Unity
Unity of the Spirit in the EFCM
We must rejoice over unity as a precious gift from God, while protecting it as a valued treasure. Here are some practical ways we are committed to keeping the unity of the Spirit in the EFCM:
1. I will recognize the call and gifts from God in all of my co-workers.
2. I will exercise vigilance over our unity.
3. I commit to speaking well of my coworker brothers and sisters and will publicly express appreciation for them.
4. I will pray diligently and fervently for the blessing of God on my teammates.
5. I will affirm the co-equal importance of planting, watering and supporting ministries.
6. I will shoulder responsibility for the ministry assigned to me and at the same time exercise prayerful concern for the field’s ministry in its entirety.
7. I understand that in the “heat of battle” there will be misunderstandings, conflicts and offenses.
8. I will deal with offenses promptly and appropriately
9. I will listen intently in order to understand the other person’s perspective.
10. I will avoid judging the motives of a fellow worker, because I cannot see my brother or sister’s heart.
11. I will forgive others on the team without hesitation or precondition, knowing that I, too, will need frequent forgiveness for my offenses.
12. I will commit myself to becoming better acquainted with the members of my team.
Jesus Himself said that believers and non-believers alike are watching, and our love for each other is the evidence that our faith is real. Join with me in guarding the precious unity of our faith.
Dr. Benjamin A. Sawatsky, Executive Director, EFCM, in Beacon, July, 1998
Getting Along
Mark Twain used to say he put a dog and a cat in a cage together as an experiment, to see if they could get along. They did, so he put in a bird, pig and goat. They, too, got along fine after a few adjustments. Then he put in a Baptist, Presbyterian, and Catholic; soon there was not a living thing left.
Phillip Yancey, What’s So Amazing About Grace, Zondervan, 1997, p. 33
One
Children of one family
one Father
John 20:17
Disciples in one school
one teacher
John 13:13–35
Sheep in one flock
one shepherd
John 10:16
Members of one body
one head
Eph. 4:15
Stones in one building
one foundation
1 Peter 2:3, 1 Cor. 3:11–12
From the Book of 750 Bible and Gospel Studies, 1909, George W. Noble, Chicago
Porcupines
The German philosopher Schopenhauer compared the human race to a bunch of porcupines huddling together on a cold winter’s night. He said, “The colder it gets outside, the more we huddle together for warmth; but the closer we get to one another, the more we hurt one another with our sharp quills. And in the lonely night of earth’s winter eventually we begin to drift apart and wander out on our own and freeze to death in our loneliness.”
Christ has given us an alternative—to forgive each other for the pokes we receive. That allows us to stay together and stay warm.
Wayne Brouwer, Holland, Michigan, quoted in Leadership, p. 68
You Got to be Together
The Atlantic Monthly (11/94) told about superstar tenors Jose Carreras, Placido Domingo, and Luciano Pavarotti performing together in Los Angeles. A reporter tried to press the issue of competitiveness between the three men.
“You have to put all of your concentration into opening your heart to the music,” Domingo said. “You can’t be rivals when you’re together making music.”
That’s also true in the church.
Leadership, p. 68
Admonition
One of the most eloquent admonitions I have ever encountered along these lines is in Bishop Burnet’s preface to the classic work The Life of God in the Soul of Man, written by Henry Scougal in the latter part of the seventeenth century. Here is what Burnet wrote:
“There is scarce a more unaccountable thing to be imagined, than to see a company of men professing a religion, one great and main precept whereof is mutual love, forbearance, gentleness of spirit, and compassion to all sorts of persons, and agreeing in all the essential parts of its doctrine, and differing only in some less material and more disputable things, yet maintaining those differences with zeal so disproportional to the value of them, and prosecuting all that disagree from them with all possible violence; or if they want means to use outward force, with all bitterness of spirit. They must needs astonish every impartial beholder, and raise great prejudices against such persons’ religion, as made up of contradictions; professing love, but breaking out in all the acts of hatred.”
Surprised by the Power of the Spirit, Jack Deere (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1993), pp. 176, 177.
Resource
• The Fight, J. White, IVP, pp. 137ff
Quote
• I want the whole Christ for my Savior, the whole Bible for my book, the whole Church for my fellowship, and the whole world for my mission field. – John Wesley
John Calvin
Calvin, who saw that the Devil’s chief device was disunity and division and who preached that there should be friendly fellowship for all ministers of Christ, made a similar point in a letter to a trusted colleague:
“Among Christians there ought to be so great a dislike of schism, as that they may always avoid it so fast as lies in their power. That there ought to prevail among them such a reverence for the ministry of the word and the sacraments that wherever they perceive these things to be, there they must consider the church to exist…nor need it be of any hinderance that some points of doctrine are not quite so pure, seeing that there is scarcely any church which has not retained some remnants of former ignorance.”
The Body, Charles W. Colson, 1992, Word Publishing pp. 107-108
Support
In the Cambridge, Minn., Star:
“Isanti County Commissioner Tom Pagel has 100-percent support from his family, not 10 percent, as was stated in last week’s article on Pagel’s announcement to seek re-election.”
Reader’s Digest
Eccumenicalism
“To remain divided is sinful! Did not our Lord pray, that they may be one, even as we are one”? (John 17:22). A chorus of ecumenical voices keep harping the unity tune. What they are saying is, “Christians of all doctrinal shades and beliefs must come together in one visible organization, regardless… Unite, unite!”
Such teaching is false, reckless and dangerous. Truth alone must determine our alignments. Truth comes before unity. Unity without truth is hazardous. Our Lord’s prayer in John 17 must be read in its full context. Look at verse 17: “Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth.” Only those sanctified through the Word can be one in Christ. To teach otherwise is to betray the Gospel.
Charles H. Spurgeon, The Essence of Separation, quoted in The Berean Call, July, 1992, p. 4
We Were Just One
During World War II, Hitler commanded all religious groups to unite so that he could control them. Among the Brethren assemblies, half complied and half refused. Those who went along with the order had a much easier time. Those who did not, faced harsh persecution. In almost every family of those who resisted, someone died in a concentration camp.
When the war was over, feelings of bitterness ran deep between the groups and there was much tension. Finally they decided that the situation had to be healed. Leaders from each group met at a quiet retreat. For several days, each person spent time in prayer, examining his own heart in the light of Christ’s commands. Then they came together.
Francis Schaeffer, who told of the incident, asked a friend who was there, “What did you do then?” “We were just one,” he replied. As they confessed their hostility and bitterness to God and yielded to His control, the Holy Spirit created a spirit of unity among them. Love filled their hearts and dissolved their hatred.
When love prevails among believers, especially in times of strong disagreement, it presents to the world an indisputable mark of a true follower of Jesus Christ.
Our Daily Bread, October 4, 1992
Five Fingers Make a United Fist
In a Peanuts cartoon Lucy demanded that Linus change TV channels, threatening him with her fist if he didn’t. “What makes you think you can walk right in here and take over?” asks Linus. “These five fingers,” says Lucy. “Individually they’re nothing but when I curl them together like this into a single unit, they form a weapon that is terrible to behold.” “Which channel do you want?” asks Linus. Turning away, he looks at his fingers and says, “Why can’t you guys get organized like that?”
Source unknown
Two Ways of Being United
There are two ways of being united—one is by being frozen together, and the other is by being melted together. What Christians need is to be united in brotherly love, and then they may expect to have power.
Moody’s Anecdotes, p. 53
What You Mean We
Tonto and the Lone Ranger were riding through a canyon together when all of a sudden both sides were filled with Indian warriors on horses, dressed for battle. The Lone Ranger turned to Tonto and asked, “What are we going to do?” Tonto replied, “What you mean ‘we,’ Whiteman?”
In Search of Unity, Edward Dobson, pp. 20-27
Quote
• There can be union without unity: tie two cats together by their tails and throw them over a clothesline. – Anon
• Snowflakes are one of nature’s most fragile things, but just look at what they can do when they stick together. – Vesta Kelly
Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So one hundred worshipers [meeting] together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be, were they to become ‘unity’ conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship.
A. W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God