Would it shock you to hear that this June, beginning this Sunday, there will be 1,263 churches, with a combined total attendance of roughly 750,000 people, who will be joining together to do the same preaching series? One Prayer, the brainchild of LifeChurch of Oklahoma’s pastor Craig Groeschel, is an attempt to unite the worldwide church for one month in prayer, fasting, mission, and vision for what God could do if we would all seek Him together. I remember when I first heard him pitch the vision – it couldn’t have been more than three or so months ago – and it has been staggering to see the number of churches who have signed up to be a part of this experience (six Connecticut churches, including East Hampton Bible Church, Fellowship Church of Middletown, and St. Paul’s Collegiate Church of Storrs, are among those taking part).
The One Prayer campaign has a few different parts. At each participating church, the pastor is encouraged to preach one sermon, and then to show a different video sermon by one of the pastors of another participating church over the following three Sundays. Many of the participating churches are used to video preaching or multi-site ministry, so this type of preaching is natural; for a church like ours, I suspect most people would wonder why they had come to church to watch some stranger on TV when they could be home in their pajamas watching Charles Stanley. Each sermon is supposed to be a prayer that completes this line: “Make us __________”. Looking at the 63 sermons you can choose from, examples include “Make us Different,” “Make us Thirsty,” “Make us Obedient,” and “Make us Revolutionary.” As the website (www.oneprayer.com) explains, part of the hope is to expose the church to some other great preachers out there, while giving the host church’s pastor a three-week break from preaching.
There will also be a special offering taken during the month to raise money for four international organizations – New Generations International (Cambodia), Life Mission International (India), CPS (Sudan), and New Life League (China) with the hope of funding the planting of 500 new churches in those four countries. Each church is encouraged to do something ministry-related in their community during the month, and to visit the website, where they can be encouraged by others who are spending time in fasting and prayer during June.
Even though I chose not to participate, I think this series is worth checking out if you are able to find it online. There are many gifted preachers who have contributed sermons, and the large-scale cooperation among so many different churches is encouraging. Unity was a big prayer of Jesus’ that seems to have gone unanswered thus far, but is certainly very important in our witness to the majesty of Jesus. Consider His words in John 17:20-23:
“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”
Of course, if you read the context of that passage, you find that there is more to unity than just joining together to do a sermon series or to pray for the world. Verses 17-19, directly before Jesus’ prayer for unity, go like this: “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.” To sanctify is to make holy, to set apart, to be different than the world and be completely in line with the heart and will of God. Jesus prays that His followers might become holy by living in line with the word of God, which is truth. As Jesus was completely holy, through His death and resurrection and the gift of the Holy Spirit, we now have His power working in us to make us holy.
So, when I think of unity among Christians, I think that Jesus meant for the two – sanctification and unity – to go hand in hand. God’s desire is not that all His churches would downplay their differences and highlight their similarities; it’s that God’s people would pursue holiness and desire Him, so that they might all be united in their discipleship to King Jesus. If I were to preach a message in line with Jesus’ call for unity, it would have to be “Make us Holy,” because the unity Jesus has called us to comes when we are sanctified and living in line with God’s word.
Do you want unity in the church? Allow God to sanctify you, to make you different than the world, to shape you so that you are living in step with God’s truth. That would be my One Prayer for the church.
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