Every government has ironically exposed our folly in putting too much reliance upon politics for solutions. Governments are all lumbering and ham-handed so that they are rightly criticized by those wanting either opened economies or reliable immunity.

No church leader today could have predicted the severe test that COVID-19 has brought to the church. But the greatest test is yet to come.

Sparring Twitter hashtags reveal the lines of division emerging in society. Will it be the same in the church? Even now church members are starting to divide over #stayhome or #endthelockdown.

This test is difficult because the dividing issues are so personal.

Dying relatives. Loved ones in front line health care.

Or the destruction of a life’s work, along with meagre savings, jobs, homes and livelihoods, all disintegrating in real-time.

Every government has ironically exposed our folly in putting too much reliance upon politics for solutions. Governments are all lumbering and ham-handed so that they are rightly criticized by those wanting either opened economies or reliable immunity.

These are the challenges that the world faces, and people are handling it as would be expected. Responses have been tragic and comic for the most part.

But what about the church? Specifically, what about your church, your local church?

The great test of Christian unity is upon us, not in some global way (although that may be true as well), but in the most local way, as churches respond to these two divisive, yet intensely personal approaches.

We’ve Seen This Before

When the apostle Paul wrote to the Roman church, he addressed these kinds of divisive issues (Rom 14:1–12). He might have been talking about food and feast days, but it was just as divisive as #stayhome and #endthelockdown. 

So what did Paul say to the church that had two deeply felt, but opposing opinions festering together like an unlanced boil? To everyone’s surprise, his counsel was, “Welcome!”

Now such an answer doesn’t seem to be very satisfying to the personally felt, strongly reasoned opinion you might have. But it is an answer that is grounded in the sovereign authority of God. 

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