Unity in Affliction

There are truths we admire in peaceful seasons and truths we discover we cannot live without when pressure comes. Unity belongs to the second category. It is easy to speak about togetherness when nothing important is being tested. Affliction reveals whether our relationships are built on convenience or covenant, whether our love can survive disappointment, and whether our understanding of the Church is merely organizational or truly spiritual.

Unity in Affliction grew from a teaching burden concerning the strength God has placed in His Body. The message is not that Christians must agree about every preference, personality, method, or secondary matter. Biblical unity is deeper than sameness. It is the deliberate submission of different people, gifts, backgrounds, and assignments to one Lord, one faith, one Spirit, and one purpose in Christ.

These pages are intended to be read slowly and practiced deliberately. They can be used for personal study, leadership development, church classes, small groups, couples, ministry teams, or congregational teaching. The discussion questions at the end of each chapter are designed to move the reader from agreement to examination and from examination to action.

My prayer is that this book will help believers resist the instinct to isolate, compete, criticize, abandon the wounded, or turn differences into division. May we learn again to endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace and to become a people through whom the life of Christ can flow freely.