Unity as seen within Scripture is just something we don’t tend to think about or talk about much in our current Christian culture, and honestly, the fruit proves it. We don’t address the topic because it’s uncomfortable, time-consuming, and requires collective effort. But what benefit is there in avoiding a hard topic? Don’t we see the bad fruit it nurtures in other parts of our lives? For example, that thing I won’t really talk to my husband about is going to come up eventually in an argument or at the wrong moment because we chose to not address it as a priority. Or that symptom we keep putting off mentioning to the doctor or that debilitating sadness we keep trying to act like is not there will eventually creep up to the surface and demand to be addressed.
Unity is similar. We don’t really like to talk about it because it just doesn’t seem that important or because it seems too complicated, but so much injustice is unaddressed because the church is not unified, so many people are not coming to know Jesus because we are not unified, so many people are being harmed by the church because we are not unified. When we do talk about unity, it’s often about performative action, appropriating the term “kumbaya,” or perpetuating a false peace that comes from ignoring or silencing the voices that cry out for shalom. This is not biblical nor Christlike unity.
Unity is not a common topic in sermons, books, podcast episodes, conference topics, or online discourse these days unless writers and speakers are reacting to a tension in the moment. This isn’t necessarily bad. It can be, as we say in the social work profession, an intervention that is needed in a crisis moment. However, a healthier route is to take preventive measures that already work toward creating a unified church. No matter how uncomfortable it is or how much we want to ignore it, a meaningful discourse about unity is absolutely necessary right now. Unity deserves our attention not only because we see a tangible need for it in our culture today but also because it is a consistent message in the Gospels and in the Epistles of Paul. For example, Ephesians 4:1–5 says,
Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making 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 at your calling—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.
There are other such messages of unity from Paul, including 1 Corinthians 1:10, Romans 12:4–5, and 2 Corinthians 13:11. We see how Jesus calls for unity in John 17 and how he uses communal language, such as in the Lord’s Prayer, “Our father in heaven . . .” (Matt. 6:9). Jesus also often moved in groups—the twelve disciples, the three close friends, the unknown but significant number of women who supported his ministry. We should pay attention to these examples of unity in the biblical text because if it matters to Jesus, then shouldn’t it matter to us? If this is how Jesus operated, doesn’t that tell us about his values and, therefore, the values we should have? It’s more than being in community; it’s being a unified community.
Whenever a theme is found in Scripture, we need to pay attention to it. When I was growing up, my mom made sure to put a special emphasis on certain things. She would repeat herself, tell me again and again, but I rarely paid attention because I didn’t see it as important. I missed out on learning the values behind what she was trying to teach me, which I was able to see only in hindsight. I feel like that’s what we do with unity. From Genesis to Revelation, God wants his people to be unified, but we need to be able to see unity as important and worthy of our attention and our effort in order to have the peace we all so desire.
When we talk about peace, we should discern between a true peace and a false one. If something is false, it is deliberately made or meant to deceive and not according to truth. False peace refers to a deceptive sense of peace—a feeling or appearance of safety, oneness, or harmony that hides underlying problems, sin, heresy, or injustice. False peace is not rooted in truth, righteousness, or genuine reconciliation with God and others, which leads to deeper roots of forced uniformity, division, and dehumanization. It’s a false peace that actually gatekeeps true peace, as if God intended for peace to be earned or limited to a specific group of people. Ultimately, false peace keeps the church from flourishing—which I define as living out the gospel and wanting freedom for all. When true peace is not present, people do not get a clear vision of who Jesus is. False peace distorts the real God and presents a god that is made in our image. False peace distorts the gospel and becomes a path of anti-gospel.
When we choose sides over souls and declare that disagreements justify labeling people as heretics, false teachers, or “not one of us,” we should be deeply grieved. Are we grieved enough? And toward repentance? It’s apparent from the comments section on social media posts, online sermons, and political sites that we live in largely homogeneous circles and have forgotten that we’re called to be of one mind and one spirit (Phil. 2:2) but not called to sameness. We have forgotten the power of Pentecost that made room for all people to access the gospel and began the diverse and unified church. We have forgotten the priestly prayer of Jesus in John 17:21, where he says, “May they all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I am in you.” God did not make us all the same to be the same; he made us all intentionally unique to then come together and become united as one.
So what is unity? It’s important that we recognize the distinction between unity and sameness. Sameness is sticking to comfortable spaces, surrounded by people who look like us, think like us, and worship like us. Sameness feels safe, but it’s a safety that comes from the distorted belief that difference is a threat. But is it a threat? What if difference is the very thing God uses to deepen our faith and transform us? Consider how learning from people who aren’t from your culture or time has affected your formation. Because that’s what the Bible is: writings by and about people from different cultures who lived thousands of years ago. So why are we convinced that being around people who are different from us is not important or is even a threat? Perhaps we wouldn’t call it a threat per se, but our thinking, decision-making, community makeup, and possibly even our theology reveal that we do see difference as a threat.
This apparent indifference to the biblical call for unity is why I feel both the weighty responsibility and an urgent need to offer a book now that teaches how real unity can be more than just tolerance or surface-level agreement. Biblical unity is oneness in Christ despite differences and disagreements, walking in harmony with one another as uniquely unified with the purpose of giving God glory and being formed by him through a life of action that serves and sees our neighbor. In this book, I want to guide us through some honest reflection on where we are divided as the body of Christ and describe how we can walk a hopeful path toward unity together. I hope to challenge you to adopt a posture of humility and openness so you can move from judgment to curiosity, from fear to formation, and from fragile agreement to resilient love. Real unity doesn’t erase difference; it is transformed by it, thus drawing us closer to the heart of God and his glory and the good of the world.
Content taken from False Peace by Pricelis Perreaux-Dominguez, ©2026. Used by permission of Brazos Press.
