Christian Unity

Unite and Fall?

“Divided we fall, united we stand” — we may all have different ways of trying to achieve the same goal but through attempting to understand each other’s differences we achieve more in the end.

The title (above) may immediately imply a degree of pessimism about how successful Christian Unity could be in the context of university life. The Week of Christian Unity has the potential, in my view, to be a really encouraging and rewarding time for students. By this I mean it would allow Christian students to overcome prejudices and misconceptions we have about other societies. Obviously there is the danger that, say, the CU becomes even more aware of its differences with SCM; but that is to be realistic about our faith. To end, then, Christian unity should be worked at, and whatever the outcome we should look for the positive effects and results.

Christian Unity should be about sharing our faith with other Christians. Unity does not imply that everyone should believe the same, but that we need the opportunity to come together to exchange ideas in order to enrich our own faith and gain greater understanding of other people’s. Christian Unity week has allowed Christians on campus a chance to do this.

I found this passage in Paine’s Rights of Man which I thought sums up our essential unity —

“…with respect to religion itself, without regard to names as directing itself from the universal family of mankind to the divine objects of all adoration, it is man bringing to his Maker the fruits of his heart; and though these fruits may differ from each other like the fruits of the earth, the grateful tribute of everyone is accepted.”

I hope that during this week of Christian Unity we can share together, putting our differences and prejudices aside, in worshipping our Creator.

For Christians of different denominations to unite and go forward in God’s will, we must first discern God’s will, and concentrate on that, forgetting our doctrinal differences and becoming the one body which we are/should be in Christ. The trouble with this is that people are often prejudiced about people of other denominations. For instance, I would want a close, trusted friend to believe what I believe, so that differences of belief might not come between us. However, this is what tolerance is all about; overcoming our differences without arguing…