Preserving unity in the church

We, as a local body of followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, do covenant together to make disciples of all nations and to promote one another to good works and mature faith in Christ.

We have all heard the horror story or have even lived through it possibly - a church split! The fallout of disunity in the church is harmful and is a delight to Satan. Since the Gospel is what unites us as believers, when conflict is abounding among the people of God, we are telling a lie about the Gospel. Our covenant has this wonderful commitment that we must labor together to fulfill. 

It is an imperative that the manner of our lives are ones of unity and standing together for the Gospel. This should mark us as the people of God. The world is in constant conflict and disunity. The Church is to be marked by a people that look to the Prince of Peace that gives an eternal peace to us individually and collectively that truly shapes how we think, live, and serve together. The book of Philippians was used in our covenant as the Biblical basis for our unity (even though so many other passages could be listed) because we are shown the hope and joy of God’s people that are striving for faithfulness by having ‘...the same love, being in full accord and one mind” (Philippians 2:2). To do this, we must die to ourselves and live for Christ. The mission of Christ for us as His Church must come before any of our own individual desires and demands. When we are united in this way we can be assured that we will not be on the precipice of any church split.

During the first 10 years as a church, I am so encouraged by the amazing unity that we have had among us. No doubt, not everyone agrees on all things at all times, but yet we truly have had a godly and Christ focused unity. My prayer is that as we reflect on our covenant at this 10 year celebration that we would rightly recognize this is the power of the Gospel in our lives! Our collective love of Christ, His Word, and His mission has kept us united and His Spirit is causing us to love one another in ever increasing measure. We, of course, can not think that we are immune to disunity though. Therefore, we must be constantly vigilant as His people to come back to the Gospel over and over again and make sure that we are guarding the unity of our Church for His glory and our good!

His Word is how we set rails and boundaries of faithful living and a healthy functioning, but most importantly a godly and true church. Our unity will be found as we continue to be Word centered and Christ exalting in all we do as a church family.