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First, in Matthew 16:18, Jesus said he would build his church (his community of called-out people). He is the architect and he engineers its growth. It’s an indestructible community, for he said, “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Christ’s church has something to do with life and death, and the good news of rescue both locally and globally. But how does Jesus build his church?

Second, Ephesians 4:11-16 is a single sentence with a subject and a verb. Christ (the subject) gave (the verb) something to the church, and those gifts are to result in its growth. The emphasis of Jesus and Ephesians 4, and therefore the emphasis of verbally gifted leaders, is love and unity (John 13:34-35; Ephesians 4:2-3, 15-16). Doctrine certainly matters (Ephesians 4:4-6), but love-deficient doctrinal separatism was rebuked in the church at Ephesus (Revelation 2:1-7).

Church growth is not really a secret. Jesus said, “just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).

In Ephesians 4 we find three attributes or attitudes that are necessary to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace - humility, gentleness, and meekness.

It's important to understand unity does not hinge on uniformity or unanimity. Nor does disagreement demand disunity. Doctrine rightly divided does divide, but it should divide between believers and unbelievers, between false teachers and teachers of truth — not between Christians who land on different yet faithful interpretations of scripture (where different interpretations are understandable and permitted because they are not fundamental core doctrines). Sadly, some doctrines divide that shouldn’t divide. First Timothy 1:1-7, “As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, (different doctrine, not false doctrine but different. Non-essential, heterodox teachings — teaching logical extensions of truth as truth itself).

Let us renew our commitment to be walking with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.