Wineskins Contributor・05/13/19

I haven’t always been associated with the Churches of Christ. I didn’t know much about our roots or where we came from. I didn’t really care too much about our heritage until I heard Patrick Mead speak on it at a Campus Ministry conference.  When I was introduced to the Declaration and Address of the Campbells and The Last Will and Testament of the Springfield Presbytery, I saw how beautiful our tradition was.

Perhaps the thing I gravitated toward the most was our foundation. We are a people of the Bible – a people of the book – and we all seek to live out the Scriptures. The other feature of our movement that lit a fire in my heart was the fact that we are a unity movement. Many different streams of Christendom converged in unity and purpose.  The beauty of so many coming together from divergent backgrounds under the banner of Christ and His Church – it’s miraculous. That is why I’m proud to be a part of the Churches of Christ.

Yet, somewherealong the way, many left unity and pursued uniformity. There’s a vastdifference.  Uniformity is a conceptwhere everyone is the same. They share the same views, thoughts, opinions, andinterests.  While that seems like a noblething, it isn’t biblical. I’ve heard several well-meaning ministers conscript Acts2:42-47 where “all the believers weretogether and had everything in common,” to make a case that all churcheseverywhere must be the same. That concept is foreign to Scripture. Uniformity createsclones.  Unity – well that’s something farmore mystical.

Look toJesus’ prayer in John 17.  After Jesusprays for the twelve, he prays for you and me. He asks the Father that, “that allof them may be one, just as you are in me and I am in you.  May that also be in us…I have given them theglory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one…” (John 17:21,22). He goes on to pray in the following verse, “I in them and you in me – so that they may be brought to completeunity.”

That begsthe question:  Why? Why is unity the thing Jesus asks for.  If you’re about to die, you have the right topray for just about anything you want. He could have been selfish with Hisprayer.  He chooses to pray for unity inyou and me.  Why?  Keep reading: “Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even asyou have loved me.” Wow! 

Here’s whythis matters deeply to Christ:  Hischurch that will be made up of billions of people from every tribe, language,and background, will somehow come together in unity.  That unity will provide the greatestapologetic to our faith that has ever existed. We can try all kinds of outreach and evangelism methods, but the onethat counts is having unity, not uniformity in the church. Our unity provides thegreatest evidence that Jesus is the Son of God.

Paul’s ‘body’treatise in 1 Corinthians illustrates unity over uniformity.  Everyone, though different we be, comestogether to form one cohesive functioning body. Every part different. Everypart essential.  That God could do that,with so many different people, is truly miraculous.  That is why a watching world needs to see ourchurches in unity. Each church must evaluate its cultural context, adapt, andlove one another with everything they’ve got. If we can, by the grace of God, pull that off, then a world so desperatefor hope and love will see the greatest display of preternatural power theworld can ever witness. 

The rootsof unity run deep in the Churches of Christ. It is my challenge to you, wherever you find yourself, to seekunity.  To, “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond ofpeace” (Eph. 4:3). To fiercely protect the beauty that God has provided throughour diverse unity.  After all, the worldwill know Jesus is God’s son when we live in unity.