I wasn’t even planning to blog this week. I felt on the verge of verbal vomiting all over the page, and since the only person that would help is me, I thought I’d hold it in. Last night, however, I had a long, revelatory conversation with my dad and from that comes this blog post.
When I was on the World Race, we frequently worked with pastors or churches, and consequently went nearly exclusively to their churches. So depending on the month and our contact, we would attend a different denomination’s churches throughout the region, or just one church the whole month. As a inter-denominationally friendly ministry, Racers get to experience the gamut of denominations in the Christian faith.
Here in Guatemala, we are serving a ministry, not a church. One of our ministries is visiting local churches. What I used to think of as a luxury reserved for suburban Americans, church hopping has been the norm here. Though less than 10% of the population of Puerto Barrios practices Evangelical Christianity, they have enough churches for 100%. We have been to big, Holy Spirit filled, dancing before the Lord with all your might churches and small, conservative village churches. We have been to Methodist churches and Pentecostal churches, churches that met under an overhang and churches that meet in an air-conditioned hotel. We have worshipped with the wealthiest people in Puerto Barrios and the poorest, and everywhere in between. We have worshipped where women had their heads covered with scarves and where women were allowed to wear pants. Basically, we have run the gamut in denominations here in Puerto Barrios (and we still haven’t even been to the church down the street from our house…).
I say all this to show the widespread denominationalism in Puerto Barrios, and to use it as a microcosm for the global church.
As Christians, we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. It’s not what we do that saves us, but what Jesus already accomplished on the cross. We all have different roles to play in the Body of Christ as the church, and God reveals himself to each of us in his timing and in his appointed portion for each of us.
While some practices and thoughts still strike me as religious in nature, and stemming from the Old Covenant instead of the New Covenant, God has challenged me to see each church, each member of His body, as who they really are: God’s beloved, worth dying for. And even though I may not agree with all of what I see, it is ultimately my responsibility to focus on what we have in common and agree upon, rather than the minute differences that tear us apart.
It’s those differences that give the enemy a foothold in our churches. He is the master deceiver and is the king of pride. It’s that pride, that insistence on needing to be right, that divides us so readily from our brothers and sisters.
Because that’s what we are in Christ: brothers and sisters. Co-heirs to the Kingdom. Ministers of reconciliation. And how can we be ministers of reconciliation if we constantly insist we have to be right about the littlest things?
I’ll be honest—there’s still a lot I don’t understand about God, about His word and about His church. But what I do know is focusing on our similarities and celebrating who God has made us to be is more important than whether it’s necessary to cover heads in worship or whether it’s okay to dance in worship.
Under the New Covenant, I walk in the Spirit and it’s based upon the relationship Jesus purchased for me on the cross. It’s not about how well I can follow the rules. It’s about love—the flow of love from God to me to the people He puts in my life.
A strong desire for unity in the church pulses through my generation. There are multiple movements (Jesus Culture, Bethel, YWAM, AIM/World Race, IHOP, Passion, and so many more) and one thing they all have in common is the overarching desire to be One In Christ.
They are all streams flowing into one river (As my friend Kerry describes here: http://kerrybates.theworldrace.org/?filename=we-are-united-people-with-a-united-cause).
I don’t think it’s any coincidence that where I was in Peru this summer, and where I am now in Guatemala, and what I’ve seen in America and around the world, have all been places that struggle with unity in the overall body of Christ.
Lord, break this pride and this need to be right about the little things. Let us see our brothers and sisters for who they really are and what you are shaping us all to be. Jesus, you are coming back and you’re coming back for a bride, not a harem, so unify us, God, in the truth and love of who you are and who you are making us to be. Let our generation be one that stands in unity and that reconciles one to another as we all get closer to you. Amen.
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