Mission-Driven Unity
Ken Nabi
“I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.” John 17:23
Jesus prayed for his disciples to be one as He and the Father are one (John 17:23). Jesus’ relational marching orders are found in the Sermon on the Mount where Kingdom life is markedly different from the culture of their day. Read the Beatitudes to see what that kingdom ethos looked like. At Converge Great Lakes, we believe that unity occurs when the people of God embrace the mission of God articulated by the leaders God has put in place. Shared mission stimulates unity.
As servants of the movement of churches in the Great Lakes Region, we are often called in to help navigate issues of unity or outright conflict. I like to say that Converge Great Lakes staff are “firemen and fertilizers.” As firemen, we help put fires out of conflict and disunity. As fertilizers, we aim to stimulate the roots of health by calling people back to the mission of the church.
Jesus affirmed that spiritual and corporate unity IS evangelistic (“so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them….”). The lost and confused stand up and notice when the local church functions together as one. Unity is “other-worldly” if I can say it that way. And, we need more of that kind of unity in our day.
In American church culture, often we have so elevated our individual opinions and personal rights that we insist on our way rather than subjugating our personal preferences to the larger call of unity and evangelistic appeal. Ask yourself these 6 questions to make sure you are functioning biblically out of a passion for shared unity rather than personal preference.
What is the mission of our church (is it clear?) and am I pressing for more of that mission?
Are the people we have put in leadership roles servant leaders marked by 1 Peter 5:2-4?
What happens if I subjugate my personal wants and spend more time praying for my leaders?
As leaders, are we listening carefully and humbly to the concerns of the people we aim to shepherd? Have you aimed to focus the people of the declared mission of the church?
Have you asked God to show you your own issues first before addressing someone else’s weaknesses (Matt. 7:3-5)?
Are we elevating the scriptural “one anothers” as the framework for discipleship and are we systematically stimulating relational integrity amongst the people in our church?