In my reflection of June I mentioned that the Biblical reflections of St. Matthew's Insights are unquestionably community based. Recently we have found ourselves in the context where prayer is on our highest agenda. I am very much aware that the principle of our prayer and the content of what we have been sharing in the last few days are crowned by Colossians 3:14.

"Most of all, let love guide your life, for then the whole church-fellowship stay together in perfect harmony."

The Lord made it very clear to me that; it is my responsibility to contribute to the unity of our church and fellowship.

Unity in the early Church as you might already know, was so important and the New Testament gives more attention to it than to either heaven or hell.

God deeply desires that we experience oneness and harmony with each other in everything we do in God's mission-shaped church.

On my study room wall I have a card I received for Wycliffe Hall Oxford 18 years ago which read, "Let those who say Unity is not possible stop interrupting those who are doing it."


I have no doubt in my mind that unity is the soul of church fellowship. Destroy it, and you rip the heart out of Christ's Body.

It is the essence, the core, of how God intends for us to experience life together in his family. Our supreme model for unity is the Trinity. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are completely unified as one. God himself is the highest example of sacrificial love, and perfect harmony.

Just like every parent, our heavenly Father enjoys watching his children get along with each other. In his final moments before being arrested, Jesus prayed passionately for our unity. (John 17:20-23). This is part of what we are going to explore in our August Bible conference here at St. Matthew's Church. Please come and join us on Saturday 15th August 2009 for the whole day. Details later.

It was our unity that was uppermost in our Lord's mind during those organising hours. This shows how significant the subject of unity is. Nothing on earth is more valuable to God than his family, church and fellowship (John 17:20-23). He paid the highest price for it, and he wants it protected, especially from the devastating damage that is caused by division, conflict, and disharmony. If you are part of God's family, are you in harmony with your family, parents, brothers and sisters, and colleagues at work?

It is your responsibility to protect the unity where you fellowship. You are commissioned by Jesus Christ to do everything possible to preserve the unity, protect the fellowship, and promote harmony in your church fellowship and among all believers.


I am humbled by what Paul said: "Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace." (Ephesians 4:3).

How do we do this? The Bible gives us five practical advices.

1. Focus on what we have in common. Not on our differences.

I am humbled by what Paul said: "Let us concentrate on the things which make for harmony, and on growth of one another's character." (Romans 14:9).

As believers we share one Lord, one body, one purpose, one Father, one Spirit, one hope, one faith, one baptism, and one love. We share the same salvation, the same life, and the same future. These factors are far more important than any differences we could enumerate. These are the issues, not our personal differences that we should concentrate on.

We must remember that it was God who chose to give us different personalities, backgrounds, races, and preferences, so we should value and enjoy those differences, not merely tolerate them. God wants unity, not uniformity. However, for unity's sake we must never let differences divide us. We must stay focused on what matters most - learning to love each other as Christ has loved us, and fulfilling God's five purposes for each of us and his church.

1. Knowing Christ
2. Growing in Christ
3. Serving Christ
4. Sharing Christ and
5. Worshipping through Christ.

2. Be realistic in your expectations.

Once you discover what God intends real fellowship to be, it is easy to become discouraged by the gap between the ideal fellowship and real fellowship in your community. Yet we must passionately love the fellowship in our community in spite of its imperfections.

Longing for the ideal while criticizing the real is evidence of immaturity. On the other hand, settling for the real fellowship without striving for the ideal is complacency. Maturity is living with the tension.

Other believers will disappoint you and let you down, however, that's no excuse to stop fellowshipping with them. They are your family, even when they don't act like it, and you cant' just walk out on them. Instead God tells us. "Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other's faults because of love." (Ephesians 4:2).

People become disillusioned with the Church-fellowship for many understandable reasons. The list could be long: family conflict, hurt, hypocrisy, neglect, pettiness, legalism, unforgiving heart, and other sins. Rather than being shocked and surprised, we must remember that the church-fellowship is made up of real sinners, including ourselves.

3. Choose to encourage rather than to criticize.

It is always easier to stand on the sidelines and take shots at those who are serving than it is get involved and make a contribution. God warns us over and over not to criticize, compare, or judge each other.

4. Practice God's method for conflict resolution.

In addition to the principles of our community based mission-shaped church, Jesus gave the church- fellowship a simple three step process: "If a fellow believers hurts you, go and tell him-work it out between the two of you. If he listens, you've made a friend. If he won't listen, take one or two others along. If he still won't listen, tell the Church." (Matthew 18:15-17).

5. Support your pastor and leaders.

There are no perfect leaders, however, God gives leaders the responsibility and the wisdom to maintain the unity of the church -fellowship. During interpersonal conflicts that is a thankless job. Pastors often have the unpleasant task of serving as mediator between hurt, conflicting, or immature members. They're also given the impossible task of trying to make everyone happy, which even Jesus could not do.

The Bible is clear about how we are to relate to those who serve us: "Be responsive to your pastoral leader". (Hebrews 13:17).

Here at St. Matthew's Church we are motivated by encouraging a healthy church filled with the power of the Holy Spirit and our five biblical purposes are:

1. Knowing Christ
2. Growing in Christ
3. Serving Christ
4. Sharing Christ and
5. Worshipping through Christ.

Modicum



Many of you will remember the 2005 story of Joe and Helen Roberts - an elderly Christian couple from Lancashire who were interrogated by police because they criticised a 'gay rights' project being run by their local council.

In this new video, Helen speaks about how intimidating it was to be questioned by police officers for over an hour. The officers told them they were near to committing a hate crime, which carries a seven-year prison sentence.

Joe says Wyre Borough Council kept talking about 'diversity' but the council's brand of diversity didn't seem to allow him and his wife to express their religious beliefs on sexual ethics.

He says he never thought he would see the day when British police officers would be interrogating citizens because they had expressed a point of view in a telephone call.

A year after the events, following a legal action supported by The Christian Institute, the police and the council admitted they had acted wrongly towards the Roberts and changed their policies to avoid it happening again.

Last year Parliament passed a free speech protection Bill making it clear that criticising homosexual conduct is not, in itself, a crime.

But the Government is trying to repeal it. We expect a vote in Parliament sometime in July. Please pray that the free speech protection remains.

Let's be free to disagree.

© The Christian Institute