UNITY THROUGH DIFFERENCES

Most churches teach that the healthiest way to build a church is through encouraging homogeneous affinity groups of common interest.

There is truth in this myth. Homogeneous groups of people with common backgrounds and common interests grow more quickly, and the people in them naturally “hit it off.” We naturally find ways to create time and energy for one another, because we do similar work, or we have similar backgrounds, or we have similar family relationships. Besides that, in the New Testament we find a Synagogue of the Freedmen, which apparently was a synagogue started by men who were freed slaves. Since the early church was structured similarly to synagogues, maybe the New Testament churches similarly shared common interests or backgrounds. However . . .

TRUTH: The healthiest way to build a church is by learning to love each other through our differences.

No doubt the fastest or easiest way to build a church is through affinity groups. But I believe the Lord purposely places people who are very different into the same Body in order to demonstrate long-term, supernatural love. Jesus said that even the pagans love those who love them. But God loved us when we were His enemies. His church should be a place where there is better love than the world can find; supernatural love, not love that is natural because everyone shares common interests.

And as for that matter of the Synagogue of the Freedmen: They were an unregenerate group who opposed the Gospel, not a New Testament church! A better biblical example would be the leadership team in Antioch. They had prophets and teachers from different ethnic groups and educations. Or, look at the background of the disciples. They were all from Galilee, so they had geographic and ethnic commonality, but one was a government employee and another was an anti-government zealot. One was nicknamed “Bighearted,” while two brothers were “Sons of Thunder.”

Perhaps the greatest commandment in Scripture is for us to love one another. Whatever our relationship with each other, it should be colored with love.
-ker