In Hebrews 10, Christians are exhorted to not neglect meeting together each week,

that we might stir up one another to love and good works and encourage one another as we await for the return of our Savior.

And yet, if we're honest, Sunday mornings don't always feel very encouraging.

Sometimes church can feel awkward, frustrating, and even discouraging.

Sometimes it can be hard to focus on our unity in Christ

when it seems like there's growing disunity among God's people.

My guest today is Jamie Dunlop,

and he explains how unity, not necessarily uniformity, in

the face of diversity, glorifies God, and strengthens the church's witness.

Reflecting on four waves of controversy that have racked his church over the last few years,

including the COVID-19 pandemic in the last presidential election, Jamie offers wise counsel

for keeping the main thing the main thing as we navigate our fractured political landscape

and consider our calling as brothers and sisters in Christ.

Jamie Dunlap serves as an associate pastor at Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. His new book is called Love the

Ones Who Drive You Crazy, Eight Truths for pursuing unity in your church from Crossway. Let's get

started. Well, Jamie, thank you so much for joining me on the Crossby podcast.

It's a delight to be here. Thank you.

So I think we all have a sense that tensions and divisions and divisiveness within the evangelical church today are higher than ever.

You know, we look around and we see that all around us, whether it's related to politics or race or sexuality and how to deal with that, COVID, or any other hosts of controversial topics.

It seems like we've never been more polarized and divided as a church than we are today.

And in your book, you note one prominent sociologist who writes, quote, I've been studying religion

and religious congregations for 30 years. This is a level of conflict that I've never seen before.

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