The presence of the Spirit...
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The presence of the Spirit in the early church was expressed in two ways: externally in the mission to Israel and internally in the unity of the fellowship itself. Both the outward mission of the church and its inner unity are essential parts of its life. And perhaps they are always in tension to some degree, one getting more attention than the other at different points in a church's life. The inner unity of the church can be threatened in a number of ways. Sometimes ties within a church are strained or broken by carelessness or lack of consideration. The couple who made a big batch of turkey soup for the Christmas caroling party that was cancelled, and they were never informed. The enthusiastic efforts by a few to clean out the closets that have been accumulating "so much junk" over the years, and, in the process, throw out the creche that someone else was so attached to. And then there are the people in the church that seek to actually be destructive, and attack the pastor, or the council, or any other person or group in the church that may be a worthy target. The church may choose to confront such a person, as per Matthew's guidelines or, if that does not work, the appropriate response may be to ignore them, to not give power to them by responding. -- Johnson-Hoy
