There is one body, and one Spirit, even as you also were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in us all. (Ephesians 4:4-6 WEB)The Church is meant to be one body. I don't think denominations are necessarily a contradiction to this either. Because denominations are beginning to work together to get things done. For example, here in Richmond several churches work together in a ministry that helps the poor. These churches, though from a wide difference of denominations, are acting as one body to fulfill Christ's ministry in the world, which is in part to help the poor (Luke 4:18-19). Having different churches serves God's purpose, I believe, by meeting the spiritual needs of different types of people.
So what is a violation of the one body principle of the New Testament? When Christians act like other Christians are not brothers and refuse to work with them to accomplish God's will. For example, the fundamentalist who claims that Catholicism is not a part of Christianity. Or the Roman Catholic that believes that the Roman Catholic church is the one true God and other Christians are not a part of the Church.
The divide that the Holy Spirit really placed on my heart this morning as I read the above passage was the divide between the straight church and the gay church. The straight church is the part of the body that is predominantly straight, and conversely, the gay church is the part of the body that is predominantly gay. Most in the straight church do not believe that gays can even be Christians. This is what brought about the founding of gay churches to begin with. And with the exodus of the gays from the straight churches, the straight churches have been allowed to believe the gay churches do not exist. And most of the time, the wall between the two segments of the body is never breached. Very rarely will they work together, worship together, eat together. There is too much baggage between the two.
There is a segment of the straight church that is welcoming and affirming of gay Christians. It is here where the healing of the divide between the straight and gay churches begin. My church (the Epsicopal church) has many congregations which do so.
By healing the division, I do not mean that the gay churches dissolve their ministries and join straight churches. No, I mean that these churches stay functioning, keep their ministries that reach out to the LGBT community while finding ways to work with other churches to accomplish Christ's mission in the world. And this burden doesn't rest solely upon the gay church. I would even argue that the burden is heavier on the straight churches that ran the gays out to begin with.
So how can we, as Christians which all belong to the same body, work to heal this divide? Other than praying that God shows us opportunities on how to do this, I am not sure. Any suggestions are welcome, of course. Feel free to put your suggestions in the comments below!
Have a good day, and may the glory of God the Father, and Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be with you, now and forever. Amen.
Good article. I think the best thing to do is to show people the love of God and pray for them. If a church's heart is open to change, God will break down the walls over time. Treating them with the "us vs them" mentality only widens the gap, but a good testimony and a good spirit can really shake up those walls.
ReplyDeleteWhile I didn't deal with the dangers of the "Us vs Them" mentality in this post, I really think that I should have. Perhaps that is the topic of a future post!
DeleteYes, I think the Us. vs. Them is a very dangerous mentality to have, and very destructive to the body of Christ and our testimony. I look forward to the day when gay churches and straight churches will put this mentality behind them and will work together to accomplish God's will in the world!