Diversity not disunity
We began our discussion this week by watching an interview blogged on Kathy Escobar’s website, titled “Christian“. This interview was with John, a member of Kathy’s community, who was so disillusioned with the established church and felt so at odds with the views of conservative Christianity, that he felt compelled to stop calling himself a Christian. He made the comment that Christians are not following Christ but Paul’s interpretation of Christ.
As a community, we could understand his sentiments, we could sympathize with his discomfort over some of Paul’s teachings or, at least, at the way some of them are applied but it seemed to us that John had just given up on the church, that for him the church was broken beyond fixing and that all he could do was start over.
We have seen this pattern before. Much renewal in the church has been driven by dissatisfaction with the establishment of the day but as in the case of John, this results in division. Is this God’s desire for his church?
We read Ephesians 4: 1-16 and considered what God’s desire for his church might be. We should be “bearing with another in love” and aiming to “keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace”. The passage reflects on the many different parts there are to the body of Christ, the church. The church is characterized by diversity but should not be marked by disunity. This is a struggle when we find ourselves in opposition to other Christians but always we need to keep our eyes on Jesus as the unifying force for the church. God does not give up on his church, nor should we.
1 Comment to “Diversity not disunity”
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By John, February 16, 2010 @ 3:41 pm
Carolyn,
Nice synopsis of Sunday. I wanted to let you know that I really enjoyed our time together. It is gatherings like this that make me super-enthused about the future of our community. I love the concept of never giving up on our brothers and sisters.
Many times I have had much criticism for other parts of the body, but so many of these different and unique experiences of church are rescuing people from so many different things.
For instance I have seen the Baptist church rescue folks from traditionalism, and the non-denominational church rescue folks from boredom, while the Catholic church rescues some from emotionalism, and on and on. The key thing being that these individuals are all part of the body at any given time and distinctly members of the same Kingdom of God we are currently thriving in.
Thanks for your gracious ability to accept the new, without tossing out the old and the way you communicate that so effectively to our little community.