Becoming a Blessed Church by Standish N. Graham;Ott E. Stanley;

Author:Standish, N. Graham;Ott, E. Stanley;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: undefined
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Published: 2012-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

The Holy Spirit wants us to be united, but we cannot create this unity solely through our own powers. It comes only as we collectively open our hearts to the Holy Spirit. Plenty of books are available that teach group process, conflict resolution, and systems approaches, offering a vision of unity grounded in the insights of psychology, family systems, and organizational research. I have been influenced by many of these theories through my training and work as a counselor and social worker. I recommend that any leader become versed in these theories. They can offer new insights and information on how to deal with conflict. Still, true unity and community in the church can come only through the power of the Holy Spirit, which binds hearts and minds together. Psychology, family systems theory, and organizational theory can take us only so far.

Unity in the Spirit emerges when we, as leaders and a church, are willing to put aside our own egos to accept the power of the Spirit working in our midst. When moderators and other leaders of congregations, boards, committees, task forces, and teams encourage their members to become open to the Holy Spirit by putting aside their own egos and desires to seek only God’s will, Spirit begins to sow unity and community. As Eberhard Arnold says:

Only if we have willing, sincere, and open hearts will we find unanimity in our convictions. We have never found it disturbing when people have come to us representing convictions that differ from ours. On the contrary, that is more fruitful than if we had no chance to hear opposing ideas. We believe that a free exchange of ideas can help people to recognize the truth, thanks to a Spirit that does not originate with us human beings. Then, no matter how diverse our opinions may have been, through the ultimate truth we will all be united. . . . A united conviction can never be produced by forcing anyone to comply. Only the Holy Spirit with His power of inner persuasion leads people from freedom of opinions to true unity.[4]

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