“You are joined together with peace through the Spirit,
so make every effort to continue together in this way”
Ephesians 4:3 (New Century Version)

“He who loves his dream of community more than the Christian community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter”.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together

Rick Warren’s focus in Day 21 of the Purpose Driven Church is on the unity of the local church. He points out that God doesn’t seek uniformity but has chosen to give us different personalities, backgrounds, races, and preferences. For unity’s sake we shouldn’t let differences divide us.

Rick gives us a few tips on how to keep the peace…

Focus on what we have in common.
Be realistic in your expectations.
Choose to encourage rather than critisize.
Refuse to listen to gossip.
Practice God’s method for conflict resolution – private confrontation before public.
Support your pastor and leaders.

I’ve always warmed to the phrase:

“in necessariis unitas, in dubiis libertas, in omnibus caritas”
which translated from Latin into English says:

“in essentials (or certain things) unity;
in doubtful things liberty;
in all things charity.”

The quote is sometimes attributed to Augustine or Richard Baxter or Ann Baxter. Researchers are saying now that the phrase was first used by a German Lutheran theologian called Rupertus Meldenius, during religious wars in Europe

The trouble with putting this into practice is allowing that what I may be certain about, may not be held essential by all Christians. I’ve experienced this recently with debates and dissension over sexuality. I have friends and colleagues who insist that ‘faithfulness in marriage and celibacy in singleness’ is a core doctrine that must be subscribed to before being considered a true Christian. And yet I don’t see it mentioned anywhere in the early church creeds.

I like what Warren has to say today about realistic expectations. A couple of weeks ago I had a friend tell me he’s disillusioned about the local church. He’s been burnt by the attitude I referred to in the previous paragraph. I caught myself saying “What can I do to re-illusion you?” What was I thinking?!! Dietrich Bonhoeffer, quoted in today’s chapter, reminds us that disillusionment with the local church is a good thing because it destroys our false expectations of perfection.

The flip side of today’s chapter is the cult of harmony. I’ve seen churches sabotaged time and time again when healthy and much needed change is resisted in the name of ‘keeping the peace’. I’ve had members come to me and say “You wouldn’t want to make us upset would you.” There is a time when ‘protecting your church’ will mean making decisions that are painful and costly. But in the middle of that arena, I’m with Rick Warren on the need to find our unity with one another – not based on thinking the same, but based on our common connection to God in Jesus Christ.