It's no secret that unity is one of the big things (if not the biggest thing) Christ wants from the Church. John 13:34-35; 17:20-23; and 1John 4:12 all say that it is through the unity of the Church that we know God, and that others know the truth about Christ. One of the last and most famous of the prayers of Christ is for love and unity among Christians, and, as stated in a previous post, love for other believers is one of the highest commandments of Christianity.
I don't claim to be an expert on achieving or maintaining unity, or even knowing exactly what it's supposed to look like, but I do know some things that it isn't.
First, the unity of the Church is bigger than unity within a single church or even a church group or denomination. This is a mistake cultists make. Many of them will turn to the divisions between mainline Christian churches and use these to dismiss all churches besides their own, since, supposedly everyone else is divided, but they are still united. Of course, this usually backfires when one finds out that these cults have splinter groups of their own. It's also a mistake that Christians make. Being united and loving one another is easy when we can narrow the boundaries of that love and union down to a relatively small number of individuals (a church group, a Bible study, etc) and even easier when we can control who can and can't be a member of that group. But the Bible doesn't make things easy: it says that the unity of the Church is something that extends to all Christians everywhere, regardless of their membership in any group or denomination. We cannot say that Christ is worshiped only by Methodists, Baptists, or Presbyterians, He is worshiped by members of every kingdom, tribe, a tongue. As we are all united in the worship of the same God, we should strive to be united with each other, no matter what churches we go to.
Second, and related, being united in the Church doesn't mean that we all need to be members of the same organization, or even members of a organization. This is something that a lot of churches disagree with. Churches often discourage Christians from going along without being members of a church. The accusation is that such Christians cannot be properly united to other believers, since they have no formal associations. While it is true that Christians who don't associate with others at all aren't united (and that Christians who don't go to church can risk falling into this category), we should distinguish between believers who don't associate with other believers and believers who aren't members of a church institution. The latter category includes a great many believers, possibly the majority of all Christians throughout history. Membership in churches was not formally organized until hundreds of years after Christ, and in many countries today is greatly restricted or non-existent. Nevertheless, these believers still gather together and are united with other believers. Even in countries where membership in the institutional church is unrestricted, there is no Biblical mandate that Christians take advantage of it. The Bible commands unity and love among individual Christians, not commitment to organizations made by Christians.
Third, it doesn't mean a going with the consensus of a superficial "Christian" culture. True unity must be based on truth, and there is much in even the most well-meaning "Christian" cultures that has nothing to do with truth.
Finally, unity does not mean pleasing and serving the popular or powerful Christians in a community. Again, unity must be based on truth, and not only do the popular and powerful have no monopoly on these, but also the truth is that Jesus came to serve and love the outcasts and sinners, and calls us to do the same.
I don't claim to be an expert on achieving or maintaining unity, or even knowing exactly what it's supposed to look like, but I do know some things that it isn't.
First, the unity of the Church is bigger than unity within a single church or even a church group or denomination. This is a mistake cultists make. Many of them will turn to the divisions between mainline Christian churches and use these to dismiss all churches besides their own, since, supposedly everyone else is divided, but they are still united. Of course, this usually backfires when one finds out that these cults have splinter groups of their own. It's also a mistake that Christians make. Being united and loving one another is easy when we can narrow the boundaries of that love and union down to a relatively small number of individuals (a church group, a Bible study, etc) and even easier when we can control who can and can't be a member of that group. But the Bible doesn't make things easy: it says that the unity of the Church is something that extends to all Christians everywhere, regardless of their membership in any group or denomination. We cannot say that Christ is worshiped only by Methodists, Baptists, or Presbyterians, He is worshiped by members of every kingdom, tribe, a tongue. As we are all united in the worship of the same God, we should strive to be united with each other, no matter what churches we go to.
Second, and related, being united in the Church doesn't mean that we all need to be members of the same organization, or even members of a organization. This is something that a lot of churches disagree with. Churches often discourage Christians from going along without being members of a church. The accusation is that such Christians cannot be properly united to other believers, since they have no formal associations. While it is true that Christians who don't associate with others at all aren't united (and that Christians who don't go to church can risk falling into this category), we should distinguish between believers who don't associate with other believers and believers who aren't members of a church institution. The latter category includes a great many believers, possibly the majority of all Christians throughout history. Membership in churches was not formally organized until hundreds of years after Christ, and in many countries today is greatly restricted or non-existent. Nevertheless, these believers still gather together and are united with other believers. Even in countries where membership in the institutional church is unrestricted, there is no Biblical mandate that Christians take advantage of it. The Bible commands unity and love among individual Christians, not commitment to organizations made by Christians.
Third, it doesn't mean a going with the consensus of a superficial "Christian" culture. True unity must be based on truth, and there is much in even the most well-meaning "Christian" cultures that has nothing to do with truth.
Finally, unity does not mean pleasing and serving the popular or powerful Christians in a community. Again, unity must be based on truth, and not only do the popular and powerful have no monopoly on these, but also the truth is that Jesus came to serve and love the outcasts and sinners, and calls us to do the same.
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