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We (Christians) all like to talk about things like unity, community, the body of Christ, family in Christ, the global Church, and on and on. In fact, we talk about it so much that you’d think we’d tell you how to do any of that.
Because here’s the truth- we’re not so good at being unified these days. We spend a lot of time trying to prove that we’re not like “those” Christians or criticizing our brothers and sisters in Christ that seem less committed and not as perfect as us in our own eyes. I’d go so far as to say that unity isn’t a priority at all in the modern church. Spiritual denominations and physical borders separate us from each other. Those that have begun to see this as an actual problem stand on street corners and shout at us to get our act together, but even they aren’t really doing anything to help the problem or find the solution. We ask each other to change, saying “if you would just have our worldview and our customs, we could totally get along with you!”
Listen up brothers and sisters- Unity has a price. If we want to truly become one community, we have to have a funeral before we have a wedding.
Think about it this way: When two people get married, they don’t just squish together two individuals. Rather, two people give up their individual selves and become one body together. The same has to happen for us to become one body as a Church. While there are some truths that we should never compromise on and some people who aren’t truly following God that we should rebuke, we are called to sacrifice our comforts and preferences to join with the global body of believers. For example, you may love modern music, but worshipping with a different group of people may require you to learn some old hymns or even music in a different language.
As you all know, I recently spent time in El Salvador working with a Christian organization in Cuidad Delgado (part of San Salvador). While this organization was doing many wonderful things in the community, no organization is perfect and I saw some harmful ideas about what it means to be a Christian practiced in their ministry. Instead of accepting their culture and conforming to their worship practices, many of the missionaries expected the community to become more american. They saw the american christian worldview and customs as the only correct way to know and worship God. Yet God is not the God of America. America does not matter much to God. People matter to God, not national boundary lines. The way we worship isn’t the “right way,” it’s simply our way. When we go into other cultures to do ministry, we need to meet them where they are, not as a lesser people but as a unique and therefore different people.
Unity requires sacrifice. It requires us to give up our comfort zone.
So let’s put this into practice: When you meet other christians with different experiences remember to listen to them, accept them, and learn from them. Stop expecting to people to agree with you all the time, but rather listen to their perspectives to grow your own worldview. Stop asking people to change to join your church or social group, instead see diversity as an asset rather than a risk. Stop worrying about doing things the way they’ve always been done, because those new ideas and new perspectives and new ways of life could be better than your old traditions.
Stay tuned for how to start doing this on an individual level next post.
-31Women (Beth)
