How can the twin realities of love for the brethren and biblical separation work together on the mission field? We often have a tendency towards either undiscerning unity under the guise of love or unloving separation under the cloak of biblical fidelity. God desires that we genuinely love all His people. Unity is clearly taught. And yet, we are also clearly commanded to separate ourselves from some of the brethren. Knowing how to navigate this in daily life and ministry relationships is sometimes difficult.

Proposition: It is possible both to love all the brethren and obey Christ about separation.

The Necessity of Love for the Brethren

Every believer in Jesus Christ must acknowledge the necessity of love for all God’s people. There are many passages of Scripture we could list, but here is a compilation of phrases taken from only John’s Gospel and his first letter:¹

“that you love one another,” “have love for one another,” “that you love one another,” “love one another,” “we should love one another,” “we love the brethren,” “lay down our lives for the brethren,” “love one another,” “let us love one another,” “everyone who loves is born of God and knows God,” “we also ought to love one another,” “the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him,” “one who loves God should love his brother,” and “loves the [child] born of Him.”²

These passages of Scripture, as well as many others, emphasize just how crucial genuine love is for all Christians. For pastors and missionaries, it is important on yet another level, that of being examples for other believers to follow.

The Necessity of Separation

Although separation is largely neglected throughout the Church, we must acknowledge the need for biblical separation and recognize that church discipline is very important to local church life. Separation from false teaching and teachers is commanded by God in nearly every New Testament book. The Pastoral Epistles emphasize guarding the Gospel and God’s people from error as a necessity for spiritual leadership. Failing to separate from the unrepentant and false teachers is not an option.³   

Those who embrace the necessity of separation often struggle with how also to actively express love and unity with God’s people, particularly with those believers who differ on important issues. To obey Christ’s instructions about both love and separation, we must acknowledge the need for degrees of unity within the Body of Christ. God determines the levels of seriousness for our differences and the resulting degrees of unity that must be applied—this decision is not up to us.

A Common Failure: Negation of Unity

Many who understand the necessity of separation have radically failed by expressing no love or unity with believers outside their own immediate fellowship of like-minded churches. Their one-sided zeal for separation results in a negation of biblical unity.

Such missionaries are guilty of knowing and fellowshipping with only those people who take nearly identical positions on secondary doctrines, Christian culture issues, and preferences. When they arrive on the field and begin ministry, they have little or nothing to do with other Bible-believing Christians or missionaries around them. Differences about Bible translations, dress/music/entertainment choices, eschatology, associations, etc., lead them to entirely reject these brethren in practice, if not in word.

These missionaries might interact with Christ’s whole Church under only two potential circumstances: unavoidable or accidental meeting (at the embassy, a store, or in emergency situations) or when they begrudgingly use services one of those groups might provide (such as a publishing house or retreat center).

Freedom Experienced by Cross-Cultural Missionaries

Many conservative missionaries find that the scarcity of Christian fellowship and the need for mutual assistance in times of need lead to fellowshipping with and enjoying Christians from other groups with whom they would never interact back home. They are sometimes shocked to see solid faith and godliness in those who differ significantly.

We and other missionaries have been greatly blessed and helped by organizations with ministries in logistics (planes, helicopters, supplies), missionary care (MK Camps, retreat centers, rest centers), publishing (translation, books, tracts, printing), health (missionary and short-term doctors, clinics, disaster relief), leadership training (conferences, courses, materials), etc. It is not necessarily compromising to interact in these ways.

However, we can and must be strict where the Bible requires us to be strict. There will be times when we must limit our fellowship and cooperation even with good brothers in Christ because of Scripture’s teaching about separation. But limiting fellowship and cooperation does not require complete isolation. We ought to be willing to enjoy, at some level, all those who possess the Spirit of God, even if we must limit our partnership in ministry.

Modeling Discernment

Since national churches and leaders are aware of how missionaries interact with each other and differing groups, we should teach them how to engage and relate to other Christian groups in their context. We must also teach them discernment regarding false teachers and aberrant practices. We do this by example and by principle. And we must do this with their help and understanding of the cultural issues.

Possible ways to maintain both unity and separation

• Have personal fellowship with Christian missionaries or expats within our realm of influence. Encourage God’s people and allow them to encourage us. We don’t have to do ministry together. Lines can be clear. Some missionaries have little to no spiritual support or accountability and are really struggling. God can use us to strengthen each other.
• When there are important life events where persecution might be pronounced, such as funerals, weddings, etc., support local Christians by attending.
• Don’t hesitate to use services from Christian helps organizations that exist to assist Christian workers in the Great Commission. There are logistics ministries, such as Christian retreat centers, guest houses, planes, helicopters, and airfields. Some have Christian bookstores or publishing ministries. Taking advantage of these gifts provided by the wider Church or encouraging them is not compromising or taking a pathway down the slippery slope. We should be ready to be a blessing to God’s people.
• Be willing to help weak believers in other groups get rooted and grounded in the Gospel, even if your influence is limited.
• Collaborate on sorely needed translation or publishing projects.

“Walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit” (Ephesians 4:1-4a).