I hope you are well. I’m writing to you to ask a question about unity.<\/p>\n
The Bible speaks about unity and that his people should be united, but why are there so many churches of Christ in one city? I live in a small town with a population of 4,000 people, and there are two churches of Christ in close proximity to one another. I don’t believe in a white or black congregation so it really bothers me that these congregation aren’t worshipping together. From my understanding there’s no scriptural split it’s just they worship over here and we worship over there. I believe so much can get done for the Lord if we come together. Do I just accept it for what it is or encourage the congregations to be united and worship together? One of these congregation doesn’t have elders while the other does have elders.<\/p>\n\t
You would have to ask the congregations why they are not combining their efforts. I have known of congregations that started long ago — before modern cars and modern roads. In those days, the congregations were a fair distance apart regarding travel time, but today, the travel time is minor. However, people become entrenched in their traditions and their buildings. In other places, there was a disagreement over some matter that led to the start of a new congregation. Even though the disagreeing parties are no longer alive and no one remembers what the dispute was about, the people have become entrenched in their traditions and their buildings. Sometimes, the split was due to improper practices or behavior (such as racism). While those problems were resolved and no longer occur, the people become entrenched in their traditions and their buildings.<\/p>\n
I guess the answer is the stubbornness of people who are unwilling to let go of what they know to gain something greater. People seem to be fine with others joining them, but they are unwilling to be the ones joining someone else.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: I hope you are well. I’m writing to you to ask a question about unity. The Bible speaks about unity and that his people should be united, but why are there so many churches of Christ in one city? I live in a small town with a population of 4,000 people, and there are…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[448,456],"class_list":["post-66656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-church","tag-unity"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":22322,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-small-group-meetings-in-place-of-the-sunday-evening-assembly-or-midweek-study-scriptural\/","url_meta":{"origin":66656,"position":0},"title":"Are small group meetings in place of the Sunday evening assembly or midweek study scriptural?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 4, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello. I appreciate your work and respect your knowledge of the Word. I have a question concerning the small group phenomenon in the Lord's church. Is there a scriptural basis for the small group to not assemble at the appointed times (mostly Sunday evening worship and Wednesday Bible study)\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":90453,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-we-merge-with-a-nearby-congregation\/","url_meta":{"origin":66656,"position":1},"title":"Should we merge with a nearby congregation?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 13, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I have a few questions about two churches of Christ merging. I'm a member of a church of Christ. Around five years ago, we had around 50 members, including two elders and three deacons. I was one of the deacons. Things changed a few years ago. The two\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":41690,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/we-have-a-new-preacher-teaching-unity-in-a-diversity-of-beliefs\/","url_meta":{"origin":66656,"position":2},"title":"We have a new preacher teaching unity in a diversity of beliefs","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 24, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Our congregation recently has a new preacher. He is related to half the church members and is well-known in the community. But he is very liberal and has admitted to me that he wants to change things at our congregation. He told me, \"he is about a relationship with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":36014,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-are-some-churches-using-bassing-in-their-worship\/","url_meta":{"origin":66656,"position":3},"title":"Why are some churches using “bassing” in their worship?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 29, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What is your opinion on one song leader bassing into the microphone (or beatboxing as I call it) while the other lead songs? It seems like a lot of our churches of Christ are starting to feel comfortable with this practice. I thought sing means singing. And if we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28357,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-people-with-different-views-on-the-second-serving-of-the-lords-supper-worship-together\/","url_meta":{"origin":66656,"position":4},"title":"How can people with different views on the second serving of the Lord’s Supper worship together?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 8, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was recently reading your post about the Lord's Supper being taken on a Sunday night. I have recently joined a congregation where they serve on Sunday nights to just a few people. I do not partake because I believe the Christians assembled did not meet for the purpose\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":69119,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/we-cant-find-a-good-congregation\/","url_meta":{"origin":66656,"position":5},"title":"We can’t find a good congregation","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 30, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I'm facing a dilemma and seek guidance to do the right thing. My husband and I used to attend the only church in our area that lacks a kitchen. We stopped going because the preacher left, there are no elders, and the men currently leading the church are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66656"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66656\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}