The Unity Of The Church

The beginning of church is said to have risen from the resurrection of Jesus. In fact after the Pentecost, the disciples were celebrating the blessing given to Moses at Mount Sinai in which he experienced the presence of God. After this experience, the disciples were believed to be bold, understanding and Courageous. These characteristics till this day are still celebrated on Pentecost Sunday and are used for the sacrament of Confirmation, which is receiving the responsibility of a Christian and accepting the Holy Spirit. Church has been the backbone of people's faith. It has given them a comforting home to pray and be one with God. Today, however, more people are practicing faith outside the church. The majority of followers believe in God and life after death, however, many have lack of interest in the church. Church must be looked as a community of disciples. The book uses a suggestion from a Roman Catholic theologian Avery Dulles. He suggests, "that most appropriate image of the church for our times is the church as a community of disciples"(pp. 157). I totally agree with his suggestion. In order for Christians to find fulfillment in ones faith, one must help others understand their faith. We need to be grounded in grace; by being a Christian community your focus on believing is responding freely to a personal call and

No dog can pull a sled on his own; all must work together to finish the race. Additionally, they must unite in following the master’s directions. If one dog tries to pursue another route, he will only make the race harder for the rest of the pack and the musher will eventually need to pull him out. Similarly, each of us needs other Christians in order to finish the race strong. No one can accomplish the task alone. In Hebrews 10:25, Paul admonished the early church with these words: “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” We must unitedly follow the Master’s guidance. Otherwise, we will only make things harder for ourselves and others around

Today, why are Christians divided in church? Are we not one family and one body in God? 1 Cor. 1: 12-13 says, "Now I mean this, that each of you says, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized into the name of Paul?" We are all baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, we are one family and one body. Different opinions are due to a shortage of Christ. We all have our own preferences and understanding in so many matters, but if we are insistent in our ways, we only cause trouble. For instance, regarding where to send donations for Kachin IDPs, there are many different opinions, and they have caused much trouble. They have led to divisions of churches from one community and have distanced relationships with one another. However, if we are full of Christ, we will not care for these things.

Looking past church’s names and denominations, that usually separate churchgoers on any given Sunday, everyone was on one accord, as all hearts and minds were focused on the one thing each had in common---their love for God and his children.

ii) Church unity follows logically from fellowship of love. Members of one body; unity of belief - hence heresy a breach of unity, not just difference of opinion. Antithesis of love is the spirit that promotes schism.

God loves his Church and Jesus is the one who builds the Church. Then, it goes without saying that God loves the local church and Jesus builds the local church. Unfortunately, there are many factors that come into play, causing churches to become complacent or stagnate before entering into a season of decline. Yet this can be avoided through the process of revitalization.

For Paul warns in 1 Corinthians 1:10-13, "I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment." In my opinion, avoidable disjunctions over trivial matters harm the church and interrupt the fellowship of believers. For example, my former pastor caused worthless and unloving disunity in our church because he fervently adhered to his Reformed theology at the expense of others, despite no decisive evidence regarding this doctrine existing in the Bible. Sadly, several strong Christians left our Church and never returned. Nonsensical divisions such as this lead to the innumerable formations of denominations and alienation of believers. Instead of initiating these fruitless arguments, Christians need to focus on living lives holy and pleasing to

Dulles states, “It picks up the biblical theme that God has fashioned for himself a people feely communicating his spirit and his gifts” (50). The Body of Christ as stated in Dulles is, “the main point of mutual union, concern and dependence of the members of the local community upon one another,” (43). The body of Christ will only function is the whole community is willing to work together to reach a personal growth in their relationship with God. Now that we have an idea of what Church as mystical communion consists of I will discuss the strengths and weakness of this model. The strength of this model is that emphasizes a shared life with the community instead of shutting them off. This is a strength because when people come together as a whole everything holds so much more meaning and people can form a stronger bond with God, now that it is much more personal and voluntary. Another strength is that this model improves people spirituality and prayer life now that they feel that personal connection that they formed. A weakness of this model is that it creates unsure relationship between the visible and invisible, since Grace allows people to get closer to God through the invisible such as communion while the visible structure like institutionalism tries to emphasize their power over the whole people. I have discussed what the models mean, their strength and weakness of each so now I will note the difference and

THE church was formed as A Body of unity! So I'm sorry for being Bold And Stating truth but to tell u what's up..

They give scripture which identifies the importance of unity. Ephesians 4:14-16 shows how the body of Christ should be unified in the midst of diversity. Leaders should work extra hard to keep the church family worshipping together. The authors condemn chronological snobbery and suggest that both the young and old come together. The young generation must grow up and the older generation needs to adapt.

Yes we are called to be unified, but unity does not mean that we can't openly wrestle and discuss our differences. We treat our political and social differences like they are only like "Pepsi and Coke" or the Bears and Packers. Sorry, people aren't going to war over their favorite sports teams, but on cultural and political issues. Its ok to be open in the Church and explore those differences. This way we can break down those barriers and achieve real unity. Listening to Paul and Patience, Bobby Dennis, and others have challenged me a lot. I don't see them as dangerous enemies but as brothers and sisters.

Times have changed in the venerated world of those devoted so greatly to the love of the lord, yet in this change has aroused a nuance of thinking of how that love should be portrayed to the masses. Many factions have been roused and felled throughout the many ages of Christianity, many holding greater disdain for their fellow believers than even that of the infidel. In all realizing that some of these paragons of virtue have no real admiration for the religion of which they stand as advocates, but that in their lust for power they use the Church as their proxy for attaining greater strength and influence.

Chapter 9 struct me deeply in the context of how Christena Cleveland talks about how cross cultural interactions are not for the “Faint of heart.” Talking about how the biases we hold against other cultures and groups have the ability to create an issue when trying to mix groups together. Chapter nine in Disunity in Christ is all about creating positive cross-cultural Interactions, but as Cleveland relates to, we should be careful not to offend and be careful when dealing with the subject of cultural interactions due to the different backgrounds of where people come from. Cross Cultural interactions are a great for uniting and should be demonstrated positively.

In the article by Cwiekowski he looks at how the church has had to adapt to many different developments over the course of history and gradually branched into many different religion. He goes on to say how the Peter, Paul and James sought to maintain communion even amongst their differences. This unity and diversity was a guide for the church and helped reflects the teachings that we are all created equal. And also was a guide for the early churches to be different but united. But with this diversity in the early time period of the church came different understandings of and developments for each local church. The

The division made the Church grow hateful, and put some over others, even though God says they should be all treated equal. The rich people got their way, which is the same way the church is today. This made people who were rich or “more important” in society would be respected and listened to better than a poor normal person in society. Paul tried to tell everyone that in Gods eyes, everyone is treated equally, but most people could not change. They would still put rich people above poor people in most situations.