The Wheel of Unity....

Unity is something we talk a lot about these days.  This is not unprecedented and in fact the forefathers of our tradition had a lot to say on the subject.  I’ve shared before my interest in Thomas Campbell’s “Declaration and Address” in which he made an impassioned call for unity in the church of Christ.  Notice that wasn’t the Church of Christ, but the church of Christ.  In his declaration he makes 13 points that he believed are the key to unity.  One of my favorites is No. 7:

             7. That although doctrinal exhibitions of the great system of di-

             vine truths, and defensive testimonies in opposition to prevailing       
             errors, be highly expedient; and the more full and explicit they be,

             for those purposes, the better; yet, as these must be in a great

             measure the effect of human reasoning, and of course must con-

             tain many inferential truths, they ought not to be made terms of

             christian communion: unless we suppose, what is contrary to fact,

             that none have a right to the communion of the church, but such

             as possess a very clear and decisive judgment; or are come to a

                very high degree of doctrinal information; whereas the church

             from the beginning did, and ever will, consist of little children and

             young men, as well as fathers.

I love this one because it recognizes the value of scholarship, and at the same time makes it clear that he believes that there has been, and always will be, varying levels of understanding in the church.  Moreover, that there is should be no requirement that everyone understands or has reached a specific level of scholarship to be a member of the body.

Scripture is unwavering about the value of unity, and Campbell wrote pages and pages about it in his address in 1809 to the group of believers called together for the Great Communion.  His entire declaration was given to the need for unity.  Yet right smack dab in the middle he acknowledges, and even supports the idea, that there never has been, nor will there ever be, a complete agreement and understanding of all of scripture among the church.  So how can we have unity without everyone believing the same thing?

This is the distortion that has been applied to Unity today.  Unity may be hard to define, but I think I can safely say what it isn’t:

It is not total agreement on the meaning and understanding of scripture.  Christ recognizes this when he speaks to the Pharisees.  Paul understood this when he called the early churches to move on from milk to meat.  Thomas Campbell states this in the paragraph above. 

2.      It is not a tool to oppose change.  Unity does not mean that we can’t continue to renew our understanding and practices.  As we move from milk to meat, surely our understanding and practices will change.

3.      It is not a basis for intolerance.  Unity is a broadening of what is acceptable, not a narrowing.  Campbell recognized that there are few things in scripture that Christ commands.  In his 13^th point, he states that when our practices involve things that are not “found on the open page of express revelation” then we need to say they are man’s practices.  He believed that in so doing, we will not hold people to beliefs or requirements that are not Christ’s commands, and when we decide to change them, it won’t cause division.

4.      It is not a call for conformity.  In his first point, Campbell recognizes that churches will “exist in particular and distinct societies, locally separate one from another,” but that we should all receive each other as Christ received diverse people, having the same mind and love as Christ.

Please don’t think I agree with Campbell on everything, and in the end some of the things he said in his other points he later had to “clarify.”  My fear today is that we are using Unity as a weapon.  We charge people with threatening the Unity of our body, which is just another way of saying, “if you don’t believe what I do, then you're wrong and threatening unity” or "if you want to change what we're comfortable with, you're threatening the Unity of the body."  I believe that Unity should be what allows us to fellowship with all Christians, finding that what matters at the core is Christ.  I believe that Unity is what allows us to worship in ways that may not be our favorite, because we have love for one another.  I believe that Unity is what fosters growth, allowing us to step out on faith knowing that our love for Christ and each other will bring us closer.

Unity in the church is like a wheel, with Christ as the hub.  The further we move from our core (Christ) to matters of worship and practice, the further we move out on the spokes.  Some of us might even be 180 degrees away from each other when we get out to things like Grace, Sunday school, instrumental worship, women’s roles, but that is ok.  As long as we have Unity in Christ at the center, we can all be part of the same wheel.