Tear Down This Wall

By John Teal

“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” – Ronald Reagan 

My wife and I visited Italy for the first time this year with three other couples from our church. While in Tuscany, we toured ancient walled cities such as San Gimignano and Montepulciano. Pictures cannot capture the magnificent views from these mountaintop fortresses. Today, the gates open to thousands of visitors each day from nations around the world, strolling down the narrow cobblestone streets lined by shops, galleries, bakeries, and restaurants with some of the best pizza and pasta you will ever taste. Oh, and I almost forgot the gelato. Mamma Mia, what an experience! 

What began as Etruscan villages (400-500BC) became walled fortresses 1,500 years later in response to outside threats from rival city-states. These walls protected the villagers from outside physical threats.  

Today, we have more walls than ever. As followers of Jesus, we must embrace the urgent call for Christian unity, recognizing its power to influence this generation. There are walls everywhere: cultural, political, and religious. They run right through our relationships at home, at school, at work, and at church. Our example is crucial! 

Opening Our Gates 

Are we not living behind closed gates, defending against the rival city-states of our time? Can we recognize that these walls are isolating us and preventing us from sharing what we have to offer? Only by opening our gates and truly welcoming one another can we fully witness and appreciate the magnificent diversity of God’s church. 

As a young Christian, I had been influenced to think of others outside of my fellowship of churches as rivals, either in error or possibly lost. When I enrolled at Great Lakes Christian College, I was a five-year-old Christian with an attitude of superiority. I am sure I had an aura that resembled Pig Pen from the Charlie Brown comic strip. How I wish I could go back in time and talk to that young man. Unfortunately, I am also reasonably sure my younger self would not have listened well.  

My experience at Great Lakes was a pivotal time in my journey. Lloyd Knowles, our church history professor, introduced us to authors like Leroy Garrett, who wrote The Stone Campbell Movement, and James DeForest Murch, who authored Christians Only. These books and his teaching created cracks in the wall and small openings in the gates, offering me a glimpse outside my cloistered world.  

I wish I could say my sectarian attitudes fell like scales as they did from Saul’s eyes. They did not. But sometimes all that is needed is a nudge in the right direction. And, as a side note, we should never underestimate the impact of our Christian colleges and universities on hearts and minds.  

Pivotal Moments 

Each of us remembers pivotal moments in history and turning points in our personal and spiritual journeys. I vividly remember June 12, 1987, when Ronald Reagan delivered his famous speech at the Brandenburg Gate, calling on Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall”—referring to the Berlin Wall separating the people of East Berlin from West Berlin.  

The sudden construction of the wall in 1961 divided neighborhoods, cutting off people from their families, jobs, and social lives overnight. Many families were unable to see each other for years, and some were permanently divided. Sigrid Paul gave birth to her first child in 1961 at a Berlin hospital. Experiencing a difficult labor, her son Torsten was taken to intensive care. That night, the city was divided, and she was separated from her son for five years before being reunited. This story, among others, illustrates the tragic nature of ideologies that separate rather than unite.  

The gates were opened on November 9, 1989. Consequently, ordinary people began deconstructing sections of the wall, marking the beginning of the end of the Cold War. These iconic moments eventually led to the reunification of Germany. Often, pivotal shifts begin with a nudge and a first step. 

A pivotal moment in my personal and spiritual life began with a cup of coffee and conversation. I became increasingly burdened over the exclusive narratives within my fellowship and divisions within the streams of our Restoration Movement heritage. I began meeting with pastors and leaders from different streams of our movement. These were refreshing moments of new insight, open conversation, and transformative spiritual change for me.  

The Birth of a Ministry 

On one occasion, I met Scott, an elder of the Church of Christ in my hometown. We shared our sadness over the division within a movement that began with a plea for unity. I shared a slogan that had been brewing in my mind—“Unity starts with a cup of coffee.” The premise was that bonds of unity are more likely to form and be maintained at tables where people can build ongoing local relationships, share a meal or coffee, see Jesus in one another, and where one another’s love for the gospel can be seen.  Where biblical convictions need not be sacrificed to recognize the Spirit living and working in one another’s lives.   

Scott said, “Let’s do it!” And that was the nudge and first step toward Common Grounds Unity, a nonprofit focused on creating spaces for Christians to gather so we can recognize Jesus in one another. We are a unity ministry flowing out of the Restoration Movement, seeking to reimagine the original unity plea of our founders. We now have thousands of Christians, mostly from our Restoration heritage, connected through gatherings, the newsletter, the podcast, the website, and our YouTube channel. As remarkable as these are, the most rewarding and encouraging aspect of our journey has been the incredible relationships formed across the dividing lines of our movement and beyond. I have heard our gatherings referred to as a family reunion on multiple occasions. 

Building Friendships and Relationships 

Personally, I have been blessed with incredible friendships and relationships across the various streams of the Stone-Campbell Movement and beyond. My life has been enriched by numerous Christians who are members of tribes I previously viewed with negative assumptions and judgments. I have been pleasantly surprised to find many who hunger and thirst for the unity for which Jesus prayed (John 17:21-23). My assumptions about groups I previously viewed as legalistic, exclusive, and in error have been shattered. My heart has been freed to be inspired, challenged, shaped, and transformed by disciples of Jesus whom I would have never known had I not opened wide the gates and torn down the walls.  

I love our heritage, the Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement. This is where I learned about God and the Bible, and where I was baptized into Christ. It was here I heard and came to respect slogans such as, “In essentials, unity; in opinions, liberty; in all things, love,” “Christians only, but not the only Christians,” and “Where the Bible speaks, we speak; where the Bible is silent, we are silent.”  

Granted, we have wrestled with drawing lines on the essentials, our movement has struggled with sectarian tendencies, and we have differed about whether silence is restrictive or permissive. And unfortunately, we have had far too many charismatic figures building walls instead of setting tables. But this is still my family, and I have a longing to build lasting bonds with all of it—even with the cranky ones who make a fuss.  

There have been moments in my life when I failed to recognize that God creates unity, not me. I have drawn lines of fellowship where God does not. Jesus prayed for us to be one (John 17:21-23). Ephesians 4:3 reminds us to “maintain the unity of the Spirit.” And Romans 14:4 warns us about judging those who belong to God! My children often disagree, but as a father, it would break my heart if their differences led to estrangement. Undoubtedly, God our Father is longing for us to “accept one another . . . just as Christ accepted” us (Romans 15:7). 

Our movement has many heroes, past and present, who have been inspirational advocates for unity: T.B. Larimore, Leroy Garrett, Don Dewelt, Victor Knowles, Rubel Shelly, Douglas Foster, Jeff Walling, and many more. May we heed their voices and the Spirit’s voice calling us to “tear down this wall.” 

In conclusion, I encourage you to do three things: 

Take a step.  

Listen to the Spirit nudging you and make a move. Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAG) are not necessary. Start with one small step. Get a cup of coffee with someone outside of your fellowship of churches. I promise you God will show up!   

Enjoy the ride. 

Fasten your seatbelt and enjoy where the Spirit leads. I often reflect on what God has done with Common Grounds Unity, and the truth is that we stumbled onto what God was already doing. Put your sail into the wind and enjoy the ride!  

Be curious.  

When I was younger, many conversations became a battleground over who was right and who was wrong. Now, curiosity helps me to value relationships more than winning battles. If our relationship with God depended on getting everything right, we would be in trouble.  

Let God’s mercy and your curiosity inspire you to look for the Christ in others, knowing that they are image bearers of the God who created us all. May we take a step toward unity, enjoy the ride, be curious, and tear down this wall. 

John Teal is President of Common Grounds Unity in Malibu, California.