"I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."
Ephesians 4:1-3
The Christian faith is formed by numerous sectors characterised by specific sets of beliefs and practices that make them unique from one another. Many of these sectors were born out of splits of one school of thought because a certain group of people that could not agree on the overall belief of the community.
While I believe that there is nothing intrinsically wrong with disagreeing, I also believe that there is also no intrinsic value to disunity born by disagreement.
My home church is one that has never experienced one single church split. It's not because our leaders agree all the time, but because they choose to still value each other even in the midst of differences. We believe that God's call to the church was to love, not to be right.
God never meant to create uniformity, but He has called us into unity. Here are reasons why we are better together.
1. Belief is best worked out together
Regardless of our differences in eschatology beliefs, parenting principles and leadership styles, we can and are actually better off working on these things together. In our diversity, we actually improve each other's beliefs and doctrines.
It's not always pretty and there is no guarantee we won't get offended, but it is always guaranteed that we grow as individuals and as a church.
2. Relationships are more valuable than political correctness
The greatest value in the whole world is our relationship with God followed by our relationship with other people. God's greatest commands were not to create perfect doctrine, to become the most perfect church nor to build better church buildings.
God's greatest and virtually only commandment is to love the way that God loved us despite of the vast difference there is between us and Him. God is holy, righteous and supreme and man is not. Yet despite that, He loves us still.
3. There is one truth -- Jesus
The greatest truth exists not as a belief, doctrine or creed, but as a person. Jesus said in John 14:6, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Jesus is the only truth, and everyone who believes in Him can be united in that one truth.
