Without Unity

Following the United Methodist Church recent vote to uphold the rules from the Book of Disciplines that no gay or lesbian people can serve as clergy, and same-sex marriage is forbidden, there is talk within the denomination about a church split. My local newspaper interviewed the Methodist pastor, who supports LGTB clergy. She said, “I still think they are lovely people even though they don’t believe the things that I believe. And that’s where some of this grew from, and it’s been a struggle for years, trying to continue to live together. I mean there are not a lot of churches where you can sit in the pew next to somebody and have a completely different belief system than they do and still call yourselves united and together.” The Apostle Paul disagrees with this type of sentiment. Paul said, “I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought” (1 Cor 1:10 NIV).