Dear friends of BCUC,WARNING: Controversy and conflict within the church! Does that sentence make you want to run away and hide? How can a church that is meant to be all about loving God and each other have controversy and conflict? A simple answer is that God chose to make the church out of passionate, opinionated, thinking humans and not ants. It is why Jesus laboured so long in teaching his disciples how to forgive one another. The early church has had many, many, many controversies and indeed conflicts in its 2000 year history, and I am certain it will have more in the future. Yet unlike many other institutions, businesses, or even civilisations, it remains a strong force for Jesus today. I think that is testament to the very real power of the Holy Spirit. Both controversy and conflict are seen in this week’s chapter of Acts 15. We examined a few years ago the Peacemaker series (remember Barry the Bird) where we learnt to view conflict as an opportunity for discipleship and putting into practice the teachings of Jesus. Paul and Barnabas sadly split up after a very heated argument at the end of this chapter. Controversy has often been used as tool to help grow the churches understanding about the Christian faith. Acts 15 introduces a controversy about how much do new Christians need to follow the Old Testament Jewish law to be really saved? Other historical controversies have included: whether to accept back Christians who deserted their faith in times of persecution, are we saved by works or faith alone, what’s our position on divorce, do we keep a strict Sunday rest, women in ministry, the use of instruments in church, and more recently same gender marriage. It’s hard, it’s emotional, it can be hurtful, and we want to avoid it. Yet it can be incredibly important and often sharpens our focus on what it really means to live under the grace and truth of God. We need to walk into it with the love of Jesus and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Let us see what lessons we can learn from chapter 15 for the church today. I’m sure it will lead to some very interesting lunchtime conversations to share over our Hospitality Sunday.A note for those wanting the translation for the service. Over the three week trial period the use of this has been small. If you have an opinion or want to see it continue into the future, please let us know.Thanks and God bless,Benji