I’ve read an excellent article this week that I want to share with you today. The piece is written by Jeanie Shaw, affiliated somehow with the Common Grounds Unity group in California, a Restoration Movement organization working for increased harmony between our three Stone-Campbell branches. It’s a quick two-page read about how our historical Church of Christ hermeneutic has shaped us to be divisive and fractured, instead of together and unified.

Here’s an excerpt:

“I grew up reading the Bible too often as a rulebook, a blueprint that promised clarity and safety if I interpreted it correctly. Like many from my Restoration heritage, I was taught that unity came from agreement–agreement produced by correct interpretation. Without realizing it, that belief formed a judgmental lens. I believed I was being faithful, when in reality I was often rigid, narrow, and inwardly critical of perspectives that differed from my own.”

Shaw tells the story of how her hermeneutic shifted and how that impacted her relationships with her three older sisters. When she began to understand the Bible as a revelation of the heart of God, she began to see that her unity problems within her church and among her sisters started with her.

“I began to understand that Jesus was not calling us to uniformity, but to relational love rooted in the very life of the Trinity. I began to see that the glory Jesus speaks of in John 17, his glory he has given to us, is the glory of humility, self-giving love, and making room for the other, not the glory of being doctrinally precise. This shift in hermeneutic reshaped my soul. It softened me. It unsettled my certainty. It humbled me in ways I didn’t know I needed. It taught me that Scripture is not a weapon for judgment, but a window into mercy. And in that softened place, I noticed my sisters and others differently.” 

Oh, it’s a good article. Here’s the link. 

I talk to preachers and congregational leaders all over the great state of Texas and it is clear to me that the same issues of tribalism and division, suspicion and conspiracy, that are plaguing American society are also infecting our Lord’s Church. The same impulses and (mis)understandings that are ripping our culture apart are also doing severe damage to the Body of Christ. And we in the Churches of Christ might be more susceptible to it because of our historically awful constitutional reading of Scripture.

At the very least, this article could give you some insights and language for conversations you might be having in your own church. In some cases, it might even be something you could forward to a brother or sister who might be open to reflecting on their own roles and responsibilities with the issues they’re having in your congregation. Or, maybe you need to be introspective about the part you’re playing in whatever divisions might be forming in your church. After all, as Shaw writes, unity is not guaranteed by perfect agreement; unity is formed in the heart. Unity begins with me.

Peace,
Allan