Skip to Main Content
Women of the ELCA
  • Donate
  • Shop
  • Tools For Leaders
  • Publications
  • Daily Grace
  • Contact
  • Ministry & Action
    • Discipleship
    • Justice
      • Human Trafficking
      • Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women
      • Racial Justice Advocacy
      • Racial Justice Advocacy Network resources
      • Domestic Violence
    • Membership
    • Stewardship
      • Thankofferings
      • Faithful Friends
      • Katie’s Fund
      • Gift Planning
    • Special Initiatives
      • Rachel’s Day
      • Raising Up Healthy Women & Girls
    • Scholarships
      • Lutheran laywomen
      • Lutheran Ordained Ministry
  • Resources
  • About
    • History
    • Executive Board
    • Staff
    • Get Involved
  • Events
  • Belong
  • Donate
  • Shop
  • Tools For Leaders
  • Publications
  • Daily Grace
  • Contact
« Back to All Daily Grace

Strength of unity

9.7.2016
|
Daily Grace

We struggle with a dynamic that God’s people have lived with for centuries: the interplay between unity and diversity, both of which are gifts from God.

Within the body of Christ, diversity is unity’s strength, not its weakness. When diversity becomes a problem, it’s our human problem, not God’s. The world needs what we are when we are true to each other as sisters and brothers in the body of Christ—not when one partisan faction triumphs over another.

When we move beyond our comfortable, entrenched position, we experience each other in new ways. We grow in understanding and wisdom. We are not only truer to ourselves and our own convictions; we are truer to others and our love for them. We will become what we are called to be and gifted by the Holy Spirit to be—faithful members of the body of Christ.

This message is adapted from “Unity: God’s Gift in Christ” written by former ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson in the September 2010 issue of Lutheran Woman Today (now Gather) magazine.


Be comforted, challenged, inspired, consoled and confronted. Sign up for Daily Grace. If you enjoy this resource, Donate Now.

Share this post

Sign up for Daily Grace

Daily Grace is an on-the-go companion for your journey, offering a faith reflection every day. Encounter God’s extravagant, boundless and often surprising grace by signing up for a daily email message.

Back to home

8765 W. Higgins Rd.

Chicago IL 60631

800-638-3522

[email protected]

Stay In Touch

Sign up for the WELCA Newsletter

Explore WELCA
  • Ministry & Action
  • Daily Grace
  • Resource Library
  • Events
  • Blog
  • News
  • About WELCA
  • Tools For Leaders
  • Publications
  • Donate
  • Shop
  • Photos
Explore Publications

Bold Cafe

A Lutheran perspective for women of Christian faith or any woman who is interested in how faith relates to the issues facing women today.

Gather Magazine

A mix of articles, theological reflections, devotions and stories of comfort and challenge that help readers grow in faith.

Cafe Podcast

Subscribe to our podcast:

Click to subscribe

© Copyright 2025 Women of the ELCA. All Rights Reserved.
  • Privacy Policy
  • Sitemap
  • Contact
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • YouTube
© Copyright 2025 Women of the ELCA. All Rights Reserved.