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Thank you for your reply!

And I don't think we can achieve unity without agreeing about authority. The key to unity is the issue of authority. As long as we are divided on authority, we cannot be "perfected in unity" as Christ prays in John 17.

On this point we agree. And you used a perfect passage for unity as Christ prayed for us and defined what that unity "is":

Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, [art] in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. - John 17:20-23

We are in Christ, Christ is in us. (John 15) We are dead and our lives are hid with Christ in God (Col 3:3).

And there is only one shepherd and one flock:

I am the good shepherd, and know my [sheep], and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, [and] one shepherd. - John 10:14-16

We are all of the same body of Christ. The Spiritually mature among us don't recognize the divisions which are so important to many:

And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, [even] as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able [to bear it], neither yet now are ye able.

For ye are yet carnal: for whereas [there is] among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I [am] of Apollos; are ye not carnal?

Who then is Paul, and who [is] Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? - I Cor 3:1-5

The ones among us who identify themselves with any minister are the ones who are yet carnal, who are yet on milk.

Those of us who are on Spiritual meat must be loving and patient and help the younger Christians understand the meaning of the Lord's prayer, what it is all "about": His name, His will and His kingdom. The rest is details.

My two cents...

Just a couple comments. We agree about the need for agreement concerning authority in order to attain genuine unity.

But, we disagree, I think, concerning the identity of that authority. I believe that the bishops in succession from the Apostles and in communion with the bishop of Rome have the rightful authority in the Church, and that only in communion with Christ's appointed shepherds can we be in full communion with Christ and with each other. You believe, however, that our only authority is Christ, that there are no human authorities in the Church.

So let me ask you a question: If you lived back during the time of the Apostles, would you have been under their authority or not? If so, then as soon as the last Apostle died, would you suddenly be left without any human authorities? But if you would not have been under the Apostles' authority, then why did Jesus give His Apostles the authority to bind and loose and forgive and retain sins, and to speak in His name such that whoever listens to them listens to Him, and whoever rejects them rejects Him? (Luke 10:6; 1 John 4:6)

-A8