Agreeing to Disagree Without Being Disagreeable

A Zulu proverb says when a thorn pierces the foot the whole body must bend over to pull it out. I was reminded again this week of the diversity within the Body of Christ and how, in our diversity, we must ever be one body with many members, working together to fulfill the plans of God. Paul said it this way, “For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another” (Romans 12:4-5). A pastor arrived home only to hear his young daughter and her friends loudly disagreeing and criticizing each other. Walking into her room, the pastor asked if everything was all right, to which his daughter replied, “It’s OK Daddy, we’re just playing church.” What have we taught the children and youth of the church, when adults, even in their diversities, fail to demonstrate the unity of the Body of Christ? As long as the church is made up of human beings, we will have disagreements. Let us agree to disagree, without being disagreeable, all the while, affirming the uniqueness of each. We really do need one another.

Join me this week in interceding for the following global prayer requests:
• Pray for two Sports Camps parallel with 2 VBS type camps, in the Dnipropetrovsk region of Ukraine, beginning today.
• Pray for follow-up to the 150 people who attended a block party sponsored by the River Community Church of Steveston (metro Vancouver), BC, Canada.
• Give thanks that Karl & Julie made it safely back to Serbia and are already involved in a summer camp.
• Pray for the June 28-July 5 Youth Sports/ESL Camp for Czech young people.
• Pray for missionaries around the world who host American July 4 parties in order to meet and minister to people.