The Need for Unity and Diversity in the Church


                A lot of Christians are probably of the mind that every church and church member needs to be of one mind and have one goal in mind. I’m not entirely sure on this statement. While it would be nice if churches could stop bickering so maybe the media would have a little harder time trying to discredit us, but what if every person in the church was a preacher, or what if everyone in the church was playing music? I believe that unity is needed in the church in terms of theology, and diversity is needed in terms of the membership of the church.
                What do I mean by theology? What I am defining this as is the idea that the church members have similar ideas about the interpretation of scripture; especially the scriptures pertaining to the way to salvation. The reason we have so many denominations amongst Christianity is differences in ideas about theology. For example, Catholics got to confession to be absolved of their sins. Most other denominations do not do this because we believe that Jesus is already interceding for us, so we do not need another middle man. Now, as far as I know, most Christian denominations use the same Bible and believe in the same triune God. I am not going to say that any one denomination is fatally flawed, but I do disagree with the idea of confession to a priest to gain forgiveness from my sins.
                To discuss the diversity of the church membership, I am going to be referencing to passages of scripture, the fruits of the spirit and the body of the church. Both of these passages are found in 1 Corinthians 12. As I am reading the passage again, verses 4-6 sum up what I am trying to say here really well. “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.” These verses, and the whole chapter speak of the diversity of the church and that God has arranged and set certain people in the positions that they are in to work toward glorifying Him. If everyone in the church was interested in the pulpit, there would be a couple hundred million individual churches in the United States alone, and if everyone is preaching to themselves, that is the ultimate realization of preaching to the converted. The same scenarios pop up if every Christian were interested in only one thing. Some of us are called to preach, some to play music, and still others to more tasks such as international missions or tending the nursery.
                To sum up, I believe that Christians do need to understand that we all need the same foundation in the Bible and the same interpretation of that scripture, but the church has many jobs that need to be done, so different talents and spiritual gifts are needed to complete and maintain these jobs. So I think I may have justified the saying the first saying at the beginning of this post in a sense, if the one goal in mind is the glorification of God and the teaching of believers and non-believers alike . If you read this and it gives you insight, or you have something to add or criticize from me on this topic, please feel free to comment and let me know.

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