Monday August 13, 2012

How can you promote unity within your church and within your city?

 

Read Ephesians 4:1-6. 1 Cor 12:4-6

 

I wonder what non believing people around you see when they look at your church. Do they see the church as it’s meant to be seen or do they see a distorted picture of God’s true church?

 

Biblically speaking the church is one, because our God is one. The church has unity because God has unity.

 

Even though the church is made up of different ministries  and has different people with different gifts and different functions and even though the various churches meet in different locations, there is still only one church. The church is still, Biblically speaking, unified.

 

Even our forms or styles of worship should not detract from our unity. The kind of service held at Corinth (1 Cor 14:26ff) would have been vastly different to the style of worship in the Jerusalem churches. These churches considered themselves as one church and worked together in the gospel.

 

The reality is that our different flavours should not detract from our unity. Our personal differences should not detract from our unity. Our racial and educational differences, our income differences should not detract from our unity.  The church stands unified because, from a human perspective, each and every member has entered the church via the same door - by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are all on the same playing field. From God’s perspective we are unified by the indwelling of the same Holy Spirit and we worship the one true living God together.

 

Unfortunately there are several things that destroy the unity of the church. Our relationships within the church are key. If these are not unified and cohesive the church will never be unified. Hatred, unforgiveness, stubborn pride, hatred of others, unwillingness to relate to others.... all these things destroy the unity of the church.

 

Fortunately, there are many things that build the unity of the church. If you think of the opposite of the things listed above, you’ll see many things that build unity. Love builds unity. Acceptance, forgiveness, willingness to relate to all people, generosity and so on all build unity. A church divided is a church defeated.

 

You can and should be playing an active role in promoting and growing the unity within your church.

 

Prayer:

¨ Pray for unity within your church. Pray that all relationships will be growing and deepening in love, commitment and other centeredness. Pray that each person will be growing in the two greatest commandments.

¨ Pray for unity across the churches of the city. Pray that we would be working together where we can bring the gospel to bear in this city. Pray that many more people will be reached with the love of Christ Jesus.