I used to become weary as I drove around town looking at all of the different church buildings with different names on their signs, and knowing how different they must all be in the things they do as a fellowship. It seemed like you could find a different church on every corner. Oh how this must frustrate You, God, I prayed. To look around and see all of these divisions among us, when You have called us to be ONE.

But recently God has responded to my prayer. And His response was a little surprising, I'll admit. Here's what He spoke to my heart. Why are you assuming they are divided? Just because there are many distinctions does not automatically mean there is division.

Certainly if you look back at the history of how the church became a multitude of denominations and autonomous local bodies from city to city you find that people were divided, often over silly issues and things one group held as a value while other groups did not. But for the most part, if you walked into any one of these fellowships you would see them worshiping the One God, Creator and Lord, who came to this world as the man, Jesus Christ; who died on a cross, conquered death by returning to life after he was buried in a tomb, and has now come to live in everyone who believes and calls on His name, through the power of the Holy Spirit. How they worship and talk about these things, and how they come to believe in these things, may be many different ways but does that mean they are divided?

Just because they have two different buildings, different names by which they identify themselves, different pastoral leadership, different methods, etc.? Of course they are not divided. They are distinct. But when we misunderstand who initiates this thing we call unity we tend to assume there is much division among us. You see it is not our goal to strive for unity. Such a goal suggests that unity is something we have not yet possessed, but through our efforts and our striving maybe we can someday possess it.

Let's look at what Scripture has to say about this. One of the most popular passages on this subject is when Jesus prays for all believers just before he was crucified. Johns Gospel records it like this My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. What an awesome prayer!

The answer to this prayer is not possible unless a perfect sacrifice is provided for sin, which will reconcile all people to God and also to each other. Jesus is the answer to his own prayer. He was about to be that sacrifice. He was about to reconcile us to the Father and to one another through his death on the cross. Soon we would be ONE just as he prayed we would be. Why do I know this to be true? Look at what the apostle Paul says regarding unity. Ask yourself, Does it appear that he views unity as something we need to strive for, or is it something that has already been given to us?

In Ephesians 4 he writes Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spiritjust as you were called to one hope when you were calledone Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Notice the language keep the unity (how can we keep something that we do not yet have), ONE body and ONE Spirit (the Holy Spirit who indwells every believer, connecting us all over the world to one another), ONE Lord (Jesus Christ), ONE faith (Christianity), ONE baptism (your conversion), ONE God (the Father of all creation). Those are the things that make us unified. Those are the components of unity.

Therefore the only way a group of believers would not be united is if they were missing one of those components if they worshiped another God, or put their faith in another Gospel, etc. But NOT if they have a denominational identification, or worship in a building rather than in a home, or use an organ instead of a guitar, or they wear jeans instead of ties and dresses, or if they read from the King James Version rather than the NIV, or if they baptize before they believe or believe before they baptize, or speak in tongues or dont speak in tongues, or dance and sing in worship or quietly ponder Gods presence and activity. All of these things are what make Gods people distinct not disunited.

I believe God honors our distinctions. He looks around His kingdom and He sees lots of flavor, lots of diversity. And this world is in need of lots of flavor. Even the smallest of towns in the USA is in need of distinct flavors. So please dont despair just because you live in a town of 500 people and there are 50 different churches. Dont assume there is a great division among Gods people. Instead, recognize the beauty in being distinct. Just never allow your distinctions to divide you. There is a thin line between the two. And we do have to be careful. The moment one group says, We worship the ONE Lord but you don't because you do this or that, well there you have the root of division.

Allow one another to be distinct. And recognize the unity God has given us in Jesus Christ, through the Spirit. Unity is something that comes from the Spirit, not from us. As long as churches think unity is something they can accomplish they will forever be missing the point, and they will lose every distinction and calling God has placed on them in a given community. Because all of their efforts will go toward creating unity instead of fulfilling the mission of God. But Chris, you say, didn't Jesus pray that the world will come to believe in Him when they see we are ONE? Yes, but we must see it too. We must see that we are ONE because of Jesus. That is the message the world needs to hear. That is the prayer Jesus prayed.

If the world sees that Jesus died to reconcile us to God and to one another, and they see us living in this reconciliation in a distinct group of believers called the family of God, then they will not be able to resist Gods amazing love and power. And they will want to join this family. When they do, they will most likely identify with a distinct group of believers in a particular city, but at the same time, because of the Spirit of Christ, they will be reconciled on a much larger scale to the Body of believers everywhere. So brothers and sisters everywhere, I urge you make every effort keep the unity that has been given to us. At the same time, keep your flavors that make you distinct in the body of Christ.

Hi Tammy! It's good to hear from you. Hope all is well with the Schoch family.
--Chris ( chris at oasiscf dot com ) on 11/7/2004; 10:59:43 PM

hey chris! it's good to see your writing here. hi from the schoch's.
--tammy ( tammy at theooze dot com ) on 11/7/2004; 6:39:07 PM

hey chris! it's good to see your writing here. hi from the schoch's.
--tammy ( tammy at theooze dot com ) on 11/7/2004; 6:38:41 PM