False unity vs. true unity

In B.C. we’ve heard stories of churches in at least two denomina- tions choosing to use secondary or tertiary doctrines and opinions as litmus tests for belonging.

These groups are doubling down on the wrong ways of trying to maintain unity.

The more you focus on secondary sources of unity, the farther away you get from life-giving mission, unity that allows for real questions and the orthodox centre, which is Jesus.

I have heard of people misusing their power and spiritually abusing those who are in different places in their personal journeys of holiness. We are called instead to lean into tension with one another, because grace and mercy requires it. You cannot scare or bind others into holiness, nor can you enter the kingdom by using violent speech to enforce a bounded set (focusing on hard and fast lines or rules to determine who can and who cannot be part of a community).

We arrive at compromises, recognizing that the recreated body is not complete until the final resurrection and restoration of all things in Christ and the new kingdom.

Some years ago, David Boshart, who is now the president of Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, did a deep dive into the topic of unity. In his article, “Becoming a united church in a world of division,” Boshart identified four foundations that conventional wisdom suggests unity might be built on. He wrote:

1. Sameness. Sameness implies that conformity is the path to unity. The church in many places mirrors the broader culture, in which people are becoming less loyal to historic roots and, instead, gather into like-minded communities defined by common taste in music and worship arts, political party, race, and class. Seeking unity on the basis of sameness places unity in opposition to diversity.

2. Niceness. In an attempt to hold people together, it is believed that unity will be the outcome of our niceness. We see this tendency when we cut off important conversations because we “agree to disagree,” when we pretend that differences do not exist and when we avoid topics because someone‘s feelings might get hurt.

3. Tolerance. Some in our culture suggest that unity is found in our ability to tolerate “the other” as long as “the other” doesn’t limit our own rights and freedoms. Setting the bar for unity at the level of “tolerance,” however, implies that mere tolerance results in a whole relationship. But there is a power issue in this view that undermines unity. For example, if I “tolerate” you, you are present in my circle because I allow you to be. This basis for unity presumes the one who is tolerated is “less than” the one who tolerates.

4. Coercion. “Unity” in our culture is built on a belief that if I can force you to act like me, we will get along. When one group wins the culture or international war, we will have peace and can live as one people. This leads to a world where people believe that the ends justify the means.

“While all these foundations for unity operate in our culture today, they do not equal the unity reflected in the prayer of Jesus; that is, they are not the foundations of Christian unity,” Boshart wrote. “As Christians, we are concerned with unity because this was the hope of Jesus for the church.”

If these four things can’t hold us together, what can? I suggest that a centre-set approach—a focus on a clearly defined centre and attention to one’s trajectory toward or away from it—is the answer.

Jesus is the centre of our approach. So many other sources promise a false holiness and false clarity that is shattered in a second. When we focus on Jesus, we find a broader way to talk about what holds us together.

There is no perfect church or organization. The adage is true: the grass is greener where you water it.

We are wrestling with applying centre-set approaches to unity in Mennonite Church B.C. We invite the rest of the church to join us.

Mark Baker’s 2022 book, Centered-Set Church, is helpful. Our Jesus Collective friends have worked a lot of this out as well.

There is only one source of unity that can hold us together and unite us on mission, and that is Jesus.

Shel Boese is executive minister of Mennonite Church B.C. He can be reached at shelboese@mcbc.ca.

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