The Benefit of Variety

The Scriptural picture of the body of Christ is one of unit in diversity (1 Corinthians 12:12-27; Romans 12:3-8; Ephesians 4:11-16). Now there are basic principles that Christians should agree on (Jude 3; Galatians 1:8,9; 1 John 4:1-3). But within those broad principles there is the idea that God wants different people with different gifts and different perspectives, to build each other up. But in the modern Evangelical church we have worked very hard to avoid this. In fact we seem to have divided into factions based on spiritual gifts and personality traits. We have teaching congregations, evangelistic congregations. fellowship -minded  congregations, serving congregations. We have emotional congregations, stoical congregations and intellectual congregations. And where these people should be all in one congregation tempering  one another, broadening each other's perspective, they separate from each other and carry their particular emphasis to extremes. I do not see an easy cure for this problem, but I think it helps to realize it is a problem. And we need to reach out to Christian of different characters and ask if there are serious differences or we have simply taken one aspect of the body and made it to be the standard, And maybe if we do we can learn from each other. And that is a good thing.