Unity in Christ in a Fractured Age
by Dennae Pierre
The United States is experiencing fractured, polarized, and anxious times — and, unfortunately, the church in America is not exempt. Hate-filled and dehumanizing words flow freely from the mouths of evangelicals, often about the most vulnerable in our society: the poor, undocumented immigrants, the incarcerated, the unborn. The polarization we are witnessing is the result of fear sweeping through the church as she reacts to various cultural currents. And it is deeper than mere disagreement over politics or cultural issues. It is what James 3:14 calls “earthly, unspiritual, demonic.” There is no place for it among God’s people, and yet these reactions eat away at the American church like cancer. Our fractured and divided world is in desperate need of a church that displays the reality of her union in Christ through her love for the entire body of Christ. There may be no greater public witness to the love, goodness, and glory of God than for the church to display the unity we have in Jesus.
UNITY ACROSS DIVISIONS
In Phoenix, we are beginning to see the fruit of Christian unity as pastors and churches from various denominations (Reformed, Baptist, Anglican, Mennonite Brethren, Assemblies of God, Pentecostal, and more) partner in significant ways to display Jesus in our city.
Churches across the city have worked together to provide hospitality and relief to thousands of asylum seekers. 375 churches partner to serve 500 public schools and address foster care needs in our city. An Assemblies of God church recently commissioned one of its pastors to spend a year at a Presbyterian church so that together they could send out a new church plant. My own multi-ethnic church has gathered in homes for meals, prayer, and difficult discussion, seeking greater unity in the midst of our national and political divisions.
This unity has not come easily or naturally. In virtually every instance in which we have pressed in to participate in mission together, we have experienced competitiveness, misunderstandings, and relational fractures that need healing. Our leaders care deeply about their own theological convictions that align with their respective denominations, and they disagree at times about racism, injustice, and politics. Unity is not achieved by ignoring these differences or even resolving them, but by learning how to practice reconciliation and live into our union with each other.
IMAGINING CHRISTIAN UNITY
In a world that is pulling us further away from one another, unity in Christ looks like God’s people pulling up to a table in which only Christ is the center. Each of us must recognize that we sit somewhere around that table colored by our own experience and perspective. None of us approaches the table from a purely objective position. Fail to understand this, and we are easily swept up by the “spirit of the age” only to be polarized one from one another. Instead, Christ asks us to be anchored to him and, in doing so, not let go of our brothers and sisters around that table who are different from us. Christ has something of himself in every part of his Body and if we don’t commit to remain together, something of Christ will go undiscovered. This will compromise our faithfulness to bear witness to Jesus and his kingdom.
Ephesians 4 tells us how to stay faithful to Jesus and his kingdom. Paul instructs the church in Ephesus to keep the “unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (4:3). He reminds them that God himself is one and that we have been baptized into his Oneness (4:4–6). Our union with Christ is a mysterious, holy reality that we embody as we experience union with each other (4:11–13). Paul tells us to practice humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance, and love as the means to keeping unity of the Spirit (4:2, 32). Practicing humility, gentleness, patience, and forbearance, especially toward our brothers and sisters in Christ who have different theological convictions or cultural values, builds up the body of Christ, growing us into a mature people, allowing the church to grasp the “fullness of Christ” (4:13).
Notice the significance of that — we only grasp the “fullness of Christ” when we live in union with each other. That means Christian unity is not only a helpful missional strategy to attract onlookers. Unity is essential for any of us to experience all of Jesus. It is only when God’s people learn to practice this type of unity, grounded and rooted in the love of Christ and his gospel, that we are able to withstand the spiritual darkness always seeking to pull us away from Christ and each other (4:14–16). Too often, church leaders talk about Christians with different doctrinal, political, or cultural views in ways that treat unity as unholy compromise, as though their own faith will be made weaker by leaning into their brothers and sisters. It is hard to make biblical sense of this fear-based response.
If unity in the midst of diversity “builds up the body” then distancing ourselves from one another always makes us weaker. Our fidelity to the cross is practiced in loyalty and love toward our brothers and sisters.
UNITY AND GRACE
It is one thing to give lip service to “unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” It is entirely different to learn how to listen, speak truth in love, and move toward those who seem hostile or dismissive of us. Trying to “practice” love, gentleness, patience, humility, and forbearance with one another reveals layer upon layer of bitter envy, selfish ambition, and pride in our own hearts. Even when we can muster up behaviors that look like patience or humility, if we listen to our hearts, we will find resistance, anger, and pride. It is easy to see the idols in another person’s worldview while being blinded to our own; easy to be repulsed by the distorted cultural values of another while not seeing our own distortions; easy to allow righteous anger to justify unrighteous behaviors.
I continue to be confronted with how often self-righteousness has blinded me. I ask others to suspend their judgment about the most vulnerable in our city, judgement, and even contempt, toward those I feel oppose me. I get frustrated with people who have been dismissive or divisive, only to speak about them in ways that are dismissive and divisive! And so we must confront our own sin and delight in the love of God poured out to us through Christ. Receiving this abundant grace from Jesus makes it possible to move toward one another in humility and forbearance.
Cultivating a life of humility and patience requires a life of repentance and renewal by the gospel.
HOW SHOULD WE LISTEN?
Because of sin, not everyone who sits around the table has “equal” voice. The “Spirit of the Age” gives those in positions of power microphones while it mutes those from the margins. One of the most significant ways we practice Christian unity is through our solidarity with those who are suffering from oppression, injustice, and pain.
Scripture places a strong emphasis on elevating the voice of those on the margins as the Spirit consistently humbles the proud and gives grace to the humble (i.e., James 1:9, 2:5, 4:6; Ps 9:9, 138:6, Luke 1:52, 14: 14). The American church has held a lot of power and, at times, has used that power to silence and wound parts of the body of Christ.
Humility calls us to let go of fear and be compelled by love to loosen our grip on the microphone so that we might listen to those who have been muted in our leadership structures. And humility calls those who have been worshipping Jesus from the margins of society, to follow the patient ways of Jesus, resisting the temptation to play by the world’s rules to accrue power that dominates.
It is in laying down our lives for our brothers and sisters that we model the path toward resurrection. Remaining at the table in which we all cling to Christ while he reconciles us one to another displays the gospel to a world in desperate need of the peace, love, and hope that can only be found in Jesus.
*This was originally published in 2018 for curriculum designed for laity used by Surge Network and a shorter version of this was published in Theology Magazine.
About the Author
Dennae Pierre is the executive director of the Surge Network and Co-Director of City to City North America. She serves at Roosevelt Community Church, a multiethnic church in downtown Phoenix. Her husband, Vermon, is the lead pastor of Roosevelt and they have 4 kids.
