Dissecting Disunity in the Church

If there is one thing about "normal" church life that I would eradicate if I could it would be to make so Christians in the church don't walk out on each other and split their churches apart.  Maybe I shouldn't call this a part of normal church life but I have a very hard time thinking of even one church where people haven't split their community of fellowship due to differing beliefs.  In many of these churches the splits haven't been church wide, maybe only a family here or there, but in other situations whole churches have been split apart into major factions where each group polarizes and starts a new community of fellowship.

Many if not most of the people in today's true church would agree that the breakup of the family unit in America has had disastrous consequences on our modern culture.  However, many of the same Christians who feel it is so important that families not be broken up also feel it is an accepted part of church life for Christians to occasionally part ways and no longer fellowship together simply because they disagree about some issue.  I'm not saying that people shouldn't part ways when one person walks away from a relationship with God.  If a person is openly rejecting God and influencing others to do the same we have a responsibility to take a stand for truth in these situations.  Many times when our church members break fellowship with each other neither party would say the other group is no longer following Christ.  The two groups split because they cannot come together to a common belief about some issue: worship style, interpretation of a Biblical principle, ministry focus, or some other topic.

I believe that these divisions are nearly as disastrous as the breakup of the family unit all across America.  The local church unit (here I'm not speaking of the universal church of Christ) is supposed to be placed for us as Christians to be accepted when we don't have life together, be corrected when we need to get life together, and be energized to help others get their lives together through the power of Jesus Christ (Please don't criticize my use of getting life together--I don't believe we are supposed to be self built.)  When God deals with sin in the heart of an individual it is a painful process and we as fragile people need others to walk alongside us and encourage us to continue following God even when things get hard.  So often it is during personal struggles that people respond incorrectly to situations.  Because of our low levels of commitment in our churches we often split apart when someone is struggling with an issue or not seeing something our way.  This plethora has been with us since early church life: Paul and Barnabas split ways because Paul could not put up with John Mark's struggles.

Maybe at this point you feel I'm advocating not taking a strong stand on sin and other severe issues.  What I am advocating is that we be 100% committed to our churches and never leave due to personal conflicts with someone else.  This will actually allow us to take a stronger stand against sin.  I feel that so many pastors have to tip toe inordinately around major issues because if they state one thing slightly wrong they risk losing half of their church.  If pastors new that the members in the church were not going to leave they could speak their minds about sin.  If Christians who were struggling new that people in the church were not going to walk out on them if they mess up they could be real with their struggles. If true conflict resolution is going to happen people must first be committed to each other that way people are free to share their deepest opinons, beliefs, and convictions.  Imagine how long a marriage would work if either spouse was free to walk out as soon as one of the partners didn't feel like they were being emotionally or spiritually fed.  Maybe a part of joining a local church should be a recitation of vows like we do in a marriage.  "Are you committed to walking alongside this family of believers in good times and bad,....."  So what should we do about disunity in the church?  If we are not supposed to split apart and it is really hard going to church with a bunch of people who hold totally different values how are we supposed to survive?