Our Oneness in Christ is a book about our individual roles in pursuing Christian unity.
Our Oneness in Christ is a book about our individual roles in pursuing Christian unity.
Have you ever wondered why so many of God's promises only seem to work occasionally? Or why sickness, both physical and mental, seems to be more prevalent among Christians than it is in the world? Or why all of the efforts at unifying Church organizations have not resulted in more visible unity among believers on the street? A recently released book, Our Oneness in Christ by Ian Johnson and Lauston Stephens (PublishAmerica, 2006), ISBN 1-4241-6035-9, provides at least one of the major answers to all of these questions: The Church has become too individualistic. God's promises are made to the Body of Christ, and only function properly in our individual lives when that Body is healthy—that is, when we are each individually living out our oneness. Conversely, when the whole Body is sick and weak from disunity, each of its members shares in its sickness and weakness. True Christian unity, manifested in our lives individually, is the key to the manifestation of many of God's promises.
This book starts by establishing that all believers in Christ are already, in fact, one with each other in Christ. This leaves us with the challenge, not of creating unity where it does not exist, but of living consistently with the oneness that already exists.
The first section then explains why living consistently with our oneness is important, including God's commands and expectations, the benefits of living in oneness and the hazards of living contrary to the truth. Part two explains what oneness is and is not, including the concepts that oneness is a harmony of diverse believers each doing their own part, not unison, unanimity or strict conformity to the same mold. Christian unity is not conformity in the externals of faith and practice. The third section deals with practical barriers to living in oneness—selfishness, misunderstandings, heresy, and incorrect understanding of the origin of the organizational divisions in the universal Church—and suggests how to overcome them. The focus of the book is how each of us individually may live out the oneness of the Body and contribute to its health and strength.
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Review by Dr. Bruce Cook at Reserve Books.com describes Our Oneness in Christ as a volume that "breaks new ground in the increasingly important struggle for unity among Christian believers" and that could be a part of "the most significant movement in the Christian church since the Reformation."
"This book should be read by all Christians who are looking for a true revival in this age," according to a review by Pastor Dwight Coffman posted on Spiritrestoration.org.
Review at GhostWriter Literary Reviews.
Review on a "Book Reviews" blog (bookreviews07)on Blogspot.
Review by Richard Blake at Amazon.com
Lauston Stephens' Amazon Blog.
My Book is NOT Out of Print: More about the Amazon monopoly imbroglio, an explanation why this book is no longer available from Amazon.com.
Christian-oneness.org, the website on which this book came into being.
Ian Johnson is seeking co-authors possessing recognized qualifications for several future projects dealing with aspects of Christian unity.
The bookstore also contains books by a number of other authors on Christian unity and related subjects.
This chapter shows from the Scriptures that, because all believers are presently individually one with Christ, we are also already one with each other. We are all one Body with a single Head, Christ. Christ died to make us one. Whether we individually believe that we are one, or act like we are one, does not change the fact that we are one. We need each other. What affects me, affects you. We cannot create our oneness, it already exists. But we have a choice, whether or not to live in conformity with our Christian unity.
If our oneness is an accomplished fact, what was Jesus asking when He prayed that God would keep us, that we might all be one? Our oneness with Christ is an accomplished fact, but bearing fruit in our relationship with Christ is a process. Our oneness with each other in Christ is an accomplished fact, but its revelation to and in the world is a process. Christian oneness is complete already; visible Christian unity is work in progress. This chapter explores God's uses of time and process.
This chapter discusses our roles individually in working out the oneness we already possess, making it visible and useful to those around us. It is the demonstration of our oneness through works of love and an attitude of humility that shows our salvation—our relationship to Christ our Head—to the world. God has called each of us to choose to live in this way.
God has made many promises to the Church. He has, for instance, promised restoration from many of the effects of sin, as well as peace, joy, healing, provision of physical needs, answered prayer, boldness in witnessing and works greater than those of the Apostles. Modern preaching often individualizes these promises, but they were made to the Church. In their proper context, they were made for the benefit of the Church, so that the world would see Christ in and through His Body, living in Christian unity. They are available to us individually only as we choose to live in unity with each other. This chapter discusses the specific ways in which the functioning of the Body, and our individual choice to fulfill our part in it, is necessary to God's fulfillment of each of these promises.
This chapter discusses the consequences of our failure to live consistently with our oneness using the scriptural analogy of a sick Body. Obviously, failure to live out our oneness will interfere with the fulfillment of God's promises. Beyond this, however, it will cause all of the members of the Body to suffer in one way or another. A sick human body remains one body, even if some of its parts no longer recognize each other. It remains one body, but loses some of its functions, and all of its members suffer. The New Testament uses two diseases—gangrene and leprosy—as analogies of the effects of disunity. This chapter discusses these analogies in detail, and also draws analogies to two other classes of diseases—autoimmune diseases and cancer. It then traces the relationship between the lack of Church unity, the apparent powerlessness of the modern Church, and the prevalence of guilt, fear, anxiety, mental illness, various physical illnesses, premature death, offenses, lawsuits and false teachers in the modern Church. All of these evils in the church can be traced largely to our refusal to live in conformity with our oneness.
This chapter discusses the scriptural basis for the question "Is the Church manifesting its oneness one of the conditions that must be met before the Lord returns?" That is, "Is God waiting to see our oneness?"
This chapter develops the distinction between the "essential church"—the manifestation of the Body of Christ that exists wherever two or three are gathered in Jesus' name—and the "ordered church" consisting of church organizations. It forcefully argues that the inherent oneness of the essential church can, does, and often must, exist even where there is no organized church, and even where the believers who are gathered are members of different parts of the ordered church. It then applies the concept of the essential church as an antidote to the divisions found in the ordered church.
This chapter ties our oneness as believers not to the Bible or to church organizations, but to the nature of God. Indeed, the true source of our relationships between each other as believers is the relationships within God Himself. Our oneness is God's picture of Himself to the world. We are the image of God's oneness. God's nature contains diversity of persons, in mutual submission to each other. It is also characterized by order. Diversity, mutual submission and order in God are not in tension with each other, but complement each other. It is to be the same among us.
This chapter develops, from a musical analogy, from Scripture, and from Church history the concept that oneness in the Church means harmony in diversity, not unison or strict uniformity. Church unity does not mean rigid adherence to a mold.
This chapter discusses the three major branches of Christianity, based upon their approach to organizational unity, Christian experience and the manner in which Christian truth is to be determined. It then argues that the tension between these three broad approaches to Christianity explains the very slow progress of the organizational approach to unity represented by the Ecumenical Movement. However, this chapter then suggests that these three approaches all have some truth and must coexist. Finally, this chapter insists that, at the individual level, our manifestation of our oneness with our Christian neighbors—even those who are members of other organizational fellowships—is far more important than the unity (or lack of it) between denominational organizations.
This chapter demonstrates from Scripture that the underlying cause of all of the visible division in the Church is our desire to have our own way, regardless of what God wants or of what would benefit others. This desire for our own way can manifest as a desire to dominate the church. But it can also manifest itself in covetousness, envying, strife, offenses, stumbling blocks, judgmental attitudes, comparison of ourselves to others, unforgiveness, bitterness and bondage.
This chapter discusses the concepts of authority and submission, and their relationship to the manifestation of oneness in the church. The opposite of seeking our own way is being under submission to God's authority. A part of our submission to God's authority is submission to human authority He has established. However, the human authority God establishes is not dictatorial. In God's Kingdom, the greatest among us are our servants. The key to the matter of authority and submission is that we are all to be in mutual submission to each other under God. Thus, unlike the way authority operates in the world, in a properly functioning Church we submit to those God has placed in authority and they also submit to us. This chapter also develops the concept that that the five "offices" listed in Ephesians 4:11-13 are not intended to define roles of authority in the Church, nor to limit the "real" work of the Church to the holders of these "offices." Instead, this passage was intended to name five broad classes of people Christ Himself gives to the Church to equip the rest of us to do the real work of the Church. Those functioning in these capacities have leadership, but it is leadership intended to be exercised in the context of mutual submission, not on the principle of a worldly "chain of command."
This chapter develops the concept that the essence of heresy is divisiveness, not doctrinal error. A heretic is essentially a divisive person. He or she uses false teaching to create a following, which will give the heretic money and/or influence. The essence is selfishness and divisiveness, not doctrinal error. Christian unity is spiritual unity and does not depend upon strict ideological conformity. The Church has injured itself by insisting on doctrinal uniformity and by persecuting anyone who expresses disagreement or reservations, however peaceably, as a heretic.
This chapter discusses the concept that the primary cause of the important, lasting divisions in the visible church has been divisive people and the interference of national and worldly political disputes in the Church. The mere existence of some doctrinal diversity, by itself, has not caused serious, long-term divisions. A number of historical examples of entanglement of the Church in wars and political disputes leading to permanent divisions are discussed, including the effect of racial politics and pervasive race discrimination on the Church in the United States. Doctrinal differences are not the real cause of denominationalism.
This chapter discusses the ways in which our expectations for the future, and particularly of the Millenium and of the manner in which the Kingdom of God will arise on Earth, affect our day to day activities and our views regarding Church unity. However, it also suggests that Christians on all sides of the millennial issue are able to work together harmoniously, though from different perspectives, recognizing that the blood of Christ is stronger than our differences in outlook.
This chapter demonstrates, from the High Priestly prayer of Jesus in John 17, and other sources, the very great importance Jesus places on our oneness, and delivers a stirring call to us each individually to live the oneness of the Body of Christ.
Alternate author bio for Johnson and academic qualifications.