Relationships and Community on Church Split

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The Church Split Over… What, Precisely?

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Presbyterian minister Michael Lindvall begins his fictional story about a pastor in the Midwest in The Good News from North Haven like this: I am the pastor of Second Presbyterian Church. There is...

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Quarreling Yesterday & Today

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Tim Muehlhoff & Richard Langer

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In Paul’s day the church quarreled over the Jewish law and over genealogies, over meat sacrificed to idols and sabbath practices, and over favoritism shown to the rich patrons and negligence shown to ...

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Author

Tom Howard

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Scripture

2 Timothy 2:23-24, Ephesians 4:, 1 Corinthians 12:12-21, 1 Corinthians 14:26-28, 1 Peter 2:1, John 17:21, 1 Corinthians 3:3, 1 Corinthians 12:25, 1 Corinthians 1:11-13, Matthew 12:25-26

Christian disunity is and remains a massive impediment to the gospel itself—the proclamation of which is and should be evangelicalism’s strong suit.

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He’d Be Wrong!

Author

John M. Perkins

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Segregation

Reporters Alex Alston and James Dickerson tell a sad story about a church that sought to integrate its ranks: The Mississippi Delta was in a tizzy over rumors that blacks might show up at white church...

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Should You Have A Best Friend (In Ministry)?

Author

John Townsend

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Scripture

1 Thessalonians 5:11, Galatians 6:2, Romans 12:15, John 15:13-15, Proverbs 18:24, Proverbs 27:17, Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

In this excerpt from Dr. John Townsend, the renowned psychologist and author, shares a story from his time in seminary, where one of his professors and mentor changes his mind regarding the importance...

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The Power of the Worldwide Church

Author

Gerald L. Sittser

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Scripture

1 Corinthians 12:12-14, 1 Corinthians 12:27, Isaiah 43:2, 1 John 4:7, Romans 12:5, James 5:14-15

It is a phone call no parent wants to receive. “Jerry,” Bethany said, “Catherine’s had a little accident.” “Accident! How bad?” “She’s going to be okay. You want to talk to her? We’re in a kind of am...

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The (Seeming) End of the Line

Author

Jonathan Grant

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A few years ago Christian friends of ours, after several years of marriage, came to see Esther and me to explain that their relationship had reached an impasse and that they could see no alternative b...

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Turning from Conflict to Conversion

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The Pastor's Workshop

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Scripture

Jonah 1:4, Luke 15:11-32, Matthew 18:21-35, Psalm 34:8, Romans 8:28

Maltbie D. Babcock, author of This Is My Father’s World and a Presbyterian pastor in Brooklyn, introduced a free pew system in his church, upsetting a wealthy woman who found strangers in her us...

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The Puzzle of Polygamy

Author

Bradley Long

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Scripture

1 Timothy 3:2, 12, Titus 1:6

A classic mission dilemma: The chief of a village in a remote area, whose people practice a tribal religion, becomes a believer and declares the whole village is now Christian. Most of the leading m...

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O God, who through your Son has taught

Author

Henry Alford

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O God, who through your Son has taught us that a house divided against itself must fall: Save us, we beg you, from the danger of a divided allegiance; unite our hearts to fear your name; and grant tha...

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Author

Chuck Smith

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Paul points out that some say, 'I'm of Paul,' while others say, 'I'm of Apollos.' He asked, 'Isn't that carnal?' But what's the difference between saying that o...

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Author

Abraham Lincoln

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A house divided against itself cannot stand.

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The Solution to Divisions

Author

James Bryan Smith

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The solution to gender, race and social divisions is not to eradicate our differences but to see them in light of Jesus. The Pentecostal movement in the United States in the early twentieth century wa...

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The Church of San Diego

Author

Jon Huckins and Jer Swigart

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Scripture

1 Corinthians 1:12-13, John 17:21, 1 Corinthians 3:4, Romans 3:28, Acts 4:32

We were recently with a collection of pastors in San Diego and were asked to share about our common call to peacemaking. Fully aware of the posturing and isolation of many of these churches, we found ...

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Author

Conrad Bergendoff

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Ultimately we are not concerned only with the unity of the church. Christ is the unity of the world. Not only the middle wall of partition separating Jew and Gentile must be moved if Christ is to real...

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The Diversity of the Early Church

Author

Scot McKnight

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Scripture

Matthew 28:18-20, Acts 10:34-35, Galatians 3:28, Revelation 7:9, 1 Corinthians 12:12-14, Psalm 86:9

So if we want to get the church right, we have to learn to see it as a salad in a bowl, made the Right Way of course. For a good salad is a fellowship of different tastes, all mixed together with the ...

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Author

Thomas Aquinas

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Hold firmly that our faith is identical with that of the ancients. Deny this, and you dissolve the unity of the Church.

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The Greatest Threat to the Church?

Author

Tim Muehlhoff and Richard Langer

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What is the greatest threat to the church of Jesus Christ today? There are so many threats to choose from. Some Christians would identify hazards like postmodern relativism working to unravel notions ...

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Author

Kenneth E. Bailey

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Scripture

Mark 11:25, Matthew 6:12-15, Matthew 18:21-22, Luke 6:37, Luke 6:27, Luke 17:3-4, Luke 23:34, Matthew 26:28, Matthew 5:23-24, Matthew 5:44

Jesus is a reconciler of people, not a divider. He wants to bring people together, not finalize separations.

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Gathering & Scattering

Author

John R. W. Stott

Keywords

The Missional Church

I sometimes wonder (although I exaggerate in order to make my point) if it would not be very healthy for church members to meet only on Sundays (for worship, fellowship and teaching) and not at all mi...

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Prayer for the Unity of the Church

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Scripture

Romans 12:4-5, Colossians 3:14, Galatians 3:28, John 17:20-23, Ephesians 4:3-6

O God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, our only Savior, the Prince of Peace: Give us grace to take to heart the great dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions. Take away all hatred and prejudice...

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“Christians:” Worshiping God in Equality

Author

John M. Perkins

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Scripture

Acts 13:1, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Galatians 3:28

Christ followers were first called Christians at Antioch—about fifteen years after the birth of the church at Pentecost. There must have been something remarkable about this particular group of believ...

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As the broken bread, once scattered

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As the broken bread, once scattered upon the mountains, has been gathered together and made one, so may your church be gathered together from the ends of the earth into one kingdom; To God be the gl...

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The Grievous Sin

Author

E. Randolph Richards and Brandon J. O’Brien

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Scripture

Ephesians 6:1

In 1988, I (Randy) moved with my wife and two sons (ages two and eight weeks) from Texas to Sulawesi, an island north of Australia and south of the Philippines. We served as missionaries to a cluster ...

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Author

Craig Blomberg

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Scripture

Matthew 28:18-20, Acts 1:8, Acts 10:34-35, Galatians 3:28, Romans 1:16, John 4:21-24, Psalm 22:27-28

[Speaking of the early church] A cosmopolitan spirit grew, particularly in the cities, that transcended national barriers. Old tribal distinctions and identities were breaking down, leaving people rip...

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O God, whose will it is that all your

Author

Unknown

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O God, whose will it is that all your children should be one in Christ; we pray for the unity of your Church. Pardon all our pride and our lack of faith, of understanding and of charity, which are the...

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Gracious God, you have called us to be

Author

Austin D. Hill

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Gracious God, you have called us to be a unified body, working together that which you have willed for the world. In our apathy, we fail to participate in the work you have called us to do. In our div...

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Adapted from Ephesians 4:3-6

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Scripture

Ephesians 4:3-6

Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is only one body and one Spirit, Just as you were called to one hope when you were called; One Lord, one faith,...

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Author

Roy E. Ciampa and Brian S. Rosner

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Scripture

1 Corinthians 12:, Romans 12:4-8, Ephesians 1:22-23, Ephesians 4:11-16, Ephesians 4:4, Ephesians 5:30, John 13:34-35

God put the body together in such a way that those who experience honor in this life and those who do not are to astound the world by their unity and their concern for one another.

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Cultural Diversity: Baked into the Early Church

Author

Andrew Walls

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Scripture

Acts 15:null, 1 Corinthians 12:12-13, Ephesians 2:14-16, 1 Corinthians 9:19-22, Titus 2:11-14

Cultural diversity was built into the Christian faith…in Acts 15, which declared that the new gentile Christians didn’t have to enter Jewish culture…. The converts had to work out…a Hellenistic way of...

relationships and community on Church Split

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