"So then, my brothers and sisters, how dear you are to me and how I miss you! How happy you make me, and how proud I am of you! This then, dear brothers and sisters, is how you should stand firm in your life in the Lord.

Euodia and Syntyche, please, I beg you, try to agree as sisters in the Lord.

And you too, my faithful partner, I want you to help these women; for they have worked hard with me to spread the gospel, together with Clement and all my other fellow-workers, whose names are in God's book of the living.

May you always be joyful in your union with the Lord. I say it again: rejoice!"

(Philippians 4.1-4 GNB)

Sometimes, even people who sincerely and devoutly love the Lord disagree with each other. Strong enough to the point they cannot stand to worship together. And thus churches split.

Churches can split for various reasons. A good reason would be growth, which means it is a positive and intentional and joyful split. Split is not the best phrase for this circumstance, but I would like to highlight the similarities and differences. So bear with me.

The effect when a group of people 'split' would be that they used go to the same place together and now they go to different places to worship. Be it a split due to growth or a split due to disagreement.

The end result might be that both grow to full size, i.e. doubling the total size compared to before the split, God willing. This is the best case scenario.

I think it would be better that as brothers and sisters, we manage disagreements in love and maintain our joyful union with the Lord in a way that all split would only be for intentional growth.

See Jesus prayed for us