Your love for one another will prove
to the world that you are my disciples.
—John 13:35
Rolling through a small town with a Sojourners caravan, Jimmy pointed to a sign in front of a church—“The Original Church of God, Number Two.”
Veteran preacher Bob Russell, relating his experience and observation, rephrased Jesus’ words this way: “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there will be conflict.”
Sadly—and shamefully—countless towns have as many churches resulting from splits as Starbucks has stores.
The church needs big people: big enough to resist insistence on their own way; big enough to respect divergent opinions; big enough to disagree without being disagreeable—big enough to love.
Proverbs 6:16–19 names seven things that God hates—the last being, “one who sows discord among brethren.” That should be enough to bring any divisive Christian to grief and repentance.
If you’re always right and others always wrong,
you’re going to spend your life church-hopping.