The Church: Unity in Diversity
I have been attending churches for most of my life. I have been a part of three denominations, have attended nine congregations, and pastored at six of those. I think of learned something about healthy churches.
The one thing that stands out for me is that of unity in diversity. Some people mistake this for uniformity and attempt to enforce a rigid conformity. These can be the unhealthiest congregations. Others reflect radical diversity without any sense of unity. This is also problematic.
But when congregations can find a unity that also celebrates diversity, it is a beautiful thing. You might thing that more important than this is love for God and love for people.
But unity in diversity is the natural development from love for God and people. The unity is found in our identity in Christ. We can celebrate diversity and not try to create an artificial uniformity because of our love for people and our willingness to accept people as they are.
I won’t pretend that this is easy. Paul wrote an entire letter (1 Corinthians) and never denies the challenges of this vision. But if we even aim at this as our goal, we will be moving our churches (and denominations) in a much healthier direction.
