That We May Be One So the World May Believe!
We know that the unity of all followers of Christ, be they Catholic, Orthodox or Protestant, is on the heart of the Lord. It was the last prayer He prayed for His disciples and for us who have come to faith centuries later. The Apostle Paul also strongly urged that we maintain the unity of the Spirit and not allow divisions to destroy it. Unfortunately, Christians in general have allowed themselves to be split into tens of thousands of denominations (over 30,000 when I last checked). Evangelicals are some of the worst offenders, often attributing their divisions to doctrinal or biblical reasons when it is usually about personalities and control. We have so many little “popes that have a quest for religious power!
God is greatly blessing such united prayer efforts as we experienced at the World Prayer Assembly, where Christian leaders and intercessors from 86 countries and all three Christian traditions prayed together. Now in Indonesia, where this unity continues to grow, the Muslims are scared that they will lose the nation and its young people to Jesus Christ. They claim that 2 million of these youth are leaving Islam for Jesus every year. (See the YouTube video “Save Maryam” made by concerned Muslims). There may be some other factors at work, but I would especially attribute this to the atmospheric change in the nation caused by Christians across the denominations uniting in prayer. Jesus in His prayer of John 17 said this would be the result—the world believing if we are one.
I have just been in the Middle East meeting with senior Evangelical, Catholic and Orthodox leaders about a possible Middle East prayer assembly. All of them were warm, welcoming and gracious men and women of God with whom we prayed and felt a kinship of spirit. In Egypt, the prayer movement leaders come from all three traditions and they pray together every Monday, affirming what they have in common- faith in Jesus Christ amidst a sea of threatening Islamism.
In Egypt, I also met with the new Coptic Pope, a humble, gracious man who is known for his commitment to three things—Jesus, the Bible and prayer. His predecessor, Pope Shenouda, with whom I also met some years ago, knew the whole New Testament by heart. The Coptic Orthodox date from the time the Apostle Mark brought the Gospel to them in the first century and have stood the test of 20 centuries as well as hundreds of years of oppression and persecution at the hands of Muslims. An impressive renewal movement is also happening there at this time led by black-robed priests who evangelize, cast out demons, and heal the sick. They are very impressive servants of Christ!
Through decades of conferring with church leaders of every strand, I have discovered that when we sit down together, and especially when we pray together, walls and stereotypes tend to fall down, and we begin to perceive one another as brothers and sisters in Christ, which is our eternal identity. After all, we are all on a journey both in and towards His Kingdom; we are at different points like different tributaries entering a large river, yes, and all of us now “see in a glass darkly” before we see Him face to face. Therefore, given our flawed understandings and incomplete experience, it does not help Christ’s cause to build or maintain walls of historic division when the Spirit of God wants to dismantle them and do something new in our day!
A plea and prayer request—can we as people of prayer increasingly try to look past denominational labels and differences (they will all be forgotten anyway when we stand before the Lord at the end) and perceive His cosmic purpose in uniting all those who call on His name through the prayer movement? Can’t we reach out to those who come from different understandings and experience of the faith and at least agree to pray together for those things we are all concerned about? Who knows what mighty works of the Spirit would result that would change the atmosphere of nations, regions and our whole world!
May the Lord help us to do what is pleasing in His sight and what makes for both the upbuilding of His Body and the transformation of our world through the united prayer movement.
