Listening to God in a Time of CrisisSample

The Call to Unity

What barriers or boundaries are separating us from other Christians or parts of the Church? What might God be calling us to do about it, and how does it affect a world full of hurting people who need Jesus?

The world sees Jesus more clearly when Christians are unified. Unity is at the core of our faith. We believe in one God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There is unity in the Trinity. Disunity, on the other hand, has been the curse of humankind ever since Adam and Eve fell into sin.

In John 17, what was the main thing about which Jesus prayed? Unity. He prayed for unity in order that the world would believe. In other words, if the church is not united, the world won’t believe. If we’re trying to reach people, they’re not going to believe if we’re not united.

I have a friend who is not a Christian, and he said to me, "Catholics and Protestants look exactly the same to me. You both have churches. You both say the Lord’s Prayer. But while you’re fighting each other—over whatever it is you’re fighting about—I’m not interested." I think there’s so many people out there who think, I’m not interested when they can’t even agree amongst themselves what they believe.

So, Jesus prayed that we may be one in order that the world will believe because He knew that disunity puts people off and stops them from believing. But unity is so attractive, and it’s meant to be in the Church.

One day there will be perfect unity in the Church before the throne of God. We see this in Revelation 7:9, where it says, "After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb." Difference and diversity are not eliminated; they’re celebrated because they are beautiful.

Jesus taught us to pray, "Your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:10). So, what is God’s will in heaven? It is everyone worshipping in unity together before the throne. This is the task of the Church—unity between the different parts of the Church, between different denominations and different churches. The sooner the Church on Earth looks like the Church in heaven, the more effective it will be.