7. POPE FRANCIS
Let our communication
be a balm which relieves pain
and a fine wine which
gladdens hearts.

8. FALSE NARRATIVE
If you don’t look like us, act like us,
worship like us or think like us, we aren’t
obligated to have fellowship with you…

9. TRUE NARRATIVE
If you do not look, act, worship or believe
as I do, but your heart beats for Jesus,
then regardless of our differences, we can
& must have fellowship with one another;
And if you don’t believe in Jesus, I will still
love you, serve you and treat you with
respect as a fellow human being

10. FELLOWSHIP
KOI-NO-NI-A
Community, joint participation,
sharing the highs & lows of life,
joint contribution to
a common cause

11. JESUS’ NARRATIVE – John 13
A new commandment I give to you, that you
love one another: 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.

12. JESUS’ NARRATIVE – John 17
I do not ask for these only, but also for those
who will believe in Me through their word,
that they may all be one, just as You, Father,
are in Me, and I in You, that they also may
be in Us, so that the world may believe
that You have sent Me.

13. JESUS’ NARRATIVE – John 17
The glory that You have given Me I have
given to them, that they may be one even
as We are one, I in them and You in Me,
that they may become perfectly one,
so that the world may know that
You sent me and loved them
even as You loved Me.

14. PAUL’S NARRATIVE – Gal. 3
There is neither Jew nor Greek,
there is neither slave nor free,
there is no male and female,
for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

15. PAUL, cont. – Rom. 16
I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out
for those who cause divisions and create
obstacles contrary to the doctrine that
you have been taught; avoid them.

16. PAUL, cont. – 1 Cor. 1
I appeal to you, brothers, by the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you
agree, and that there be no divisions
among you,
but that you be united in the same mind
and the same judgment.

17. DAVID’S NARRATIVE – Psalm
Behold, how good and pleasant it is
133
when brothers dwell in unity!...
For there the Lord has commanded the
blessing,
life forevermore.

18. AUGUSTINE & WESLEY
In essentials, unity;
In non-essentials, liberty;
In all things, charity.

19. JAMES BRYAN SMITH
I am not a liberal or a conservative.
I am an apprentice of Jesus. I am simply
trying to discern that which is essential
and that which is non-essential…
For me, the basic teaching found in the creeds
is essential. Everything else is nonessential.
Not unimportant, just not important
enough to divide over…

20. NICENE CREED
We believe in one God, the Father, the
Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that
is,
seen and unseen. We believe in one Lord,
Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally
begotten of the Father, God from God, Light
from Light, true God from true God, begotten,
not made, of one Being with the Father.

21. NICENE CREED
For us and for our salvation He came down
from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit
He became incarnate from the Virgin Mary,
and was made man. For our sake He was
crucified under Pontius Pilate; He suffered
death and was buried. On the third day He
rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;

22. NICENE CREED
He ascended into heaven and is seated at the
right hand of the Father. He will come again in
glory to judge the living and the dead, and His
kingdom will have no end. We believe in the
Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who
proceeds from the Father
and the Son. With the Father and the Son
He is worshiped and glorified.

23. NICENE CREED
We believe in one holy catholic (universal)
and apostolic Church. We acknowledge
one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come.
Amen.

25. SOUL TRAINING
Five ways to love those we disagree
with…
1. Treat them as companions
2. Don’t think/speak evil of them
3. Pray for them
4. Encourage them