How to Build Church Unity: 6 Practical Leadership Strategies to Overcome Division
By Dan Reiland
Lack of unity is one of the Enemy’s great schemes for destroying the church. If he can get us fighting against each other, we become neutralized and of little use to the world. Your church will not move forward without unity in direction (purpose), culture and spirit.
Because we are human, it doesn’t take much to break down unity:
- One group likes a contemporary worship style and another group prefers traditional.
- One department has a smaller budget than the others.
- One segment of the congregation thinks there should be more emphasis on foreign missions than what the church board has decided.
- One ministry received more platform announcement time than the others.
And on it goes …
These issues seem minor, even petty, when we read them, but when you are in the middle of them, the passion runs high and the emotions can get hot.
Pray that God would empower these words of Paul within your church.
As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. (Eph. 4:1-6)
Practical Principles for Your Church
1. Talk about the spiritual realities of disunity.
Division is nothing new for the local church. Paul openly addressed this issue many times in his New Testament letters. In fact, divisiveness is among Satan’s top tactics for distracting and derailing church leaders from what is really important. If the enemy can get us bickering, at odds with or even against each other, the church is effectively neutralized. A spiritual attack is not something to hide behind as an excuse—it’s a reality to acknowledge and fight against. Prayer is your greatest offensive weapon, followed by great expressions of faith in what God can and will do.
