Pray for Your Church: Ministries (7)
“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.” John 17.20, 21
I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Ephesians 4.1-3
Working hard?
Undoubtedly the greatest hindrance to effective Christian witness-bearing is the dividedness we as believers maintain in every community. Jesus said it plain: For the world to believe the message of the incarnation of Christ and His mission of salvation, they need to see one Body of believers, united in faith in a visible manner. Jesus prayed that all those who follow Him may be one in Him and in one another.
How can we not pray the same?
We might—indeed, should—wonder how such a visible unity could be established, and what the ongoing practice of it would look like.
But first, let’s consider the reality. Churches in any given community, as a rule, have nothing to do with one another. They may jointly support, let’s say, a local rescue mission or food pantry, but what the community sees is that one caring endeavor. They do not see the churches united in supporting it by their treasure and sweat.
Local churches worship separately. Their ministries seldom interlace or connect. Their leaders—the shepherds who oversee their flocks in this state of spiritual apartheid—do not meet together, except, in rare instances, for brief times of fellowship and prayer. Local churches run their own affairs without regard for what other local churches might need or be doing.
To be blunt, where Paul said we should be “working hard” (NKJV “endeavoring”) to keep (Greek: τηρεῖν, terein, “bring to completion”) Christian unity in the Spirit of God, we have chosen not to work at unity at all.
How shall we justify this decision before the Lord when He comes to reckon up our works?
Our heritage
Disunity is not even an issue among the local churches in any community. It’s an accepted fact, but one obviously contrary to the will of God. The unsung mantra of local churches everywhere is “Behold how good and pleasant it is for brethren to mind their own business” (cf. Ps. 133.1). Churches don’t even think about unity, except as it pertains to their own flock.
We have inherited the germ of a spiritual disease which is making us blind, indifferent, and hardened to one of Jesus’ and Paul’s most important teachings.
This sickness comes down from our forebears, especially those who descend from the generation of the Protestant Reformation. As the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches had allowed a matter of doctrinal dispute—and not a doctrine relevant to salvation—to create an irreparable (to this day) split in the worldwide Body of Christ in the 11th century, Protestants divided from the Roman Church into various competing camps in the 16th and 17th century. The focus of their competition was, as in the Great Schism, doctrinal details, the main ones of which did not pertain to the way of salvation. During the period of the Reformation (ca. 1517-1648), Protestants quickly divided into various camps—Lutherans, Reformed, Anabaptist, Anglican, Dissenters, and a host of lesser communions. No one during that period seemed to have the vision or strength to arrest the disease before it could spread further.
That mindset of dividedness over secondary issues of doctrine and practice entered the spiritual bloodstream of all who worshiped Jesus beyond the pale of Catholicism or Orthodoxy. And the infection of dividedness metastasized over the centuries, creating a new “set” of the soul concerning how to “do church.”
The disease continues to worsen. Today more than 35,000 denominations of Protestant churches have spread the sin of dividedness over the entire globe. And the disease shows no abating. We have simply come to accept that what Jesus and Paul taught about working to maintain visible unity of the Body of Christ need not be taken seriously. We are who we are, and we’re not concerned about any other Christians in our community who are not us. They have their own plans and issues.
Agree or not, this is spiritual sickness, and it brings the devil no small amount of delight to see Jesus’ Body so universally infected and ill. We may not like the diagnosis, and we refuse to consider the prognosis going forward. But the situation is what it is, and it isn’t healthy.
We must pray
Of course, denominations are here to stay. So are individual local churches. There is not going to be some melding of souls to reconfigure everything under one monolithic structure and practice. And that’s not a bad thing. Like each individual believer, each denomination and each local church brings some aspect of “Bodyness” to their community. We do not suggest that this be erased. Only that all these lovely and fruitful features repent of their dividedness, expel the germ that infects us, and find ways of working hard to build the visible unity of the Body of Christ so that the world will believe that the Father has sent Jesus for its salvation.
And, like everything else in the life of faith and our churches, any effort to “get well” from this centuries-long disease must begin in prayer. We might begin with something like this:
O Lord, since we all believe in God the Father Almighty maker of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, Your only Son and our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the virgin Mary, Who suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried,
and descended into hell. And since we all believe that on the third day He rose from the dead,
ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty,
and that He is coming again to judge the living and the dead—and all our works, according to His Word—
and since we all believe in the Holy Spirit, and in the one universal Church and Body of our Lord Jesus Christ,
help us to stop giving lip-service only to our being the communion of the saints, and teach us how to work hard at unity,
that our community and the world might see our oneness
and believe in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins and the resurrection of the body
and life everlasting in Him, when He comes to gather His one-Body saints unto Himself.
For reflection
1. How would you describe the state of local churches in your community in the light of Jesus’ prayer and Paul’s instruction?
2. What does your church do to contribute to the unity of the Body of Christ in your community?
3. Do you think it’s a matter of indifference, or even a good thing, if we continue in this state of dividedness?
Next steps—Preparation: Begin praying daily for the unity of Spirit in the bond of peace among the churches in your community. Share the prayer above with fellow believers.
T. M. Moore
Give thanks
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
Other columns of interest this week: We continue reading excerpts from the book, Revived! in our Read Moore column. Why not listen in? Last week’s Crosfigell letter called us to make sure we have the right priorities.
Thank you.
Many of you are faithful and generous in praying for and supporting ReVision and The Fellowship of Ailbe. Thank you. I encourage all our readers to seek the Lord about becoming a supporter of The Fellowship of Ailbe. It’s easy to give to The Fellowship of Ailbe, and all gifts are, of course, tax-deductible. You can click here to donate online through credit card or PayPal or Anedot, or send your gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, P. O. Box 8213, Essex, VT 05451.
Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
