5. All Generations Could Work on Building Unity.
I wish I could declare a moratorium on attacks against the church by the church. The market is rich for evangelicals to write a book, pen a blog post, preach a sermon on “The problem with the church.”
There is a place for self-criticism, but that is ground so well-covered as to be saturated. We forget that, for all of its flaws, for all of its warts and blind spots, the church is the bride of Christ.
Jesus loves the church. You cannot separate the groom from His bride. He won’t let you.
Rather than building a platform by shooting at one part of the church from our own fortified positions, we should promote unity: gospel unity. That means a church that is intergenerational, multi-ethnic, diverse.
There is a place for defending the faith once delivered to the saints (Jude 1:3). But that’s not the same as standing up for preferences in a way that alienates those who think differently.
Unity begins by respecting other generations, by listening, by avoiding the sort of overheated blog posts that drive traffic, but also drive unnecessary wedges.
Yes, you will go to church on Sunday and worship with someone who probably thinks differently than you do about politics, music and the precise meaning of all the bowl judgements in Revelation, but that’s OK. That’s even good. This is how you practice love, forbearance and grace in community.
I don’t want to build a church that looks just like me, but a church that looks just like Jesus.
