How can a congregation, how can the church worldwide, how can a family have the unity which is God wants in His divine organizations?
First, we have to see whether or not God actually wants unity in those places.
- "Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment." - 1 Corinthians 1:10
- "And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting," - Ephesians 4:11-13
- "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.” And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord." - Ephesians 6:1-4
So, yes, I'd say unity is to be in all of those areas that God has given mankind.
Let's look at the 5 main enemies of unity that Dave Ramsey believes will kill an organization, and that I believe will kill a congregation, the church or a family.
1. Lack of Shared Purpose
2. Sanctioned Incompetence
But, there can still be incompetence that is sanctioned by the church's leaders. Elders, preachers, teachers and deacons that do not address problems where a brother or sister do not understand are allowing that Christian to continue in ignorance and thereby opening up the congregation to harm because when we don't know what we're supposed to be doing, we will cause others to not know also.
3. Poor Communication
But it goes farther than that, just wait.
4. Unresolved Disagreements
"Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother"
- Matthew 18:15
5. Gossip
"Gossip is when a negative is discussed with anyone who cannot fix the problem."
- Dave Ramsey
The only good that comes from gossip is merely perceived unity with the person to which we gossip and most of the time they really don't care about the situation and if they do, they wish you had gone to that person instead of bad mouthing someone to them.
"For I fear lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I wish, and that I shall be found by you such as you do not wish; lest there be contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, backbitings, whisperings, conceits, tumults"
- 2 Corinthians 12:20