Unity in the Spirit (xiv)

FPC, Lowville, NY

This is the fourteenth posting in a series working on what it means to be a church, based on eight criteria the Mars Hill Church uses to define its branch congregations as churches. The series began (here).

We turn now to the fifth criterion in the Mars Hill list of criteria for being a church, which is, "The church is unified by God the Holy Spirit."  As an aside, it is interesting that the Mars Hill criteria don't directly mention the work of God the Father and God the Son but does mention the work of God the Holy Spirit and equates that work with the unity of the church.  It might be worthwhile to pause for a moment to consider the nature of the Trinity and its relationship to the church.

Somewhere in my reading recently, there was the idea that in fact each person (or face) of the Trinity equally performs all of the works of the Godhead.  We think of God the Father as creator, but it is equally true that the Son and the Spirit are "agents" of creation.  [It's for this reason that I hesitate to use some other term for the First Person of the Trinity than "Father."  While I recognize the danger in attributing gender to the First Person, it is not helpful to use some attribute to name the Father as all of the Father's attributes are attributes of the Son and the Spirit as well.]  Thus, it would be equally true to say that, "The church is unified by God the Father," or that, "The church is unified by God the Son."

Still, it is fine to go with the statement as it stands and to recognize that God the Holy Spirit inspires churches to experience unity.  We should also recognize, however, that "unity" is not "conformity."  This is an important distinction.  The tendency is for like people to worship together in their own church, which in America has led to a long tradition of ethnic churches.  The tendency is also for like-minded folks to worship together often to the exclusion of non-conformists.  We Protestants are especially good at this game, some times splitting from each other over apparently trivial matters such as whether we can use musical instruments in worship or not.  Those who do not conform are welcome to leave!  This is not unity.

The unity of the church does not, furthermore, exclude conflict within the church.  Churches experience conflict.  It's what churches do with conflict that matters.  Ignoring conflict for the sake of the peace of the church is not unity—and is irresponsible.  Being quiet in the face of conflict is not unity and usually only serves to prolong the conflict.  (Keeping still as a short-term strategy, however, is often wise.  Dealing with conflict requires calm and insight, which usually takes some time to acquire).  Leaving the church to avoid conflict or as a consequence of conflict does not unify the church although sometimes, sadly, it may be the least worst option if there seems to be no will in the church to resolve the conflict.

So, if unity is not conformity and it is not an absence of conflict, then what is it?  Stay tuned.