One of the clearest pictures of unity that I have seen was the collaboration and respect among different church leaders in a largely unreached area of one of the countries where we served. There were both foreigners and locals of varying denominations with wide differences of both theology and orthopraxy, and with striking differences of personality and temperament. 

Despite the significant differences, these leaders had a deep commitment to honor the image of God in one another, to behold one another as Brothers and Sisters, and to bless the calling of God on each others’ lives. Their unity was not shaped from ignorant bliss, rather it was forged with hard work in the purifying fire of the Spirit. It was glorious. 

As we asked questions about how this unity came to be, two answers stuck out. One time, a local worker invited my husband to join him on an itinerant evangelistic trip. As they drove through cotton fields, my husband asked him why he would choose to cooperate like this. His answer has stayed with us to this day:  

“We are an agrarian society living on hard soil. We have a saying here that when there is a boulder in a field, everyone’s hands must work together to move the boulder. So it is with the Kingdom of God: we all must put our hands to the boulder to move it. I cannot say, ‘I don’t need that person.’ That would be foolish! No, the vitality of the Kingdom is dependent upon our commitment to work together.” 

On another occasion, a different local leader explained the necessity for unity among different churches:  

“We are living in a hostile world. They will hate us because of the Hope we profess. The people around us will watch us like hawks to examine all that we do. In the world, people from different backgrounds are unable to work together for very long. When we honor one another, we demonstrate to the watching world that we carry something different. The hope that we profess can be confirmed or denied based on whether or not we live in unity.” 

This unity is not always easy. We must die to ourselves again and again for the sake of the Gospel. And we must – with the help of the Lord – love one another, encourage one another in the Way, and maintain the bonds of fellowship.