I am a firm advocate for being unified where there should, by God’s providence, be unity.  Continuing outward separation, especially among Christians agreeing on the primary truths of scripture and vastly agreeing on secondary matters, troubles me greatly.  Along this line, Herman Bavinck has written the following,

The church’s witness would doubtlessly be stronger and its impact more powerful if all Jesus’ disciples were one, as the Father is in Him and He in the Father.  Then the world would almost be forced to confess in spite of itself that Christ was sent by the Father.  But even now, despite all its inner divisions, the church is a pillar and bulwark of the truth amidst the world.  What divides it, no matter how serious, is always less than what binds it together and unifies it.  The more self-conscious and bolder that unbelief becomes, the more the Christian church closes ranks against the common foe…

May the cause of God’s glory in this world push us beyond our own comfort and complacency with division to unite in heart and life for the benefit of multitudes of people and the spread of the gospel!