{"id":9119,"date":"2013-03-06T10:06:11","date_gmt":"2013-03-06T16:06:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theamericanjesus.net\/?p=9119"},"modified":"2013-03-06T10:06:11","modified_gmt":"2013-03-06T16:06:11","slug":"the-thing-about-christian-unity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2013\/03\/the-thing-about-christian-unity\/","title":{"rendered":"The Thing About Christian Unity Is…."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"Screen<\/a><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re a Christian with a blog, or just an opinion in general, and you have the audacity to critique other Christians, particularly prominent Christian leaders, you will inevitably find yourself under attack by fellow Christians accusing you of \u201cstirring up disunity\u201d in the church. The thought being that if \u201cthe world\u201d sees the church display any hint of discord, disagreement, or imperfection, that would be somehow mean the total collapse of the church\u2019s ability to do evangelism or worse, the invalidation of the gospel.<\/p>\n

This is, of course, nonsense. If it were true, the church, with its 2,000 years of flawed history, would have collapsed long, long ago. And yet these attacks continue. Why? Because there is a powerful force behind them:\u00a0fear.<\/p>\n

Of course, the church should strive for unity, but what these Chicken Littles of the faith are bemoaning is not the absence of unity, but conformity; conformity to their particular brand of the faith. Moreover, they\u2019re mourning the prospect that their favorite Christian guru or church may not be as perfect as they thought, or needed them to be.<\/p>\n

In other words, these self-appointed watchdogs and defenders of the faith come out in droves because their heroes have been revealed for the flawed human beings that they are and always have been. Yet rather than accepting this reality they instead turn towards denial and self-delusion. They become what every great regime needs: spin doctors and masters of propaganda. They fill up comment sections, write blog posts, preach sermons, all in an effort to spin the reality of the situation and cast the critic as the villain and their fallen hero as the innocent victim \u2013 all in the name of \u201cChristian unity.\u201d<\/p>\n

You see, the thing about this sort of Christian unity is that it\u2019s nothing more than propaganda.<\/p>\n

Like all good propaganda, it\u2019s not really unity that is sought, for diversity can not only exist within a unified people, it can thrive. What these Christian propagandists seek is conformity and the assurance that they are right.<\/p>\n

To their credit, these Chicken Little\u2019s of Christian unity are quite eloquent and often very effective in their propagandist efforts.<\/p>\n

Take, for example, Tim Challies, a popular blogger who recently came to the defense of Sovereign Grace Ministries<\/a>, a organization which has been criticized, and rightly so, by other Christians for refusing to cooperate with civil authorities in an investigation into accusations of sexual abuse. According to Challies,<\/p>\n

\u201cThis situation is unfolding before a watching world that loves nothing more than to see Christians in disunity, accusing one another, fighting one another, making a mockery of the gospel that brings peace. You and I are responsible to do well here, to be above reproach in our thoughts, words and actions. We are responsible to be marked by love whether evaluating a difficult situation or taking appropriate action. We can make the gospel look great or we can make it look\u00a0insignificant.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What makes Challies\u2019 words so devastatingly effective is his ability to not simply move the guilt away from those who have created the problem and place it on those calling them to account. Effective though that is, what makes it so powerful in a Christian context is the way he turns critique, an amoral and often healthy practice, into nothing short of sin.<\/p>\n

The absurdity of this is stunningly profound, if not altogether repugnant.<\/p>\n

And yet it is a technique employed over and over and over again from the most prominent celebrity preacher to the lowliest internet troll and everyone in-between all of whom\u2019s greatest fear is, apparently, being perceived as less than perfect. This need to be perfect, or at least to be seen as perfect, is a temptation that goes all the way back to Adam and Eve\u2019s need to be like God \u2013 to be perfect. Like Adam and Eve we still listen to words of the snake and believe that being less than divine is somehow a flaw.<\/p>\n

So, we do everything in our power to maintain the myth that our leaders, our churches, our theological systems, and, by extension, we ourselves are perfect.\u00a0This is what is at the heart of so many of the recent cries for Christian unity.\u00a0But the righteous indignation of \u201cChristian unity\u201d that runs rampant today has is more often than not nothing more than propaganda for sustaining a false and unnecessary narrative of perfection. A collective effort to sustain a lie.<\/p>\n

The truth is the church is and always has been populated by imperfect people.<\/p>\n

But the church has never feared this imperfection.<\/p>\n

In fact, she has embraced it.<\/p>\n

You see, if effective evangelism required that the world perceived the church as perfect, never arguing, and always agreeing on everything, there would be no Bible.<\/p>\n

Think about it \u2013 the Bible\u00a0begins with the story of a people who try to become gods and fail. Then when learn about a drunk named Noah. There\u2019s Lot who slept with his daughters and the great father of the faith, Abraham, who was a pathological liar. Moses was a murderer, David an adulterer, and Solomon a polygamist. The entire nation of Israel were serial spiritual adulterers throughout much of the Old Testament. In the gospels we meet a group of 12 disciples who were power hungry doubters. Paul was a terrorist and if we learn nothing else from his letters it\u2019s that the early church was constantly bickering.<\/p>\n

Which means, if the writers of the Bible had listened to the modern propaganda about Christian unity and \u201csowing disunity\u201d the Bible would never have been able to be written because it\u2019s just too bad for PR.<\/p>\n

At its core, the Bible is scandalous. It\u2019s the account of all the many ways God\u2019s people have screwed things up. And yet there is no attempt to coverup any of those perfections. Why? Because the Bible is\u00a0a testimony to the fact that God doesn\u2019t need perfect people. God uses imperfect people to accomplish great things \u2013 and He\u2019s not afraid to do so. If anything, God seems to relish using the prodigal son or daughter to accomplish God\u2019s will.<\/p>\n

The Bible is a story of broken people saved by a broken savior who\u2019s offer of salvation is a call to live a broken life.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the good news of the gospel, the scandalous news we\u2019re supposed to be proclaiming to the world we\u2019re so worried about impressing.<\/p>\n

Yes, we are called to perfection, but the resurrection didn\u2019t instantaneously perfect the world. It simply begins it. Which means the perfection of the church is not something we will experience on this side of eternity\u2026and that\u2019s ok.<\/p>\n

This means if you are a Chicken Little, convinced the church will collapse at the smallest sign of \u201cdisunity,\u201d you need to\u00a0direct your righteous indignation somewhere useful. Perhaps towards the fact that millions of children go to bed starving every night, or towards the lack of effort given to prevent the loss of millions of lives to curable diseases, or towards the defense of basic human dignity denied to so many because they don\u2019t look, sound, or believe like \u201cI\u201d do.<\/p>\n

Or pick another cause. Get creative. Just find something more productive to do with your time.<\/p>\n

Yes, the unity of the church is a noble pursuit, but it can\u2019t be driven by propaganda, itself motivated by fear and the idolatrous need to be seen as perfect. As important as unity is, so is the church\u2019s integrity, honesty, and ability to deal truthfully and effectively when she fails.<\/p>\n

To do that, and maintain the unity we all want, we must remember that\u00a0our unity is not found perfection, but in our brokenness. It is found in our willingness to break bread together in the face of that brokenness as we come together to worship a broken Savior.<\/p>\n

We are a broken people and that\u2019s ok.<\/p>\n

In the face of a world that demands perfection, this brokenness of the Body of Christ is nothing short of scandalous.<\/p>\n

To reject that brokenness for the sake of public perception is to reject the cross and the God who was crucified upon it.<\/p>\n

If we are going to be united as a church, it won\u2019t come about through a sustained PR blitz.<\/p>\n

Our unity as the people of God will only come about through our willingness to embrace our shared brokenness.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Grace and peace,<\/p>\n

Zack Hunt<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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