Celebrating Differences

 It seems everywhere you turn these days, there is something divisive that you feel compelled to pick a side to be for or against.  But is this only because it is being amplified by the media right now?  Or have we always had something that divides us?  I think if we looked deeper for a moment we would find that we have always had something looming around the corner, ready to divide us.

I want to take a step back from what we are being bombarded with everyday in the media right now to look at our own ministries.  To start, for centuries Christians have divided themselves into denominations.  To date there are over 10,000 theological camps with which you can claim association.  We also have very diverse tastes in music in our own church.  Even on my own ministry team we disagree on the method of doing ministry.  With so many things to disagree on, it's surprising we ever get anything accomplished.  How can we?

The answer to that question can be found in chocolate chip cookies!

Have you ever opened your mouth to a spoon loaded with flour?  I hope not, unless you were dared.  What about a teaspoon of vanilla extract?  Maybe if you were curious.  Even the semi-sweet chocolate chip morsels don't taste great by themselves.  But when you mix all those ingredients together and add some intense heat to them, the results are so delicious!

Just like one ingredient isn't great by itself, none of us would be great in ministry if it weren't for the diversity of others.  My ministry wouldn't be effective if it weren't for the people around me who think and do things differently than I do.  Sometimes it takes a heated debate to discuss how to solve a problem in order to move forward in ministry together.  If all parties work it out and stay together, the results can be more beautiful and more effective than we could have ever dreamed on our own.  But how do you do that?

I think you have to focus on the correct things.  Instead of thinking of all that you don't agree on, find out what you do.  Find the common ground.  We talk often at our church about the form versus the function.  These terms were found in Elders and Leaders by Gene Getz.  The form is how you do ministry.  The function is what you are trying to achieve.  Our goal (function) may be the same (create disciples).  But the way we go about it (the form) may be different.  Sometimes the form becomes outdated.  At that point we need to find what does work to achieve the same goal.  It is my belief that if we find out what we can agree on what we will find is that we have more in common than we realized.