In this story, reporter WSJ Janet Adamy follows Calvary Church’s Colossian Way small group as they attempted to help their church not only avoid division but grow in love of God and each other during a season of deep political polarization.
The Colossian Forum
Our Mission
In the book of Galatians, the Apostle Paul describes a scene all-too familiar; people claiming to follow Jesus who are “biting and devouring” each other. He predicts that if this behavior continues, they will end up destroying one another. This 2,000-year-old warning could have been written to the Church in North America without a single alteration — as though it were written for this exact moment.
Likewise, Jesus’ prayer for the unity of the Church in John 17 is a prayer of Divine foresight. Today, it acts not only as a prayer, but as a reminder of God’s vision for the Church, and an admonishment that we are in danger of losing the plot of the Gospel and sacrificing our witness on the altar of selfish-ambition and vain conceit.
BUT Scripture offers a solution to the degrading path of worldly conflict into the life-giving vision of Christian unity that Jesus casts. God invites us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds through the power of the Holy Spirit, even in the midst of disagreement. Since 2011, The Colossian Forum has helped build resilient Christian communities in the face of increasing social conflict.
Our mission was and continues to be to provide spiritually-formative opportunities to engage culturally divisive topics through deeply Christian practices that increase our love of God and our neighbor.
Over the last decade, we have helped Christians embody a better way to engage difference through forums, topical small group curricula, and, most recently, a training program that equips leadership teams to productively engage interpersonal and organizational conflict.
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