Pastor Chris Seay continues our conversation on the distinct nature of Ecclesia as a church community. Through 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.
Live Teaching Podcast
Scripture & Quotations
John 17:20-21
20 I am not asking solely for their benefit; this prayer is also for all the believers who will follow them and hear them speak. 21 Father, may they all be one as You are in Me and I am in You; may they be in Us, for by this unity the world will believe that You sent Me.
The Apostles' Creed
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, Our Lord.
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit
and born of the Virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again.
He ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.
Jeremiah Bourroughs
“Opinionum varietas et opinantium unitas non sunt ασυστατα"
("Difference of belief and unity of believers are not inconsistent.”)
“…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.”
— Hans Kung