A disturbing centrifugal force, seen in the enduring propensity for division among evangelical churches, has been powerfully at work among us for many generations, with devastating effects for the gospel of Christ.
Post-Reformation church history, particularly in the UK and the USA, is littered with evidence of disagreements, splits and rupture among congregations and church groupings, and it is quite staggering how often this has been over truly minor and secondary matters.
The attendant bitterness, acrimony and loss of fellowship between believers has been tragic, and the consequent dishonouring of the name of Christ and his church in the world may have been far more destructive to our societies than we could ever imagine. A recent thesis, for example, argues that it was as a result of its evident failure to express coherent unity on the issue of slavery that evangelicalism decisively lost its influence over American intellectual culture. Whatever the substance of this, the simple fact - as we know only too well from the world of politics - is that disunity breeds contempt.
