That We May Be One

Practicing Unity in a Divided Church

Gary B. Agee

• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9780802881861
• eBook ISBN: 9781467464321
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Church

Transcending divisions and healing the broken Body of Christ.  

Disunity is a reality within churches today. Left unaddressed, political disagreements and racial inequities can fester into misunderstanding, resentment, and anger. But often the act of addressing this discord prompts further animosity, widening fissures into gaping fault lines between fellow members of the same community. 

Gary Agee, a pastor well-versed in leading diverse congregations, reflects here on the roots of division within the church and the virtues and practices that can promote the restoration of unity. With disarming honesty and humility, Agee offers sage advice gleaned from Scripture and years of practical experience to show how we might fulfill Jesus's prayer on behalf of the church: "That all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. . . . That they may be one as we are one." At the end of each chapter, Agee includes exercises, discussion questions, and suggested practices, providing a concrete path to unity through dialogue and action.

Chapter One

Getting Started

Unity can be accepted only by those who decide to set out on a journey toward a destiny that today may seem rather distant. However, those who follow this way are comforted by the continual experience of a communion joyfully perceived, even if not yet fully attained, every time that presumption is set aside and we all recognize ourselves as in need of God’s love.

—Pope Francis¹

I woke up one day and decided on a whim that I wanted to drive from my home in rural southwest Ohio to California. I had never visited the Golden State, so on this particular restless morning I must have felt deprived. Waiting on that distant coast was the Pacific Ocean, and I wanted to wet my feet in its cold blue waters. I wanted to see the Sierra Nevada, and those towering redwoods had always held a special place in my heart. So on this otherwise unremarkable morning I was ready—ready to head west.

With a brief gap in my schedule, I figured that a week ought to give me the time to get out there and back. By keeping to my half-baked plan, I would not have to disrupt my preaching schedule the following weekend. In hindsight, it would have made more sense to fly out, but at the time I figured I could do the trip more cheaply in my trusty Toyota, and by driving I would better appreciate the scenery along the way.

My college-aged son was skeptical. When I excitedly related my plan, he gave me a look and asked me how many cups of coffee I had consumed. I eventually talked two of my eight children into joining me on this whirlwind adventure. My skeptical son, however, was not among them.

Carried along by a spirit of expectation, the three of us made a start. We knew the trip wouldn’t be easy. We would endure tedious miles of boredom, but in the moment, we didn’t mind. The weather was good the first day and the driving easy. But on day two, an unscheduled snowstorm in Wyoming made traveling slow at first, then impossible. This unexpected delay cost us hours. Although I had checked the weather before we headed out, it didn’t occur to me that a journey across the country in early winter might require more preparation. Once I saw signs advising the application of tire chains, I knew we were in for a ride!

Naively we pressed forward. The scenery along the way was incredible, to be sure: the Great Salt Lake inundated by a sea of white snow, the beauty of Yosemite National Park, and the majestic Pacific Ocean as it kisses the San Francisco Bay below Lands End Lookout. Wow! The adventure was indeed worth the effort, though I underestimated the rigors of the journey.

The journey toward unity can also seem arduous. At times it feels like driving with the expectation that just over the next hill you will catch a glimpse of your destination, only to find that what lies beyond is a valley with a thousand more hills to follow. Negotiating varying points of difference requires determination and patience.

Seasoned veterans who work in the borderlands of difference know that the pursuit of unity is hard work; it can sap one’s energy. I recently spoke with an older saint, one of the best among us. After broaching the subject of unity, she pessimistically responded, “We will never experience unity until we reach heaven.” Another church leader working with a parachurch organization admitted she had stopped using unity as an aspirational aim, instead opting for less ambitious points of connection and cooperation.

In the quest for unity, there is, of course, the challenge of the many and varied ways disunity fractures the body of Christ. We are divided across a number of different fronts. To concentrate on only one of these difficult divides leaves the church subject to all its many other schisms. On the other hand, focusing more generally on all the ways in which we are divided certainly leads one to miss the complexity and intractableness of each divide.

When I first proposed this project, my goal was to move beyond the recognition that the church suffers from disunity, an observation that should be obvious to anyone. Instead, I planned to suggest practices that might motivate people to take action, to cross boundaries in order that we might begin to experience genuine unity with others—those near as well as those further away. It was admittedly a modest goal. And yet as the project moved forward and the complexities of these divisions came into clearer focus, even this modest aim seemed wildly ambitious. It felt like I had been relying on a faulty map reading. I wrongly believed we could cover the miles represented by each inch in a few relatively easy hours of driving. I was wrong. As it turns out, every inch on this map toward real unity equals a thousand arduous miles through incredibly difficult terrain.

The racial divide plaguing the church and society is perhaps the most intractable and disheartening. White Christians like me see the world quite differently than do people of color. After reading scholars and church leaders currently working to address white privilege, white superiority, and anti-black superiority, I wondered whether a book on unity was worth the effort. After all, many in the camp I inhabit simply wouldn’t be able to digest much of this material without a serious investment in time and effort.

Far too many individuals with whom I travel talk more than listen. Our ranks are filled with self-proclaimed experts on gender, race, human sexuality, and a number of other divisive issues. This doesn’t mean we have necessarily spent much effort studying such important matters. I suspect this tendency results from an undetected pride, which itself is a serious matter. More important, such pride masks a range of problems that we fail to see. For example, we often fail to consider the harmful ways in which privilege operates to the disadvantage of others. Systems long established in this country make it easier for some individuals to secure the resources needed to get ahead, while others are forced to the margins. Rationalizations supporting these systems and institutions have gained a level of undeserved acceptance, in part because of their constant repetition. These same justifications effectively push us further apart. In this climate of blindness and sometimes willful dishonesty, hierarchies forged far from the heart of God are permitted to tier the body of Christ. Generation after generation, these divisions are woven deeper into the fabric of our culture. Indeed, we have many miles of hard driving ahead if we want to experience the kind of unity and community God envisions for us.

Despite the difficulties, we must set forth on this journey. Border crossings are in our DNA. We need only look to the example of Abraham, who dreamed of a better country, one governed by God. This dream led him to gather his family and leave the comforts of his home to follow God’s promptings. In a new land the patriarch built an altar to the God of border crossings; there in that strange and unfamiliar place the divine appeared to him (Genesis 12:1–7).

The fact that before his death Jesus prayed for unity might also inspire us to live and love into the oneness our Lord willed for the church. His petition still speaks to all who want to know the heart of the God Jesus sought to reveal. “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one” (John 17:20–23).

In many circles, when we discuss prayer the formula is pretty well understood. People do the asking, and God is expected to carry out their expressed desires. Best-selling author Tommy Tenney says that in the case of Jesus’s prayer for unity, however, the church bears the responsibility of answering it. He further contends, “Jesus’ pleas for unity seem to be the only unanswered prayers He ever prayed! His prayer for unity—for oneness—remains unanswered to this day.”²

We desire to be a people on the move, committed to reconciliation with God and willing to work toward the same with our diverse sisters and brothers—no matter the cost. Though this journey toward the fullest expression of unity might include twists and turns, disappointments and discouraging stretches, it is nonetheless worth the effort. Obsessing about the distance we must travel might also be unhelpful. For we find unity in the journey, along the route, in the difficult stretches as well as the pleasant downhill jaunts. Pope Francis recognizes this when he writes:

From this point of view, unity, before being an objective, is a journey, with its road maps and rhythms, its slowdowns and accelerations, and even its standstills. As a journey, unity requires patient waiting, tenacity, effort and commitment; it does not annul conflicts and does not negate disagreements, but rather, at times it can expose us to the risk of new misunderstandings. Unity can be accepted only by those who decide to set out on a journey toward a destiny that today may seem rather distant. However, those who follow this way are comforted by the continual experience of a communion joyfully perceived, even if not yet fully attained, every time that presumption is set aside and we all recognize ourselves as in need of God’s love…. Likewise, unity of love is already a reality when those whom God has chosen and called to form his people proclaim together the wonders that he has done for them, above all by offering a testimony of life full of charity to all (cf. 1 Pt 2:4–10). For this reason, I like to say that unity is made by walking, in order to recall that when we walk together, that is, when we meet as brothers, we pray together, we collaborate together in the proclamation of the Gospel, and in the service to the least, we are already united. All the theological and ecclesiological differences that still divide Christians will only be surmounted along this path, although today we do not know how and when [it will happen], but that it will happen according to what the Holy Spirit will suggest for the good of the Church.”³

Thinking of unity as a journey is perhaps also important because it reminds us to avoid the pitfall of prematurely concluding that we’ve arrived. As sojourners along this path, we risk thinking unity is achieved any time we happen upon a comfortable stretch. It is important, therefore, to listen attentively to those who have suffered most the indignities and trauma of our disunity. We will know we have reached our destination when we all recognize—together—that we are finally home.

Enough, then, on how we might finish the journey. The pressing question is whether we make a good start. American society is dysfunctionally polarized. In our political spaces we snarl across fences and borders labeled “liberal” and “conservative.” In the church, of course, we have our own sets of schisms regarding sexuality, biblical interpretation, church governance, and so on. Huddled in fortified camps, we ascribe the worst motives to the groups we oppose, blaming them for this plight while shielding those in our own group from any responsibility for the hostile state of affairs. Some have given up and grown accustomed to the dark. (Some, alas, even relish it.) But for individuals who realize that something is amiss, for those willing to walk toward the light they see in the eyes of those on the other side, can we find a place to make a start? I offer the following ancient Chinese proverb from the Tao Te Ching: “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” (chapter 64).

GOING TO THE GATE TO MAKE A START

Once I preached a sermon on the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19–31). In this biblical account the rich man lives a life of careless affluence.⁴ The troubling narrative further illustrates the greed that had created so much indifference on the part of the rich man toward poor Lazarus. As I worked on the message, however, the details of the story struck me in a new way. I detected, for example, a disturbing “fixedness” in the account. The rich man seems stuck; he can’t learn; he is immobile. He can’t meander down to the gate and experience some sort of relational breakthrough. In short, the account leaves no room for the rich man to repent by getting to know and love Lazarus.

Jesus’s story sketches the lives of two men who lived differently even though they resided in close proximity. The rich man did well for himself; he had the finest clothes and all he wanted to eat. And he erected a barrier to separate himself from the poor and destitute in the community—from people like Lazarus. Walled up on his estate, he lived in privilege. He wasn’t at all concerned about the plight of the poor beggar at his gate.

Lazarus on the other hand lived a difficult existence. He likely was crippled since he was placed by others at the rich man’s gate. He constantly battled hunger. Lying in tantalizing proximity to plenty, Lazarus slowly withered away in want. Under the watchful eye of heaven, he grew ever thinner. The hungry dogs that prowled the neighborhood licked the sores marking his body. His was a miserable existence.

The way the parable is written leaves the reader hungering for more details. How did the rich man know Lazarus? What was the nature of their relationship? Did the rich man’s servants speak ill of Lazarus? Did they think he suffered as a result of some flaw in his character? Was the rich man Lazarus’s distant relative? Was the wealthy estate owner callous or simply neglectful?

Upon the death of both men, a great reversal occurred. Lazarus now enjoyed all he wanted, including the comfort of Abraham’s protection, while the rich man found only torment. In his desperate state, the rich man longed for the poor beggar to cross the divide separating them so that Lazarus could bring a refreshing drop of water to ease his pain. Prior to his death, Lazarus must have also desired this same sort of visit from the rich man. But no one had come down from the house to offer him food or comfort.

Another detail that caught my eye is the fi...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1. Getting Started
• 2. Speaking of Unity
• 3. Taking on a Posture of Unity
• 4. The Upper Room Experience
• 5. The Bible and the Practice of Unity
• 6. False Gospels
• 7. From Pew to Practice
• 8. Champions for a Cause
• Conclusion: Finding Home
• Selected Bibliography