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“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” — Helen Keller. 

I can’t stand being alone…at the same time, the more I work with people the more I desire to be alone, but…alone with my wife. No talking. No work. No distractions. Just us being “alone.” Oh, and my dogs too…they’re invited to be alone with us. But we aren’t meant to be alone. We’re meant to be together. We’re meant to work, serve, minister, grow together. We are meant to do life… together. 

The problem is we agree, and yet we don’t do this. And Churches are the worst! It’s as if Church is a competition. You have your church, I have my church, and our neighbor couldn’t care less about any church because of the way the church did them wrong. Ugh. Stop! Rodney King was right! “Can we all get along?” I had a gentleman tell me several months ago that he was gonna make me a baptist. He thought I did well in ministry, he loved how I prayed, I kept his attention, I was fun and thorough in what I did… but the problem was…I’m not a baptist. We care more for our church than we do Jesus. We’re more concerned with sticking to our “brand” than we are sticking to the Word of Christ. 

Here is where it might sting a little: “There is one body and one Spirit – just as you were called to one hope at your calling- one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all (Ephesians 4:4-6, CSB).” 

One. We are called to be One. We have One Lord. Jesus said, “I am The Way, The Truth, The Life. No one comes to the Father except… through…ME (Luke 

14:6).” The. Not a…not one of many…not a nice choice…THE. And we make it about us. We have our own style of worship we enjoy and the rest are wrong. We have our thoughts on whether we immerse, pour, sprinkle, say this prayer, without even holding to account what the Bible says, what Jesus did, what is Biblical and we pick and choose and take parts we like and make it work for us. 

NO! No, no, no, no, no. We are called to be One. We may be at different locations at different times with different styles…but we are supposed to be on the same team. Our job is to be the good and reach the lost… together. It ain’t a competition. Let’s be one. Let’s follow His Word. That’s all that’s needed. 

Rev. J. Cameron Bailey is pastor of Kenbridge Christian Church. He can be reached at jamescameronbailey@gmail.com.