Day Eleven: Unity in Mission

One of the highlights for both of us on this trip is meeting people face to face that we have worked with only over e-mail up to this point. I had the opportunity to sit down across a table with a colleague and talk about what she's doing in training local believers and how my department could meet her technology needs to help her be more effective. It was exciting to hear what she was doing!

What was also interesting to me were all the things that didn't even come up before we partnered together this way in mission. So, here are a few things you don't have to agree upon (or even talk about) in order to partner with someone in mission.

• eschatology
• female leadership in the church
• theories of the Atonement
• infant baptism
• national politics
• creationism / evolution
• ... any other issue you care to name

It's easy to let these issues divide us into "us" and "them". Jesus exploded the whole "us and them" paradigm, though, so the only "us" is those who have heeded his call to serve, and the only "them" is those we are called to serve. "Them" is always going to be everybody, but "us" is growing every day.

It's not to say the above issues are unimportant - our theology matters. But any disagreements we may have about non-core doctrines pale in comparison to the sheer magnitude - and utter beauty! - of the task set before us.

Evan