Recently, there has been a lot of commentary regarding ongoing culture wars.
Apparently, there are many who believe that Christians in America are being targeted from all sides — from the White House, to the news media, to our educational institutions. It’s very likely that a cultural war has broken out, and many can find ample evidence — from boycotts against retail establishments such as Chic-Fil-A and Home Depot, to the recent dismissal of JavaScript inventor and Mozilla CEO Brenan Eich.
I don’t want to fuel the fire and really don’t have a well-formulated opinion on how widespread this cultural war might be. But, I do think we have to face up to the origins of the conflict and find that we Christians are partially at fault. In the words of the late cartoonist, Walt Kelly: “We have met the enemy, and he is us.”
All too often, we choose the road of selfishness, bitterness, arrogance and self-righteousness over the higher road of compassion, liberty, maturity and brotherly love. Within the church, we don’t have to worry as much about the cultural war; but, we need to advocate an end to the civil war that encourages denominationalism, sectarianism and divisions within the Body of Christ. We can become advocates for change when we embrace the essential faith.
Advocating, sharing and preaching the essential faith and beliefs of the church bring two things: first, revival, as it’s through 
the essentials that we find a relationship with God through Christ.
Second, it brings unity to the Body of Christ, as we’re all one in Christ. It’s through the essential teaching of the life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus that we find forgiveness and reconciliation.
Ken Behr is an executive pastor at Christ Fellowship, Palm Beach Gardens, FL.
