Pastor Chris Seay continues leading a conversation that will unfold through this season on the distinct nature and call of the Church. Considering the prayers of Jesus and the unique teachings of Jeremiah Burroughs, Chris suggests some of the ways we find unity and cooperation within our great diversity, that certain doctrinal differences need not divide us, and that our differences in fact enrich our family.
Text
John 17: 11-21
Deuteronomy 6: 4-9
“…such silence need not mean that I myself am sitting on the fence. Sometimes I am. There are questions at issue between Christians to which I do not think we have been told the answer. There are some to which I may never know the answer: if I asked them in a better world, I might (for all I know) be answered as a far greater questioner was answered: “what is that to thee? Follow thou Me… But there are other questions as to which I am definitely on one side of the fence and yet say nothing. For I was not writing to expound something I could call “my religion” but to expound “mere” Christianity, which is what it is and what it was long before I was born and whether I like it or not.”
— C.S. Lewis, Preface to Mere Christianity
“The coexistence of different churches does not in itself jeopardize the unity of the church; only the hostile confrontation endangers unity. In other words, though excluding and exclusive differences are harmful, our differences in and of themselves can now be seen as assets.”
- Jeremiah Burroughs
Reflection and Practice
Part of the great beauty of the body of Ecclesia is that it spreads across all of Houston. What may be ways you could be called to partner with other churches in your neighborhood to meet the immediate needs of the area you call home?
What “secondary doctrines” have you seen divide circles/communities with which you’ve been involved? How might there have been healing?
Consider those with whom you disagree. As Chris invites us to ask: what might it look like to exist with greater kindness, curiosity, and teachability with those individuals?
Worship Set
Awake My Soul
Jesus Paid It All
Nothing But The Blood
I Surrender All
Have Mercy On Me
You Took The Blame