Unity

Philippians 2:1 Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, 2 make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.

We all love to hear the song during the Christmas season, "It's the most wonderful time of the year". Can I make a declaration? If you work on a church staff that presents its budget in December, that just simply is untrue for you. Introduce the notion of how to spend money in the church and you get a wide variety of opinions. I have now officially been through it as a pastor 11 times. When it comes to creating a church budget, there are always extremes to be dealt with. Some people are risky, and some are very conservative. Some are for "passing a faith budget" that is far beyond the congregation's ability to reach.....Some are for passing a budget that is less than the previous year's tithes and offerings so the church can "squirrel away money for a "rainy day".

When you are on a church staff you see the potential for division. People with different opinions about how to spend money can get polarized, and the enemy can get a foothold, divide and conquer. It is a stark reminder that if we in the church are going to remain unified, it is not our opinions that are going to do it. The last word of our focus passage for the day is the key to unity. It is the word purpose. Our opinions are not going to unify us....it will be a sharp focus on the purpose. The purpose is to make disciples.

Different people will have different opinions in the church on how to spend the money, but if the ultimate focus is to reach people for Christ, God's people are not going to press their opinions to the point that it divides the body, and thus compromises the church's ability to reach people for Christ. There will be a "big picture" understanding, so that those that do not get their way will not do damage to the body over the fact that their suggestion or budgeting philosophy was not ultimately adopted by the church.

I saw some disagreements and some differences of opinion during the budget process at Bethel this year. I am happy to report that even though the discussions got spirited at times, no one got nasty. Everyone expressed their opinion in a respectful way. When it comes to those that did not get their way, nobody took their marbles and went home.

We are moving forward together....as soldiers of the cross. That's the way it should be.