Summary: I love a good church fight! Especially when it's in someone else's church. Churches often have their spats. We debate all kinds of things: property, parsonages, pastors, sexuality, euthanasia, church & state. Church fights, however, are not always bad. It really depends on what you're fighting for. I remember in one particular church we got into it over pew cushions. We contracted to put new cushions in the sanctuary. One of our ladies became so irate over the color the committee picked that on the Sunday we consecrated the cushions she brought her lawn chair. Sometimes a good dispute--properly addressed--can lead to new insight and understanding. It happens in marriage. Oh, I know we don't like to call it fighting. Call it a discussion. It sounds more Christian. But a disagreement, honestly processed, can lead to greater clarity, a stronger bond, and a more faithful witness. I think it's a good thing occasionally when people can agree to disagree and still be friends. My best friend in the ministry is one with whom I disagree politically. We're opposites when it comes to politics. But we're very similar when it comes to faith. John Wesley had a good rule of thumb. He said, "In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity." The church fight that happened in Acts 15 was over something essential! It had to do with the nature of salvation. There was a certain group of individuals--I love the way Luke says that. He doesn't call them by name. He simply says a certain group. In other words, this group doesn't represent the whole. They're not really speaking for the church; they're speaking for themselves.
