Curated by It’s That Part™ — Originally published by Faith and Proverbs on .
As we seek unity in our churches, there are three counterfeit forms of unity to watch out for.
The first is coercive unity, in which people are pressured to conform outwardly while they secretly harbor unspoken dissent. The second is token unity, in which people appear to tolerate everything but instead become detached from it all. The former represents an overreach of authority, while the latter represents an overabundance of love. With coercive unity, love is extinguished, leaving behind a temporary order. With token unity, unconditional love becomes a new form of tyranny, for it leaves no room for differences. This type of unity is also often temporary.
In China today, the Catholic Church leans toward high-authority unity, while evangelical churches favor low-authority, all-inclusive love. The goal of Reformed churches in China, however, is to achieve (and sustain) a balance.
But there’s another kind of false unity that’s harder to spot because it can closely resemble gospel unity. Let’s call it homogeneous unity.
Homogeneous Unity
Many feel that small churches are more intimate and unified and that larger churches lose this intimacy as they grow. Thus, they believe smaller churches have greater unity and better embody the church’s grand purpose as described in Ephesians 3:10–11.
I believe this is mistaken, because those who think this way fail to realize one thing: The smaller a group, the higher its degree of homogeneity and the lower its diversity; conversely, the larger a group, the greater its diversity and the lower its homogeneity.
The purpose of the gospel isn’t to achieve unity among a homogeneous group but to achieve unity among a highly diverse group. In Ephesians, the two groups with the least homogeneity were Jews and Gentiles. The gospel’s greatness lay in uniting that which couldn’t possibly be reconciled, thus testifying to Christ’s impossible sacrifice and impossible resurrection.
The purpose of the gospel is not to achieve unity among a homogeneous group, but to achieve unity among a highly diverse group.
We see homogeneous unity in churches when teachers easily connect with teachers, business people with business people, intellectuals with intellectuals, high-income earners with high-income earners, literature enthusiasts with literature enthusiasts, drinkers with drinkers, children with children and the elderly with the elderly.
When such affinities exist within a church, it isn’t necessarily bad—it may even be good. But such affinities are likely not based in the gospel, for they’re the norm in human society. They don’t manifest the gospel’s power.
The church’s mission is to continually break down this natural unity, disrupt the tendency toward “homogeneous associations” within the church, and shatter our cultural identities to humble us. Through constant evangelism, church planting, and missions, the church reduces the cultural homogeneity of the covenant community so the glory of the gospel might shine more brightly, the Accuser might be silenced, and the sins of this evil world might be condemned.
This is a dangerous task.
Dangerous Task
As the church’s homogeneity decreases, interpersonal conflicts will inevitably increase. Being “fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel” will be an ongoing challenge in the lives of Christians as the church grows and diversifies (Eph. 3:6).
At Early Rain, for example, we’re incredibly diverse—from income disparity to class differences to educational gaps to the proportion of migrants and temporary residents to differences in geographical origins, occupations, and cultural and political views. This brings many choices: acceptance or comparison, inferiority or arrogance, clinging to cultural identities or letting them go, breaking free from self-imposed limitations or imposing them.
When believers leave a church, many say it’s because the church has grown too large, or because their relationships aren’t as close as before, or because they don’t feel sufficiently loved. In reality, however, many are unable or unwilling to accept the challenges that come with the church becoming less homogeneous. They think, Let’s just stop here.
Many Christians harbor an alarming desire—that the church would stop growing. They aren’t willing to personally bear the cost of the church’s growth. They’re terrified of their comfortable fellowship being disturbed by outsiders, of being intruded on by someone with questionable habits. One theologian poignantly calls this tendency, which opposes the Great Commission, the “Great Disobedience.”
Unity in Diversity
It’s true that the less homogeneity within a church community, the greater the challenges and relational conflicts we may encounter.
But it’s also true that the greater our challenges and conflicts, the greater may be the display of the gospel’s power and glory among us. The unity produced by the gospel is a unity in diversity. Only then can it be considered a “supernatural” unity.
Let me pose a series of questions:
- Where else in this world can you find young men and 80-year-old women having lunch together, without any blood or legal ties between them?
- Where else in this world can you find children under 10 attending a funeral with their parents for someone with no familial ties to them?
- Where else in this world can you find a CEO attending a gathering with an ordinary employee, in which the CEO is the one serving and the employee the one being served?
- Where else in this world can you find men of vastly different incomes sitting and eating together, talking and weeping with each other, all without being in a same-sex relationship?
- Where else in this world can you find university professors, corporate executives, designers, and engineers singing and shaking hands with janitors, repairmen, and ex-convicts while calling them brothers and sisters?
In society today, such scenes are unusual—almost unimaginable. And yet, over the years, I’ve witnessed these remarkable scenes. In them, I see the glory of the gospel—the unity that comes only through the cross of Christ. I firmly believe that God is using the church to demonstrate that the “foolish” wisdom of the gospel is greater than the fleeting wisdom of this world.
Pursue Gospel Unity
Early Rain’s low level of homogeneity is partly because of our size but not entirely determined by it. It’s driven to a greater extent by the church’s vision.
For many years, we’ve been constantly pushing the gospel to its limits within China’s social and legal spheres by creating ministries for prisoners of conscience, petitioners, intellectuals, and university students; by founding schools; by holding prayer meetings for the nation on the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre; by engaging in anti-abortion ministries; and so on. If not for our commitment to this vision, this church—once known by outsiders as the “new urban intellectual church”—would never exhibit the social and cultural diversity it does today.
This observation brings me much encouragement and affirmation. It means the challenge of diversity and unity will continue among us. This is a battle we yearn for.
That All Would Be Made One
Some may ask, “Does this mean we shouldn’t have men’s or women’s fellowships? Or that we shouldn’t have any functional fellowships based on cultural identity?”
Not necessarily. Building friendships in the church with those who share your age, profession, or interests can be wonderful, and God often uses those relationships. However, if the church becomes defined by homogeneous friendships and groups, then the diversity brought about by the gospel and the supernatural unity that displays its glory are in danger of vanishing or becoming obscured.
In Paul’s day, this meant that if you were a Jewish Christian, you could discuss food preparation and dietary considerations with a few fellow countrymen. If you were a Greek Christian, you could discuss a certain Platonic ideal with brothers who have visited Athens. But in a fellowship where both Jewish and Greek believers are present, you must set aside your cultural identities and turn your focus to the gospel.
This is the source, power, and purpose of the supernatural unity that has come to us, and it’s the vision for which we must labor: that from north to south, from citizens to officials, from rich to poor, from young to old, from liberals to conservatives, from the intelligent to the simple-minded, from celebrities to former prostitutes, from prime ministers to tax collectors—that all would be made one through the cross of Christ.
Our mission “to the ends of the earth” at the very least entails becoming a community that comprises all communities and a people that embraces all peoples.
Without the gospel, even department heads and bureau chiefs would be unwilling to attend the same Bible study group. Yet, on this day, in this ancient city of Chengdu, university professors and elementary school graduates are sweeping the sanctuary floors together. And one day, mayors and petitioners will take Communion together in the same church, and judges and ex-convicts will share a meal in the same fellowship.
O gracious Lord, I know that unless you help us, these things will not happen.
For truth in every fact, visit itsthatpart.com.
Originally sourced via trusted media partner. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/pursue-unity-church/
