Perhaps it is easy to see the beauty of the vast diversity of species in a forest. Robins, hawks, trees, squirrels, worms, snails, foxes, and snakes all have their function in a healthy forest. It is not nearly so easy to see the need for diversity within a congregation. Not just young/old, rich/poor, single/ married, or athlete/couch potato, but teachers, machinists, bankers, dentists, truck drivers, nurses, mechanics, chemists, secretaries, writers, plumbers, and farmers are all great candidates for Christianity. It is reasonable that a musician finds it easy to talk with most other musicians, and we all realize that a teen of 17 can talk to other teens much more easily than an 81 year-old geezer. So, the greater the diversity within the congregation, the greater the potential for outreach to various segments of the community.
The problem with diversity is that it is often easy to see that different folks have different points of view on style of worship, class topics, favorite songs for worship, as well as forms and timing of fellowship activities. We all have differences. Except for the few biblical points that directly relate to salvation, our differences (often a part of our upbringing, genetic makeup, or life experience) tend to make our congregation interesting. Everyone exactly alike would be boring and not very appealing to someone quite different. Differences such as preferences for certain songs, order of worship, or a relaxed/ rigid style of worship boil down to matters of opinion and have no scriptural basis for dividing us within the family of God, and yet such differences have split many churches. In a time of emergency, such as a tornado, all of us would gladly work shoulder-toshoulder for whatever time would be necessary. Why is it then that we criticize another’s zeal for God in an hour of worship? Instead, let us sing and pray with each other as though our salvation depends on it –which it does. Think for a moment that our worship is like a life rope extending to those who are lost. Now ask, Will my efforts to praise God be a long/strong rope sufficient to reach one or two who are not in God’s fold? Paraphrasing the call of the restoration movement: “Let us be unified in matters of faith, loving in matters of opinion, and give us sufficient wisdom to know the difference.”
Finis Cavender