It is said that truth has two wings.
There is great diversity in the simple/organic church movement–we come from every theological and ecclesiological background. As we embrace our differences, rather than being separated by them, the effect is synergistic–we become stronger.
We can win an argument at the expense of losing our friend–it’s not worth it! We can get together with people who are “just like us.” Where’s the adventure in that?
Obviously there are a few ideas, the basics of our faith, that we would take a bullet for. But other than that, let’s celebrate our differences–after all, unity was the focus of Jesus’ longest recorded prayer.
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6 replies on “Embracing diversity”
Indeed. Diversity is a sign of fullness (1 Cor. 12).
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Psalm 115:1
I like this ~ embrace our difference! We are to be united. In heaven there will be no division, so why should there be here? Love is the answer for our differences, for without love we are nothing.
Embrace one anothers differences? Differences in WHAT? I think this vague, ambiguous type of blogs are dangerous! As a follower of Jesus Christ, we are called to be of ONE MIND, not many. Rom 15:6, Phil 2:2. There are so many issues with posts I’ve read on here but simply put, SCRIPTURE is severely lacking!!!
Jocelyn, maybe you belong to a church where everyone is basically the same–believing the same things, preferring to worship in the same way etc. I remember talking this over with some African American friends. They love loud, rhythmic singing. My personal choice is for something gentler. But I’m committed to enjoying their style of worship when I’m with them.
But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. (I Corinthians 12: 24-26).
Many differences are simply preferences (like favourite food or colour), others are a matter of different perspective or gift (e.g. a person with a teaching motivation may assess a talk differently to a person with an encouragement motivation), and many are matters of opinion (e.g. different views on Bible translations). Only some differences are matters of truth, and only some of these are worth arguing over.
Love is the greatest “fruit” of all, and only if we are arrogantly and absolutely sure that we are right will we want to argue over most of all this.
At least, that’s what I think, but I wouldn’t want to argue over it! 🙂
Agree with you, UnkleE. Love is more important that winning.