Conflict

Christians expect interpersonal conflict in the church and learn to work through it. Often it is fueled by deeper conflicts between groups within the community. All of us have preferences and “patrons” who represent our particular beliefs, but we must not allow them to encroach on the unifying centrality of the cross. Only Jesus was crucified for us, and we are baptized only in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. This reality frees us to lean toward each other with our inevitable differences in preference and even in matters of substance.