Unity in Christ

As the days march past, not only is the end of the year coming but also with it, another school cycle as the next session of classes start mid-January!  That leaves us just over two months to get everything together, get the word out for prospective students, and get details into place, amongst other activities that are happening between now and then.  Perhaps what is most significant as far as something new for this coming year is that we are offering for the first time a second level of classes, which will be running at the same time as the first year, taking advantage of the teachers that are already here.  It's a brand new curriculum for us and we're exciting to be able to offer it to the 7 generations of students that have passed through the walls of CEC.

Of particular note, however, is an up and coming conference that we are hosting here at CEC in a couple of weeks, November 22 & 23, which is centred on the theme Called to Unity in Christ.  It is a theme that addresses us as the church, One Church, not many churches split up by denominational lines and divided by different emphases in our teachings but recognizing that Christ is coming back for One Church, His Church, made up of those who have put their faith in Him alone.  It was interesting that as some of the school staff met with this idea for the conference on our hearts, I was also involved in a worship team that was preparing for a two day conference put on by a local church in Empalme.  As we at CEC were feeling lead in the direction of this topic and came up with the title for the conference, Called to Unity in Christ, not even a week had passed before I became aware of the title for the other conference being hosted by the local church, Unity in the Holy Spirit.  It seems we aren't the only ones with this on our hearts!

As a non-denominational school we receive students from many different church backgrounds, from more conservative to charismatic churches.  At times it can lead to interesting discussions but right from the beginning we make it very clear that with regards to certain doctrinal differences that students might have, our goal isn't to convince others nor to defend our own beliefs between each other.  Our goal is to open the Word, learn how to study it, continue to be transformed by it, becoming more like Christ, and being equipped with practical tools to help take the Word to others.  We get hung up on doctrinal differences sometimes when Christ is concerned about forming His character within us.  When I'm talking about doctrinal differences, I'm really talking about the 5% or maybe 10% of the things that divide us as Christians, the things that cause us to not want to work together with our brothers and sisters in Christ, perhaps even view them as enemies or to at least compete with them on some level, rather than the 95% that we share in common.  That 95% is what we focus on in CEC and it is always a pleasure to see the group of students accept each other, love each other and work together, even despite the fact that we are not 100% in agreement with each other on every doctrinal point.

Perhaps a side note is needed here because there are movements today, even in Christian churches, that promote unity above a foundation of Truth, that is, there is a sacrifice of fundamental elements of what we believe in order to come together for the sake of unity.  There are things that we cannot be soft about and simply "let go".  Unity for the sake of unity is not Biblical unity, nor God-honoring unity.  It must be centred on Truth, on God's Word, on Christ, in Christ and His ultimate sacrifice for us.  The push in the world today is towards unity, but at the expense of any sense of ultimate truth, and this is not what we stand for.  We stand for Christ, for His teachings, for His shed-blood on the cross, and His sanctifying work in us.  This brings us together, and this is really the purpose of the unity, isn't it?  "They will know that we are Christians by our love," goes the song.  Our coming together as a unified body is about evangelism, as one pastor I talked with recently shared: it's a strong testimony (a testimony that is often lacking...) to those who don't know.  So the task before us is to discern those things that are fundamental and absolutely central to our faith, cling to those things as a united body, and lay aside the "peripheral differences" that we have, perhaps agreeing to disagree and maybe even learning from each other (because very often those with whom we disagree have something that we can indeed learn from).  The rallying cry isn't UNITY, our rallying cry is CHRIST, and this brings together His true Church, those who fearlessly and jealously cling to Him.

All of this is to say, pray for us as we put together the final details for this conference and get the word out.  We pray that it would truly be an encouraging time for those who come and that we would continue to move in a God-honoring direction of unity amongst us as congregations.  Pray that local pastors and leaders would be drawn in and encouraged.  Pray for our two teachers, Benny and pastor Guillermo from El Choyudo who will be sharing what God has laid on their hearts.  Thanks for your prayers!

¡Dios les bendiga!