What’s the biggest problem you see in your church—and the church—today? Do you lament what feels like growing division over politics and culture? Or do you look for more bold leaders who will confront the people and ideas wreaking havoc on our world?

Biblically speaking I don’t think there’s a wrong answer to that question. Jesus prayed for unity (John 17:23) and three times condemned the corrupt rulers of Israel as a “brood of vipers” (Matt. 3:7, 12:34, 23:33). He didn’t call for unity at the expense of truth. He didn’t demonstrate courage with a lack of love.

Why does it seem like we have to pick one or the other? Why do our churches seem to be lining up on opposite sides of the aisle and forming Team Unity vs. Team Boldness?

This week I hosted Christopher Watkin in Birmingham, Alabama, for preaching at Beeson Divinity School and several talks for my congregation, Redeemer Community Church. Author of Biblical Critical Theory and fellow at The Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics, Chris can match wits in any academic debate. But his godly, gentle character exceeds even his depth of insight. He was even so kind as to accompany me to the Alabama vs. LSU football game. I didn’t check the records, but he might be the first Cambridge PhD who teaches Francophone philosophy in Australia to step foot in Tuscaloosa’s Bryant-Denny Stadium. Maybe we’ll see some of his thoughts on the experience in the next edition of Biblical Critical Theory.

In various lectures Chris returned to the experience of our unusually (though not uniquely) divided times. The cultural narratives told by politicians and journalists line us up behind oppositional identities, as if we’re clad in purple or crimson cheering on our state’s football team. What if instead we framed our narrative as neighbors and sought to love our enemies (Matt. 5:43-44)? What if we understood our narrative in the church along the lines of 1 Corinthians 12:12 as the body of Christ with many members, gifted in complementary ways?

Several times in our talks Chris clarified that he doesn’t believe in unity at the expense of truth, or advocate a “third way” that eschews the binary reality of democratic politics, especially in the United States. But he did insist that we tell a better story, a biblical story, that critiques from the outside the false dichotomies on offer. Christians make for the best cultural critics, because we have a transcendent frame of reference in God’s Word. When we stray, the Bible calls us back to an authoritative standard. Otherwise we’ll be subsumed in an oppositional identity, and we can’t help but follow the crowds wearing the same color as our favorite team’s jerseys.

Bold leaders call us to biblical obedience, where we find spiritual unity.

P. S. — Chris Watkin is one of the most gifted teachers I know when it comes to exposing cultural narratives, the stories we tell each other—and ourselves—that make sense of the world and our place in it. This week The Keller Center unveiled a trailer for our new group study on cultural narratives, called Making Sense of Us. With teachers such as Rebecca McLaughlin, Trevin Wax, and Glen Scrivener we see how these stories of happiness and progress and identity fall short and how the one true story of the gospel fulfills our deepest longings. You can download a free sample and pre-order the curriculum, which publishes in February.