I sometimes wonder if teachers ever say to themselves, "this child is so disrespectful, I wish she was not in my class." Some children can be very disrespectful and the frustration is understandable. As I thought about this question, I though about a statement that some people make about why they don't go to church- "I don't go to church because there are many hypocrites". My first reaction was to decry the hypocrisy among churchgoers. However, as I thought about this statement, my thought turned on the attitude of the person who made the statement. Think about what this statement implies about a person. This person refuses to be with people who are sinners. His attitude has similarities with the attitude of the frustrated teacher.

     The truth is, the person who made the above statement is the one that needs to repent and look at the Jesus who ate with sinners. I am not saying that churchgoers do not need to work on its hypocrisy, they definitey need to. Why did Jesus ate with sinners? Its not to give the message that he tolerates sin. He died for sins and told people to stop sinning both in their behavior and in their thoughts. It was Jesus' vision to bring his people together, to bring them together in his redeemed community. His followers are invited to continue the vision of uniting sinners to the redeemed community. A person that says he has faith in Jesus but does not want anything to do with the church is a person who is not walking with the Savior whose mission is to bring us into his redeemed community.  

     Whether we admit it or not, we usually find something disagreeable with people. We may not blurt it out but what we may find disagreeable is a person's appearance, his background, his musical preference, his personality, etc. The church service is the most segregated time of the week. On the one hand, it is disturbing that churches are divided along racial lines. Even if a church may appear to have people, even leadership, of different backgrounds, it may well be that they belong to the same social strata. We have separate services for youth, or for people who prefer contemporary music over hymns.

     On the other hand, this church "divisions" are natural. Healthy human development requires that a baby differentiate between his family and strangers. We don't think it is natural if a child indiscriminately show affection to everybody. I believe this shows that a person is wired to look for cliques, for people whom he is comfortable with. The clique can be within a church, a church, or a denomination. A person has concentric circles around him- some people will be in the closer circle and some people will be in the further circles. We can't turn back time and return to the time before the Reformation where Christians did not have to face the choice of different churches they can go to. Even in the Catholic church, where people of different backgrounds seem to worship together, the unity is artificial (they still have cliques). People go with people whom they are comfortable with.

     Does this mean that we leave the appearance of a divided church alone? No, but we must examine our attitudes towards the "church", especially because at the end of the day, God will look at our hearts. An all black church may be a better Christian witness than a suburban multicultural church. Their members may be more loving towards those outside their church walls than members of a multicultural church who use the church as a social network, not having real relationships with each other. Here are a few recommendations we can think about.

1. Christian identity begins with faith in Jesus. It does not begin with theological, political, personality distinctives. We don't set ourselves apart from other Christians because of our distinctives, but see ourselves as having affinity with them because of our common faith in Jesus. We may be different in many ways, but we need to look at other Christians with eyes of brotherhood. This will change the tone of our communication with believers whom we have differences with.   

2. There must be an openness towards people, even those we find disagreeable. Openness means a willingness to get into others' lives, and for others to get into our lives. Ask each other about your struggles and interests, make room for it. With this openness, there would be more appreciation and empathy, which breaks down walls.   

3. Work and play brings people together. Invite each other to work and play. Working together, for example, in building institutions, will build some heart unity and is a good Christian witness. Play increases comfort levels, so that the concentric circles around the person could become more malleable, and relationships will more likely form.