A man asked his young son to break a bundle of sticks. He returned a little later to find the lad frustrated in the task. He had raised the bundle high and smashed it on his knee, but he only bruised his knee. He had set the bundle against a wall and stomped hard with his foot, but the bundle barely bent.

The father took the bundle from the child and untied it. Then he began to break the sticks easily—one at a time.

So it is with the church: united we are strong, divided we can fail or be broken.