Unity or Uniformity?

As seminary students, we realize a mantra that matters much in church life is “IN ESSENTIALS UNITY, IN NON-ESSENTIALS LIBERTY, IN ALL THINGS CHARITY.” We believe this and know this to be true. This is why we have had conferences like Together for the Gospel and can have debates regarding Baptism and church polity. We can agree to disagree on many doctrines within our local congregation and that is a good thing. My concern is not so much with the body as it is with the staff and leadership found therein. This applies to most of our readers at Going to Seminary since most of us will be involved in a leadership role in the local church.
Unity
According to Merriam-Webster online, unity is defined as “A condition of harmony.” The staff must strive to be unified as they seek to lead the church. There is room for doctrinal disagreement, but there cannot be room for disagreement regarding the vision for the church or for that matter what the role of each staff member is. If there is, there is “trouble a-brewin’” as one of my good friends likes to say.
Satan can use the disunity to sneak into the church and disrupt everything. From off-hand, inconsequential remarks to outright sabotage, Satan will use the disagreements to his advantage. May this never be!
One way this can be avoided is to be humble enough to be honest with one another. Humility and honesty should be hallmarks of a church staff. Unfortunately, this is not often the case. If you have a problem with your pastor, you need to be able to take that problem to him and discuss it without it blowing up into a huge altercation. If you are the pastor, you need to make yourself open and available to critique. This must be done in more than word. You need to show yourself humble and react appropriately to the critique listening to what is said and not be so quick to defend yourself.
Uniformity
Uniformity is defined as “the quality or state of being uniform.” Uniform means, “having always the same form, manner, or degree” or “consistent in conduct or opinion.”
The problem really turns ugly when the senior pastor–a.k.a. chief undershepherd–oh wait, that’s Christ!–recognizes a disunity and basically commands for what he calls “unity” but in all actuality is “uniformity.” Most are not as blatant about uniformity as this, but it seems to be very easy to think your call for uniformity is actually a call to unity.
As “pastors-in-training,” we must be aware that we, too, will fall into this trap at some point. As leaders of a particular ministry (music, youth, children) it is much easier to demand that everyone fall in line with your vision and think everyone is unified. Be sure you know the difference between unity and uniformity. Be sure you are humble enough to be corrected and challenged. Be sure you are always critically looking at what you are doing in the church and for Whom you are doing it.
Being a pastor is not like other careers (I agree with John Piper, Brothers, we are not Professionals!). We must be humble. We must be critical of our motives; after all, the heart is deceitful above all things, who can understand it? Humility cannot be taught. More often than not, it is learned. I pray that we all as seminarians learn this lesson before we move into a leadership role in a local church and become an open doorway by which Satan enters the church.

Sitting in my first Covenant Theology class of seminary, Dr. Williams, in addition to speaking about the course, provided one of the most important “nuggets” of wisdom that I will ever receive during my theological training. He briefly, yet powerfully, spoke about an “ethic of reading.” He explained that many of us in Reformed circles, especially my generation, are suspicious readers. He called us to cultivate an attitude of sympathetic reading. Now, being a sympathetic reader does not mean that we avoid critical reading or necessarily agree with what each author claims. Being a sympathetic reader means not being dismissive or mean-spirited in how we approach texts. This “ethic of reading” was not about reading strategies, but rather character formation. Also, it was a matter of respect. If the professors have assigned a particular article or text it is worth reading, even when we disagree. Dr. Williams lamented the countless number of times he read book reviews from students that totally ripped apart texts, saying it was not worth their time. At no point, did these individuals consider, “I wonder why my professor assigned this, what did he want me to get out of it?”
I love this website. I started it a couple years ago as I began my transition into seminary. Finding helpful information about the seminary life on the internet was hit or miss. My goal was to create a site that would provide current and future seminarians a place to get the inside scoop on the seminary life. As the site grew, more and more people got involved and it became a site that has helped, encouraged, and challenged many of us.
I recently heard a couple discussing reasons as to why they left a certain church. They kept telling me that they loved the doctrine, they loved what they heard from the pulpit, and they loved what they learned. What drove them away from this church was the attitude of some in the congregation. As they have been searching for a new church to attend, they said they had found many churches with good doctrine but most lacked a good attitude.
This is a guest post written by Rev. Michael Shanlian.
I am employing the word “sojourn” in a very intentional way as I reflect on my current status as an individual who has traveled a long way to attend seminary. To be certain, I have physically moved quite a distance in the past five years in pursuing education. I essentially spent the first eighteen years of my life on Aquidneck Island, in Southeastern Rhode Island. Shortly after graduating high school, I journeyed south to the former capitol of the Confederacy to attend the University of Richmond. And now, at the age of 22, I find myself a week into a 13-month lease on a Saint Louis, Missouri apartment, anxiously waiting for my studies to begin at Covenant Theological Seminary. I have now lived in Rhode Island, Virginia, and now Missouri, yet I am struggling to find my home.
Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men
And a second is like it:Â You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.




