God, in His infinite wisdom, created us for community. From all eternity, the triune God has existed in a most happy and perfect community with Himself: Father, Son, and Spirit. And because we are made in His image, we too are designed to live in fellowship with one another. The church, therefore, is not a random gathering of individuals, but a chosen, blood–bought covenant community meant to reflect the most blessed triunity of God Himself.

 

Yet in our fallen condition, we are prone to distort — even good things such as fellowship. Though we were made for fellowship, the church often retreats into smaller, exclusive circles. What begins as natural friendships or shared interests can quickly degenerate into cliques: self-serving groups defined by worldly affinities rather than gospel unity.

 

Cliques are no small matter. They fracture the body of Christ, obscure the beauty of the gospel, deny its reconciling power, and undermine the mission of the church.

 

To see this clearly, we must recognize five truths.

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1.) Cliques Distort the Image of God

Since God Himself is a community (Father, Son, and Spirit), His people are called to reflect that truth in community with one another. In Christ, the walls of separation are torn down (Eph. 2:14) and the church becomes a place where Jew and Gentile, slave and free, male and female are united in one body (Gal. 3:28). Cliques, however, seek to re–erect the very walls that Christ destroyed with His victorious death and resurrection. They subtly proclaim that fellowship is based, not on the church's common faith and union with Christ, but on background, personality, preference, or some cultural or social standard.

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2.) Cliques Undermine the Nature of the Church

The church is not a social club, but the very temple of God — divinely set apart from the world to holiness, to reflect the very character of God (1 Cor. 3:16; 6:19). Every believer is a member of the body of Christ, each one essential and given a spiritual gift by the Spirit for the edification and upbuilding of the church (1 Cor. 12:4–26). But when cliques form, some members are exalted while others are neglected. What happened at the church in Corinth happens still today: believers are made to feel (or even told outright!) that they are less valuable. But the apostle Paul rebukes this thinking with striking clarity, even humbling such sinful circles:

 

But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. (1 Cor. 12:24-26)

 

Instead of being a family marked by mutual care and union in Christ "of equal standing" with the apostles (2 Pet. 1:1), the church becomes fractured — its witness weakened, its design marred. Brothers and sisters are passively cast out of the camp as unclean lepers, and with them go the very gifts the Spirit gave them, in particular, for the building up of the body. What God intended for edification is thus amputated from the life of the church, leaving it limping and impoverished — declaring as useless what heaven has called indispensable.​​

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3. Cliques Breed Worldliness, Not Holiness

Cliques thrive on worldly categories — popularity, influence, wealth, education, class, race, or shared interests. While it is certainly not a sin to befriend a fellow believer with a similar background or akin interests, the Scripture is plain: favoritism has no place among the redeemed (Jam. 2:1–9). And where favoritism is tolerated, heavenly wisdom is absent. Instead of the fruit of the Spirit — purity, gentleness, mercy, and peace (Jam. 3:17) — there grow the weeds of jealousy, pride, and selfish ambition.

 

And tragically, those who suffer most in such environments are often the most vulnerable: widows, orphans, singles, the elderly (especially in younger congregations), those deemed "awkward" or "oddballs," and those struggling with addiction. Instead of being drawn into the warmth of Christ’s family, they are left standing at the edges, watching the church's social elites walk by in reverence — unseen, unattended, and unfed.

 

This, however, is the opposite of the Father’s heart, who delights to love those whom the world despises:

 

• "He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner" (Deut. 10:18)

• "Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation" (Ps. 68:5)

• "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds" (Ps. 147:3)

• "To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths… I will give a name better than sons and daughters" (Isa. 56:3–5)

• "God chose what is low and despised in the world… so that no human being might boast in the presence of God" (1 Cor. 1:26–29).

 

Such communities may speak gospel words in doctrine, but ultimately deny its power by their life and practice (2 Tim. 3:5). They are profession with no demonstration — or, in the words of the apostle John: word without deed (1 John 3:18).

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4.) Cliques Hinder the Church’s Mission

Jesus declared, "By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:35). Love is meant to be the church’s number one apologetic — the living proof that the gospel is real and true. When the world looks at the body of Christ, they are meant to see a community unlike any other: a people once divided by sin, culture, status, and background, now bound together in covenant unity purchased by Christ's blood.

 

But cliques smother that witness. They muffle the sound of love with the noise of exclusivity. To unbelievers looking in, a clique-ridden church looks no different from the social clubs, high school cafeterias, or corporate ladders of the world. Instead of beholding a fellowship that can only be explained by the cross, they see the same tired divisions they already know too well. And the evangelistic power of the church is drained.

 

Even worse, cliques communicate a false gospel. To outsiders, and especially those struggling believers within, the message is loud and clear: "You are not one of us. You are not welcome here." In effect, the clique-filled church contradicts the very Christ who said, "Whoever comes to me I will never cast out" (John 6:37). What should be a foretaste of heaven's wide embrace becomes a mirror of earth's narrow exclusivity.

 

When the church preaches grace from the pulpit but practices elitism in the pews, its mission is crippled. The light of gospel unity is dimmed, and the world is left unconvinced that Jesus truly changes anything at all.

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5.) Cliques Need Biblical Remedies

Cliques cannot be excused.

They cannot be swept under the rug.

They must be confronted.

 

The church must return to the gospel's vision of covenant unity. That begins with repentance — turning from the pride, fear, and selfishness that drive us to form comfortable circles while leaving others outside. Repentance must then bear fruit in intentional love: welcoming those who do not "fit in," seeking fellowship across differences, and practicing hospitality that shows no favoritism (Rom. 12:13; 1 Pet. 4:9).

 

Yet this unity does not mean diminishing sin or tolerating sinful lifestyles for the sake of "unity." True fellowship is not built on ignoring God's law and His command to "be holy, for I am holy" (1 Pet. 1:16), but on sharing in His grace — that sovereign grace that not only saves but also joyfully transforms. To welcome one another in Christ is to invite each other into the transforming love of God — a love that supernaturally convicts, cleanses, and restores. The gospel calls us "to bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ" (Gal. 6:2) — not to excuse one another’s sins.

 

Above all, we must lift our eyes to Christ, the One who did not exclude us when we were strangers, but welcomed us at the cost of His own blood. "While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom. 5:8). Once outsiders that were not a people, we have now been made God's people (Hos. 2:23; Rom. 9:25; 1 Pet. 2:10).

 

To form cliques is to forget the gospel. But to embrace one another in Christ–like, sacrificial love, while walking in holiness, is to display its transforming power.

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Final Thoughts

Cliques are more than a social nuisance — they are a spiritual cancer. Left unchecked, they will continue to spread and destroy Christ's body and obscure the gospel's reconciling power. But by God's grace, the church can resist this temptation. We must repent of divisive tendencies, pursue genuine fellowship, live as the united people Christ has redeemed, and show an unbelieving world how a people chosen "from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages" (Rev. 7:9) can not only together proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, but also supernaturally live out its power with one another in rich love and unity.

 

So, here’s a challenge:

 

This Lord’s Day, sit with someone new — or someone who's been quietly attending your church but remains a stranger to you and your family. Resist the urge to retreat to your familiar circle. Step out of your comfort zone and into Christian community.

 

Take time to learn their story.

Seek to know them — not merely in passing, but in truth and affection.

Invite them, and their family, into your home and to your table.

Listen more than you speak.

Ask how you might better serve them — in both prayer and presence — and be sure to follow through.

 

Let them know they are precious to you because they are precious to the Father. Treat them in such a way that they feel they are worth your time, because Christ, their Great High Priest, at all times lives to intercede for them. Encourage them to press on in faith and holiness, for such encouragement is the sweet work of the Spirit among His people. In all you do, reflect to them the very character of the thrice-holy, triune God.

 

Be more than a friendly face — be a brother, a sister, a fellow pilgrim on the narrow road to the Celestial City. For this is the beauty of the church: many members, one body; many sinners, one Savior.

 

May the Spirit of God so work in the church that we shine with the unity of heaven, bearing witness to an unbelieving world that Christ is Lord, and His people, particular and precious.