Do you ever feel like you are constantly being pressed to make a choice? Right, Left, Catholic, Protestant (and all the choices entailed therein), Pro-Israel, Pro-Palestine, Vax, Anti-Vax, the list goes on.
How refreshing it is to come together to seek the most important thing: to know God together. First Corinthians 11:19 tells us that there must be factions among us when we gather together as the Lord’s Ekklesia because we all come with a degree of baggage we’ve picked up over time. Ideas we may hold very tightly as correct. Thus we are likely to experience friction. (The stones in the temple were held together by friction!)
When we come together as living stones in the Ekklesia there MUST be factions so that those who are approved, the peacemakers, will become evident. When people come together from various affinities, doctrines, traditions, churches or ministries there will naturally be factions.
The important thing is to not be FACTIOUS. To be willing to come together despite our differences to be one in Christ. To drop everything that we may divide over for the sake of Jesus Christ and his one body.
This does not mean we need to change our convictions. It means we continue to hold our convictions with God AND not feel a need to convert other believers to our convictions. Living sacrificially is outlined extensively in Romans chapters 12 through 15. This is very important to understand in order to experience Ekklesia. It is a very encouraging read!