At Immanuel we recently studied the book of Philippians on Sunday mornings. At the end of chapter 1 and the beginning of chapter 2, Paul urges the church in Philippi to fight for unity. As I reflected on these verses, I tried to look at the issue of unity from the opposite perspective. If you wanted to, how would you destroy unity in your church? Here are 5 sure-fire ways to destroy the unity in your church.

1. Talk negatively about other people. You can talk about people’s past mistakes. You can talk about how people are ill-equipped to serve. You can talk about how certain people just rub you the wrong way. Just talk negatively about other people, and if at all possible do it behind their back.
2. Always assume the worst in people. I know 1 Corinthians 13 says, love believes all things … But if you want to destroy unity you’re going to have to assume the worst in people. Don’t consider their difficult circumstances or their unfortunate situations, just assume the worst in people.
3. Judge other people’s motives. I know you don’t know what’s in someone else’s heart, and I know you can’t read minds. But destroying unity requires you to pretend like you can do both of these things. You should regularly say things like this, “I’ll tell you why she did / said that.”
4. Keep to yourself and wait for other people to initiate a relationship. This begins with the notion that life revolves around you. Why should you go out of your way to initiate a relationship with someone else? Just sit back and wait for people to come to you. When they don’t, see 1-3 above.
5. Expect other people to serve you. Every church needs people to serve, but why should that be you? If you are asked to serve, try one of these excuses, “I’ll be praying about that opportunity,” “I’m not sure that’s my spiritual gift,” or, “I’ve put in my time, now it’s someone else’s turn.”

Originally published February 13, 2017 on landoncoleman.com.