Unity in the Church
[May 1st, 2017]
I give you a new commandment: that you should love one another. Just as I have loved you, so you too should love one another. By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you love one another, if you keep on showing love among yourselves.John 13:34-35
The past few weeks, I've had the opportunity to see and experience something absolutely incredible and beautiful. I've seen what church unity can/should look like and just how healthy it is for the Body of Christ.
As many of you know, Grace City is about 4 years old and although I tend to feel that we're the greatest church ever, we know that we have a lot to learn. A few weeks ago, five Grace City staff members and I went to California to interview other church's, ask them questions, and learn from them.
It was an absolutely fantastic trip- we had a blast and learned a TON. We met with five different churches who do things very differently from each other but the love and excitement that they met us with was the same across the board. They shared different methods they use to connect newcomers, different ways to run small groups, and so much more- but they all welcomed us as family as they shared with us. There was never a sense of competition nor a feeling that they were hiding their "tricks" from us. They all were excited about what we're doing in Vegas and prayed for us as we left their churches.
As awesome as our Cali trip was, even more eye opening was Easter weekend.
Grace City partnered with another church in town called Walk Church for two of our events that weekend. Walk Church meets a quarter of a mile away from us on Sunday mornings. On Good Friday, we had a combined worship night with both worship teams leading and both pastors speaking. It was an amazing and powerful night of remembering the cross.
The next day, we came together again for an Easter Extravaganza in the park near our churches and over 780 people were in attendance. We invited people to visit either of our churches for Easter Sunday, remembering that our own personal church's growth is not nearly as important as lost people going to church and hearing The Gospel.
I was standing in the middle of the park that day thanking the Lord for all that He was doing and I had a quiet little moment where my heart was overwhelmed by one small thought,
"It's so healthy for us to be together."
We were meant to be together. The Body of Christ was never meant to look like Dunkin' Donuts vs. Starbucks- constantly trying to be better than each other, constantly trying to outdo one another, and steal customers.
When it's not about growing a business but about seeing lost people saved, the Church is who she was made to be.
I believe that when churches unify, we will see number of church transfers drop and unchurched people reached. This, I believe, is key to revival and key to seeing a city, a state, a generation, and a nation transformed by the power of the Gospel.
Let's join together in praying for the churches in America to unite together to move in Spirit and in truth and to see this nation and the world changed.
