The Church is called to be the people united through the Spirit to bring about unity, peace, and reconciliation in a divided world.
All tagged unity
Wait, What?? Modern Lessons from a Biblical Communication Breakdown
Both groups are being faithful to the Lord; they just can’t get along with each other. We must learn how to handle the conflicts that happen with each other so we can fight the real enemy together.
Mending Generational Divides: The Practice of Listening for Unity
We all have the capacity to make relational choices that can help mend age segregation in our churches. Specifically, I want to offer one practice for followers of Jesus that can help all of us swim upstream towards greater unity in the generational body of Christ: the practice of listening for unity.
My Enemy is (Still) Made in God’s Image
We always have the choice as to how we see another person. We can resist evil, reject unrighteousness, and even contend for the faith without losing sight of the image and likeness of God in our conversation partner, our opponent, our enemy.
Restoring Unity to the Body of Christ
The body of Christ cannot be idle in its efforts to cultivate unity. If the body of Christ is going to function to the fullest, the body must be one.
Ephesians 4:1-16 and its Implications for Ministry
When leadership fulfills its role, churches grow not only numerically but also in knowledge and spiritual maturity, which results in unity and peace. Otherwise, contentions and divisions take place.
The Holiness of Laughter
Someone says a punch line, and instantly a loud, boisterous ruckus erupts. Before you know it, your side is splitting, and tears are running down your face. The sound is loud, free, and pure joy.
Learn to Match Your Stride
When we do the things expected in Eph. 4:2—practicing humility, gentleness, patience, and bearing with one another in love—we will be well on our way toward keeping the unity of the Spirit.
Reflection Roundup: Cultural Reflections
In order to imagine ourselves in difference-making positions, we all need models in place, models who look like we do and who don’t all look like each other.
Reflection Roundup: Adding Value
Remember the song, “Make new friends and keep the old; one is silver and the other’s gold”? All are precious partners in God’s mission.
Reflection Roundup: Honest and Curious
Liminality: it’s the ultimate “are we there yet?” And in fact, we’re not. If we’re honest, we’ll admit we don’t even know where there is, exactly, and lead with the spirit of contentment enjoying the missional pit stops with God while holding the destination loosely.
Reflection Roundup: We Really Are Better Together
We, the people of this common space of earth, were created by a communal God. Who do we think we are, so often going it alone?
Helping the Church Learn From Its Past: Restoration Day 2020
As a minister in Churches of Christ for 20 years, I often struggled with how to help the contemporary church appreciate its past.
Preaching Ephesians in 2020
There may be no better text for preaching in divisive cultural moments than the book of Ephesians. Here, the church sees a picture of all-encompassing unity.
Where Do We Go from Here?
What if there was an alternate path that could lead us beyond sectarianism while still allowing us to hold on to all that is valuable in our heritage?
A Bigger Tent: The Secret to Church Unity (Part 3)
If we are to be unified in the church, we’ve got to find something bigger to unite around, and the mission of God in the world may be the only thing that fits the bill.
No Matter What
We will mess up, make mistakes, and mis-handle situations. We will sin and fall short. But we will love, no matter what.
A Bigger Tent: The Secret to Church Unity (Part 2)
Could it be that from this point on, the Christian church should be about movement and the spreading of this tent to the ends of the earth?
A Bigger Tent: The Secret to Church Unity (Part 1)
Acts 15 provides a witness to the 21st century church, revealing a way forward in a religious world that doesn’t notice how big the tent actually is.
Ministry of Reconciliation, Part 3: Three Commitments to Move Us Further
We offer three crucial commitments that are essential to any attempt to move closer toward the goal of racial reconciliation in the church.