One of the principles I’ve learned from them is things work better when relationships lead the way. There are people at that table that I wouldn’t agree with about a lot of things, theologically or organizationally, but because we started with prayer and relationship it’s different, because there is something powerful that happens when you see someone’s heart and his (or her) passion and his love for Jesus.

The interesting thing is that a lot of times at cross-denominational gatherings like that, there’s a shallowness and a sense of compromising issues we’re passionate about in order not to offend. What I’ve seen, though, is that if you start with a relationship, there’s actually room to have those discussions and disagree heartily and healthily – there’s room for “iron sharpens iron,” for stretching each other. The effect that I’ve sensed is that there is actually a sense of going higher and farther together instead of watering down.

Paul also refers to Jesus’s whole body (i.e. the Church) being held together by “every joint and supporting ligament,” which I’m coming to think means the relationships that connect us. I think that’s how it was made to function. If you don’t have ligaments, you either have disconnection or a LOT of pain (I’m told bone-on-bone in joints is excruciating). The spirit of religion, then, is the “arthritis” of the church – going after the joints to keep the whole body from functioning.

This is also one of the key values we are taking with us to N.Ireland. We want to everything we do to stem from loving others well – as Paul says: “deeply, from the heart.” It’s the only way for us to be “known by our love.”