Church unity was theme at Connect Norwich lunch 

Church unity was the theme of the latest Connect Norwich meeting of Christian leaders at Oak Grove Community Church on January 21.

The meeting took place during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity whose theme this year is “one body one spirit” from the book of Ephesians 4 v 4.
 
Phil Gazely from Peace Catalyst facilitated a discussion, among the gathered leaders, which focused on the questions: Why is church unity important today; What are the obstacles to Christian unity; How does the call of Jesus for us to be peacemakers and to love our enemies relate to Christian unity; and, How can Christian unity be best demonstrated in your community?
 
The group came up with the following thoughts.
 
Why is church unity important?
The Bible says it's important we're one body one spirit and one baptism. There's strength in diversity, so even though we're all different, there is strength in that difference and when we call our gifts together we can encourage each other.

How good it would be to model unity to the rest of the world, especially amidst all our differences. We can learn from each other how to be made into the image of God. We can be more effective in mission when working with others in maybe a city-wide or UK-wide movement.
 

What are the obstacles to Christian unity?
We all come with prejudices, preconceptions and different experiences. We often don't understand a group of people who appear to be different. Lack of understanding. Need to get to know people. Change is uncomfortable.
 
How are we called to be peacemakers.
Jesus forgave his enemies. Removing the idea of who is your enemy. Those we disagree with, maybe those we don't understand. We need to have more discussion and debate in our churches. We need to still love one another as Jesus loves us and see in the other person that Jesus loves them. We don't have to be the same.
 
Demonstrating Christian unity in our community.
Less talk, more action. Concentrate on what we have in common, rather than our differences - we have in common Jesus' love. We can demonstrate this in our wider community by doing more things together in prayer and leadership for example.
 
Click here to read a report on the rest of the Connect Norwich meeting.

Pictured above is Phil Gazley addressing the Connect Norwich meeting at Oak Grove.
 
The next Connect Norwich leaders lunch will be held at the Salvation Army Citadel on Wednesday March 18. More details to follow.