“(I ask) that they may all be one, even as Thou, Father, art in me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that Thou didst send me” (John 17:21).
No one wants your church to be unified more than the Lord.
In fact, almost everything depends on unity.
On April 14, 2012, the new pastor, Dr. Charles McLain, stood before his congregation, ready to lead his first monthly business session.
Before they got underway with reports and motions and votes, however, Charles had something to say which they needed to hear. His little speech would affect the course of that church for years to come.
They needed to know how their business meetings were going to be conducted.
What follows is his written message, verbatim. (He shared it with us, alongwith permission to share.)
“Since this is my first business meeting as your pastor, I wanted to share my heart and my sincere beliefs about the importance of maintaining unity in the body.
“It has been my too frequent experience to leave a church business meeting sick at heart and wondering to myself, ‘What just happened?’
“All of us here could probably recite incidents of relationships being destroyed, members being lost, and sometimes irreparable damage being done to the witness and testimony of individuals or the church.
“When being right or getting one’s way takes precedent over relationships and maintaining unity we are on the slippery slope towards hurt, harm, and disunity. If not dealt with properly, disunity will create an environment of distrust and suspicion. And make no mistake. Festering conflict and disunity are sin.
“Jesus said some strong things about forgiveness, bearing with one another, and being kind to one another.
“When a pastor, staff, or congregation refuses to heed His words, we can hardly expect God to bless us with spiritual power and fruit.
“Does this mean we must always agree? No. But it does mean that we can do so without rancor and an ugly spirit or attitude. Genuine and biblical unity is found in the midst of real and passionate differences that we set aside in the recognition that the differences we have are nowhere as important as the Savior we serve.
“Knowing the damage that comes from disunity is perhaps why Jesus prayed for unity among His followers. That’s why maintaining unity is so important. It not only impacts organizational health; it impacts spiritual health and power.
“I cannot speak for you. But I will, as your pastor, do all that I can (to) promote and protect the harmony and unity of our beloved church.”
Then, he issued a warning…
Looking up from his printed script, Pastor McLain told the congregation, “The moment a discussion gets out of hand and people begin misbehaving, we are shutting the business meeting down on the spot. I want you all to be clear about this. The meeting adjourns the moment we quit speaking in love.”
He added, “I know about Roberts’ Rules of Order. But I’m telling you up front this is what we are going to do.”
As one who has done this very thing–shut down a business meeting when it got out of hand, without so much as a motion or voice vote or anything–I applaud this.
During my visit to his church, I asked Charles how things have gone in the years since he came. “We’ve not had a single instance of someone misbehaving,” he smiled.
This is one wise pastor.
Now, I surmise that Pastor Charles McLain did not get that way overnight, nor was he born wise. He has pastored several churches and served in denominational positions. He came to New Orleans after Katrina to help us. Charles has earned his stripes and arrived at his understandings as a result of much experience.
A wise pastor…
–places a great value on unity.
–takes a strong, loving stand for unity early in his ministry at a church.
–appeals to the better natures of his people, based on their love for the Lord Jesus Christ and out of obedience to Him.
–has a plan on how to deal with an outbreak of dissension and makes sure his people know what it is.
A few texts come to mind here….
Ephesians 4:3 “Being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (Note that it’s a unity of the Spirit. It’s a Holy Spirit thing. The Lord intends leaders of His church to be protectors of that unity.)
Ephesians 5:21 “Be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.” (There is to be no lording it over other members, not by the pastor or anyone else. See I Peter 5:3.)
I Corinthians 6:7 “Actually, then, it is already a defeat for you, that you have lawsuits with one another. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded?” (
The entire 4th chapter of Ephesians speaks of the unity of the Body. See verse 16 in particular.
John 17:21 (the text at the top of this article) Jesus prays that “they all may be one” in order that “the world may believe.” We must not miss this! Disunity undermines our attempts at spreading the gospel. If we expect people to believe on Christ, we must love one another.
Leaders of the Lord’s church should….
–keep the prize of unity before the congregation at all times.
–applaud God’s people when they are getting it right.
–find ways to promote unity
–pull aside a few key leaders to take action when the train begins to jump the tracks.
–always be on the alert for threats to the unity and deal with them immediately.
One final reminder to the pastor…
Paul said to the church at Thessalonica, “You know how we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each of you as a father would his own children” (I Thessalonians 2:11).
Don’t pull rank on them, pastor. Be kind, but firm. Always keep before the congregation the love for the name of Christ, the need for obedience to His command, and the importance of unity within the body.
If you insist on unity from the very first, you will get it.
(*Charles McLain is the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Festus-Crystal City, Missouri.) (This article was written in 2014, but I checked, and as of July 2017, he’s still in place. Glad to see this. He’s a fine man.)
Loved the article. Timely, to the point, and concise as usual. Should be shared in seminary classes. I bear scars of some pretty “good” meetins’ myself including the first church I served in 1972 where I thought church would split over the difference in my pay between 35 and 50 bucks a week as a summer youth director. They didn’t know it but I would have served for nothing. That one along with others in the past 40 years resulted in my statement to my last 2 churches, yes I’m a slow learner, to the effect that business meetings are a time of accountability of God’s resources and how we have used/misused them and a time of celebration of accomplishments for moving God’s Kingdom in this world forward. Then I say, however as Pastor and as Moderator I will not allow any disagreements to get out of hand. The instant someone gets personal with their disagreement with a fellow brother or sister, as it sometimes happens in blue-collar churches, they will be ruled out of order and asked to be seated. I remind them of my love for each one of them but I will not allow God’s church become such as I have seen over the years which the earlier part of your blog describes. In ten years I have not had to follow through even one time. In fact folk have said, Preacher we needed something like that said before now. We disagree without breaking fellowship. To God be the Glory for He did it. I was only the mouth piece.
Another great post and I applaud Brother McLain for his stand. It is possible, depending on his church’s bylaws) that shutting down the business meeting might be a violation, even if it is a good idea. I believe he would be permitted to legally call a recess. I’m just glad he has never had to do so. A church across town from us had a business meeting that was so out-of-control that the local Sheriff’s department was called to bring order. Very, Very sad.
Two other things can be done to help preserve order before things go South:
1) Have a written agenda and a specific format. Ours works like this:
First, prayer
Second, presentation of the minutes
Third, Treasurers Reports
Fourth, Senior Pastor report followed by Assistant Pastor reports
Fifth- Committee reports (in alphabetical order by name of committee)
Sixth- old business from previous meetings or brought from the congregation
Seventh- new business as presented by the congregation
2) Make certain that the pastor is not serving as the moderator. As such., he is not permitted to speak FOR or AGAINST any issue and the pastor needs to be able to respectfully speak about issues. I trained a strong personality and it has helped our meetings.
We used to have business meetings that lasted an hour and half– our meetings rarely go more than thirty minutes. Reports are printed in advance and recommendations clearly stated. Members are asked to read the reports BEFORE the meeting.
We have to be careful to conduct God’s business in decency and in order.
Finally, let me remind you that Paul wrote to the church at Philippi that they all needed to agree in the Lord.. Our job is to find God’s will, not our own.
I was a member of a church when I lived in Kansas that was pastored by Charles McLain. I would lay under a bulldozier for Pastor Charles; he’s the real deal! Learned to go out and share the Gospel from this wonderful man of God!