How can we keep a world Church together? Is there common ground? I hope so. But to live together, we do have to agree on one thing—namely, that we don’t have to agree on everything.

Yet often that is precisely the problem, for certain kinds of highly structured people really do worry that allowing diversity is a recipe for moral and spiritual disaster. In fact, just a whiff of the discussions in the Church soon makes clear that the debate is driven largely by two opposing convictions: one, that we need more diversity, the other, that we already have too much. Could it be that both convictions are partially correct and that either could serve to unite the Church or to divide it? I think so.

I am convinced that discovering the diversity in Scripture can allay our fears. But for many people this diversity easily appears to be contradiction, and thus their worst fears are realized. But rather than making a case for diversity from Scripture—which I have done in a variety of ways elsewhere—what I want to do here is simply focus on two modern examples, one a good-news illustration of unity, the other a bad-news illustration of fragmentation. But instead of citing a bad-news Adventist example and a good-news illustration from out there (a powerful temptation for grumbly Adventists), I’m going to pick on the Scottish Presbyterians for the bad news and go to a small Adventist church in Canada for the good news. I start with the bad.

Fragmentation of a Community
About 2,000 people live in Fearn, Scotland, on the Easter Ross Peninsula. About 500 of these are active churchgoers. Some 180 attend one of two Church of Scotland parishes; the rest belong to one or another of four splinter groups, all of them claiming to be Presbyterians.

About 30-40 attend the Free Church, which broke away in 1843 because it wanted to be free to call its own ministers. Members sing no hymns but only chanted psalms, and they use no instrumental accompaniment in worship.

About 60-70 attend the United Free Church. They sing chanted psalms in the morning and some hymns. Singing is unaccompanied in the morning; they use instruments in the evening.

About 40 attend the Associated Presbyterian Church, which broke with the Free Church in 1989 because Lord Mackay, a member of parliament and Scotland’s Lord Advocate, attended the Roman Catholic funeral services for two of his colleagues. While many in the Free Church were shocked by Lord Mackay’s actions, about 30 percent of the members supported him and went with Mackay to establish the new church. These folks are the liberals, singing all hymns with accompaniment.

Finally, another 30-40 attend the Free Church Continuing, a conservative breakaway precipitated by the lax handling of a morals charge against Free Church Professor John McLeod. Like the Free Church, they too sing only chanted psalms without accompaniment.

The parish minister, John McGregor, who told me these details, said that the only time all five pastors have been together under the same roof was at his ordination in 2001.

The divisions are “ludicrous,” says McGregor sadly. “The spirit of division simply seems to have become a habit. Every 30 years or so, a group just has to break away for some reason.”

Now the good news.

Building a community
A number of months ago when we were visiting former Walla Walla College students, Keith and Peggy Corbett, in Quesnel, British Columbia, Keith’s secretary, Bev Haluschak, just happened to mention going to a church reunion in Sarnia, Ontario. The story intrigued me so much that I called her back for details. This is what I learned.

The reunion was to honor Alfred Wood, now deceased. He was a convert to Adventism, a father of four, a chemical engineer. But most important of all, he was their Pathfinder leader. When he joined the Adventist church in Sarnia, which had a typical Sabbath attendance of about 70, he noticed that nothing much was being done for the young people. Since he had been a Boy Scout leader in his previous church, he took charge of Pathfinders. And things began to happen. I won’t take the time to tick off all the things he did to show those Pathfinders that they were important to the church and to God. Bev summarized it this way: “He simply modeled unconditional love.”

Typically there were about 30 Adventist young people in Pathfinders, and by bringing their friends they would nudge attendance up to about 40.

Now here is the rest of the story: A few years ago, about a year after Mr. Wood’s death, some of his former Pathfinders decided they wanted to recognize him by putting up a plaque in his honor in the Sarnia church. Then they decided to contact the rest of the group and see if more could come. They got letters from four or five who could not attend. But 27 others did come back for the reunion, and, catch this: 25 of the 27 are still active Adventists. Furthermore, of the two who were not, one said: “This is what I have been missing. I’m coming back.” Think of it: 27 came back and 25 are still faithful in the Church.

When I asked Bev where they had come from, she said, “One from B.C., three from Alberta, two from Quebec, one from Newfoundland, two from Michigan, one from Florida, two from Washington, D.C. And one young man didn’t have to travel at all, probably the one we would have voted ‘least likely to be in the church’–most likely to be in jail! He was an elder and the youth leader in the Sarnia church.”

In her last e-mail Bev commented: “Somehow Mr. Wood communicated to us what a privilege it was to serve in our church. I think he cultivated such an enduring connection to the church for me, that when the time came as a young adult that I questioned my need for the church, it was the belief that I was important to my church that kept me there until I could learn how important I was to God.”

What I find so intriguing about this story is that strong convictions people hold about doctrine, worship, and lifestyle have all been overwhelmed by someone’s simple love for others. In other words, Brother Wood lived out Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:12: “In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.” My guess is that if you were to talk with those Adventists who grew up in the Sarnia church, you would find remarkable diversity. But because they experienced Brother Wood’s genuine human love for them as individuals, they are contributing in powerful ways to the unity of the church.

If, like the devout believers in Fearn, Scotland, we hold strong convictions about lesser matters, the Church will splinter. But when we really put God and people first in our thoughts, prayers and actions, we learn to love each other and to live together.

In the aftermath of the doctrinal turmoil of 1888, Ellen White argued persuasively for allowing a certain diversity in the Church, especially in our understanding of Scripture: “We cannot...take a position that the unity of the church consists in viewing every text of Scripture in the very same light. The church may pass resolution upon resolution to put down all disagreement of opinions, but we cannot force the mind and will, and root out disagreement. These resolutions may conceal the discord, but they cannot quench it and establish perfect agreement. Nothing can bring perfect unity in the church but the spirit of Christlike forbearance.”

She goes on to note how that unity will be the natural result when we take Jesus’ two great commands with utmost seriousness: “The great truths of the word of God are so clearly stated that none need make a mistake in understanding them. When as individual members of the church, you love God supremely and your neighbor as yourself, there will be no need of labored efforts to be in unity, for there will be oneness in Christ as a natural result (MS 24, 1892; The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials 3:1092-93).

pp13,14 adventist today | vol. 14 issue 1