Sometimes want to cry when hear non-Christians say that they have rejected the church because of its divisions. They may mean denominational divisions on occasion, and that is bad enough. But more frequently they mean the internal strife that characterizes all too many congregations. For it is, after all, on the local level that most people encounter the church, and when they see discord and argumentation marking a congregation, they want nothing to do with that.

I want to cry because the very body of believers who should be attracting the unbelievers by their life together in mutual support is betraying its Lord, creating public offense of such a nature that it is actually destructive of the cause it proposes to promote.

At other times, I must admit, I want to laugh when I hear this "excuse…