{"id":13293,"date":"2017-06-08T22:05:09","date_gmt":"2017-06-09T05:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=13293"},"modified":"2017-06-08T22:05:09","modified_gmt":"2017-06-09T05:05:09","slug":"united-we-stand-divided-we-fall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/united-we-stand-divided-we-fall\/","title":{"rendered":"United We Stand, Divided We Fall"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Unity\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Unity makes or breaks a country…<\/p>\n

In summary of the recent read, “The Rise and Fall of Apartheid”, it appears that unity was the secret ingredient for the rise and fall of the South Africa apartheid. The lack of unity of Africans set a stage for an apartheid to take hold, in the same way, African unity was instrumental in capsizing the apartheid in the early 90’s. Ironically, poverty bypassed the segregated apartheid system, as people of all races lived and worked together within the slums. They did not have the luxury to marginalize or disqualify people according to race and color, for they depended on one another. Outside the slums, there was a fear of race mixing, as the voices of Africans and people of color were diluted and stifled by the white minority in every area of society, preventing them from developing identity and power within their own country.<\/p>\n

It was intriguing to note how much social engineering and political maneuvering went into establishing an apartheid. The emphasis of the South African apartheid was for the whites to organize and remain in power by reinforcing segregation through laws and fostering a culture that kept African citizens at a disadvantage. This also created identity confusion for the Africans, which in turn created challenges for them to unite and organize as a country. The required work and resources needed to establish such a system consumed valuable resources. To separate people based on color, race, and class and to deem one race as superior, and entitled to rule appears to be an antiquated and burdensome way to live. And yet, we see these values repeated in many generations and countries throughout history.<\/p>\n

Bringing it home…<\/p>\n

The USA introduced a segregation mindset with apartheid values still influencing our country today. With Native Americans being the original residents, they are now considered wards of the state and relegated to Indian reservations. Slavery introduced segregation based on ethnicity, with the residue of its effects still haunting our nation today, as evidenced by discriminatory actions. Genders were segregated, as males were given positions of power, land ownership, and political control, while women could not vote, own land, or have equal access to work. Promotions were consistently made according to gender versus ability, and churches have often segregated according to beliefs, class, and ethnicity; all are consistent reminders that segregation is tragically woven into the fabric of our country.<\/p>\n

What could happen if we were all committed to unity versus segregation according to gender, ethnicity, and class? What would our country or our world be like? Our resources could go into improving the education system, promoting efficient healthcare, developing social systems for immigrants, improving the political system, and caring for our elderly, versus using our resources to provide huge insurance policies to protect us from discriminatory action, building “walls” (figuratively and literally) to keep certain races out, and categorizing humans according to their sexuality, gender and status instead of their ability and worth.<\/p>\n

In the church, there are natural divides on Pentecostal vs. traditional, denominational vs. non-denominational, member vs. non-member, male vs. female, straight vs. gay, pastors vs. lay pastors, divorced vs. married, and so the segregation goes on. It appears to be wasting valuable emotional and physical resources on finding ways to segregate versus methods to connect. Whether or not we agree with the differences, finding unity where we can, and building bridges with one another built on common ground, could be better for our country, our world, and our churches. This keeps us from staying segregated and experiencing identity confusion and moves us into growing with connectedness and unity, while firmly establishing our identity. Yet, keeping our individuality, our values, and our differences also makes for a rich culture and community. Being the same in beliefs and values does not create a valuable balance and beauty to complement and contrast one another.<\/p>\n

To avoid segregation thinking and apartheid values, our challenge appears to be: to create unity despite our differences\u00a0and create a revolution fueled by peace and love. Africa had Nelson Mandela. India had Gandhi and Mother Theresa. America had Martin Luther King Jr. And the church had Martin Luther, who birthed the Protestant movement, with his revolutionary act of posting the 95 Thesis. Our world has the Church. As Jesus’ disciples, we are called to be revolutionaries and peaceful warriors, as we navigate the challenges of loving humans we differ with, building community, and encouraging unity within the church as fostered by the Holy Spirit. How can we be revolutionaries to create fair and unified systems that honor God, respect each other, and demonstrate value for enhancing our cultures? Our world is craving for a loving, unified, peaceful community, and in so many ways, this is what the church inspires and can grow more to be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unity makes or breaks a country… In summary of the recent read, “The Rise and Fall of Apartheid”, it appears that unity was the secret ingredient for the rise and fall of the South Africa apartheid. The lack of unity of Africans set a stage for an apartheid to take hold, in the same way, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":86,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[974],"class_list":["post-13293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-welsh","cohort-lgp7"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/86"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13293"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13293\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13294,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13293\/revisions\/13294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}