something interesting. There’s almost no such thing, but then again it is. Here’s what I mean. In some instances there’s little to no information and in other instances there’s so much information that it is almost useless. It leaves me in the same spot I started out in. I’ve found anywhere from 7 to 17-thousand groups of people. How can this be? How can it be so narrow then so broad? Why have we not heard of these? If you were asked if you could name the people groups on the planet, what would you say? Furthermore, if you were asked in which group you belonged, what would your response be?

While this content is not intended to definitively identify the number of people groups, the point is, this topic can get very technical. Therefore I would like to present a high level view of these groupings. In doing so we will be reducing the groupings down to just a few. Our goal for defining people groups is two fold: 1) identify the characteristics and gifts of each of those groups, and 2) help us understand ourselves better based on the group in which we exist.

What you can expect over the next few weeks as we pick this subject apart will include the following.

1. Disclaimer
   What we have to share is not to be taken as factual, but to provide a broad point of view. Many of the concepts that will be shared are not based on facts, but rather observations picked up over a great period of time. Please note and excuse any biases towards the two people groups we are most familiar with. Being of African descent living in America, that in and of itself is going to lead me to be a little bit biased. We will do our best to remain balanced. Obviously, being black in America, tends to create biases towards those who are white in America.
   With that said, here’s the most important disclaimer. Being biased doesn’t mean we favor any group over the other. It means just the opposite, we will tend to be tougher on these in order to make our case. Nonetheless, this high level thinking about people groups is what’s going to matter most as we explore what it means for us all.

2. Scattered Groups
   We will define people groupings from a more high level point of view. This content will provide a perspective regarding diversity from a God point of view, not from an individual point of view. We will void the notion of the superiority or inferiorities of any group compared to other groups. This section will talk about the scattering of people which resulted in the scattering of a set number of people groups. How did this separation happen and what does it mean for us? In other words, these people groups started out as one group of people that were spread out over different regions to create what I call the unique people groups.

3. People Gifts
   Each group of people has been provided a unique gift set or talent pool that has brought a benefit and adds value to the society and the world around us. Each group possesses a different set of skills that are unlike the other groups that were created. Thus, each group has something that the other group does not have. An individual people gift is meant to serve the other groups more than the gifted group itself. Your group was created to make my group better while my group was created to make your group better.

4. Misused People Gifts
   When used inappropriately, a groups’ gifts create disasters and scars on humanity that span lifetimes. In the abuse of a groups’ gifts, we still can see the benefits that each group has contributed to society as a whole. While I hate that abuse occurs, it is further proof for us that these gifts exist. Using this idea, we will demonstrate or describe what each set brings to the table, how they use them, and how they’ve been misused. As we unpack this further, it will reveal what these gifts can do to add value to us in the future and how we can change our perspective about each group that we are not a part of. This will explain how we fit into the picture like parts of a puzzle.

5. People Group Contributions
   Lastly, we will talk about the contributions of each of these groups over time. This way you can see for yourself the benefits that each group, even your very own group has contributed to society as a whole, from God’s point of view. In conclusion we would like to share a story that The Master Teacher gave about the gifts that He called talents. Each group of people has a talent that has been given to each one of us and we have actually done exactly what The Master described in his lesson. The question is have we made The Master Teacher proud of what the people groups have become?

We waited for some time to share this perspective with you. The time is now and our goal is to help not only give you a perspective that you’ve never had, but to take this perspective you have of each person you run into, to the next level. At the same time, take your perspective of yourself and the group in which you’re included to the next level. Welcome to “The Gift of People.”

Question: What would you conclude for yourself about the groupings of people you encounter?

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