by Sandy » Mon Nov 26, 2018 10:56 pm
At the local level, though it isn't a guarantee, there's a greater chance that a congregation is already unified around a particular view, or in agreement that they won't let it be divisive. It requires respect for those with whom you disagree. You have to get away from thinking that just because you support the same missions cause that another church does, you have to buy into all of the other church's doctrinal views.
Some of the best friends I've made over the past eight years have been individuals who come from religious based schools of different religious backgrounds--Catholic, Jewish, Quaker, Evangelical, Mainline Protestant--who came together regularly to advocate at the state level for all of the issues private education has in common. We had four quarterly meetings and one annual gathering in Washington, DC. The advocacy went hand in hand with the fellowship in spite of the doctrinal and religious differences. A year ago next month I served on an accreditation team led by a Catholic Priest, and with a Jewish Rabbi and a Quaker school principal in addition to one other Evangelical who was Assembly of God. There is something to be said about unity around a common cause, the almost insurmountable job of getting through an accreditation team visit in three days, along with sharing three meals a day and working into the night back at your hotel that causes a level of respect to develop. That's the sort of thing you already have in a local congregation.