We had quite a conversation at the last Parish Planning Council meeting. While we all seemed to be of the same mind about the chapter in The Strategically Small Church that we are reading and discussing together, there were some differences of opinion about another matter we discussed.
For this blog the particular issue is not as important as was our holding different thoughts and opinions about it. While oftentimes I can seem to prefer when “everyone agrees with each other” (or truth be told when everyone agrees with me!); the greater truth is we need to accept and take seriously those with whom we are not in agreement and their thinking.
Oftentimes the end result of a discussion or debate where differences of opinion or different insights or concerns are expressed is better because more issues are addressed rather than fewer. Collective wisdom is frequently more insightful than the thinking of one.
This is also a biblical truth. Are there not four gospels written by four authors because no one author could share all that needed to be shared about the love of God revealed in Jesus Christ? This is also what the Apostle Paul writes about when to the Romans and Corinthians he writes both about the unity and the diversity in the Body of Christ as a gift which God intends to strengthen the Body.
That God has created each of us to be unique, and called each of us to contribute to our life together in different ways, is a great blessing. It doesn’t always make life together easier; but it often makes our life together healthier.