What does unity look like? How can true followers of Jesus Christ work against forces of division and achieve unity?
In an October 2024 Liahona article, President Russell M. Nelson described a pattern for unity found in 4 Nephi in the Book of Mormon. This chapter records how the people lived after the Savior visited them, taught them and established His Church among them.
“God has invited all to come unto Him. There is room for everyone,” President Nelson wrote in his article titled “A Pattern for Unity in Jesus Christ.” “We may differ in our cultures, politics, ethnicities, tastes and many other ways. But as we unite in Jesus Christ, such differences fade in their significance and are superseded by our overriding desire to be one — so that we may be His.”
Below are seven principles of unity President Nelson outlined from 4 Nephi:
1. Conversion
The chapter begins: “The disciples of Jesus had formed a church of Christ in all the lands round about. And [people] did come unto them, and did truly repent of their sins” (4 Nephi 1:1).
“We unite around the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,” President Nelson said. As individuals learn about Jesus, His gospel and His Church, the Holy Ghost witnesses of the truth to their heart. They can then accept the Savior’s invitation to have faith in Him and repent, and He becomes a unifying force in their life.
2. Covenants
4 Nephi 1:1 also says those who came to the Church and repented of their sins were baptized and received the Holy Ghost. They entered into a covenant with God.
President Nelson explained: “When we make and keep covenants, we take the Lord’s name upon us as individuals. In addition, we take His name upon us as a people. … Thus, we travel the covenant path both individually and collectively. Our covenant relationship with God gives us a common cause and a common identity.”
3. Fairness, equality and helping the poor
The record continues: “There were no contentions and disputations among them, and every man did deal justly one with another. And they had all things common among them; therefore there were not rich and poor, bond and free, but they were all made free, and partakers of the heavenly gift” (4 Nephi 1:2-3).
Being unified means not only treating one another as equals, President Nelson said, “but we must also truly view one another as equals and feel in our hearts that we are equal — equal before God, of equal worth and equal potential.”
4. Obedience
The people in 4 Nephi “did walk after the commandments which they had received from their Lord and their God” (4 Nephi 1:12).
Obedience to the teachings of the Lord and His servants is essential to becoming unified, President Nelson wrote. “This includes our commitment to obey the commandment to repent whenever we fall short and to help one another as we strive to do better and be better every day.”
5. Meeting together
The scriptural account also states that the people “[continued] in fasting and prayer, and in meeting together oft both to pray and to hear the word of the Lord” (4 Nephi 1:12).
President Nelson said weekly worship meetings are an important opportunity to find strength individually and collectively.
6. Love
Real unity is not attainable without love, President Nelson wrote. “There was no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people” (4 Nephi 1:15).
President Nelson added: “Charity, the pure love of Christ, is the antidote to contention. It is the principal characteristic of a true follower of Jesus Christ. … As we all seek to have the love of God dwelling in our hearts, the miracle of unity will seem completely natural to us.”
7. Divine identity
President Nelson noted that the labels that had divided the people for hundreds of years receded as they viewed themselves — and everyone else — according to their relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.
“There were no robbers, nor murderers, neither were there Lamanites, nor any manner of -ites; but they were in one, the children of Christ, and heirs to the kingdom of God” (4 Nephi 1:17).
The most important identifiers are those related to divine origin and purpose — a child of God, a child of the covenant and a disciple of Jesus Christ, President Nelson said.
“As each of us strives to incorporate these essential elements of unity into our lives,” President Nelson concluded, “it may be said of us, as it was of them, ‘Surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God’ (4 Nephi 1:16).”
Read President Nelson’s full article on liahona.ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
