Prayerful Unity - Strengthening Faith in a Community for Jesus
Unity encourages people to align with their inner Christ potential, and to advance spiritually according to their individual capacity. Unity ministries provide ongoing opportunities for study, participation, fellowship and prayer support.
Unified congregations spend less time arguing over differences and more energy on serving others. They are more likely to attract (rather than repel) visitors and seekers.
1. It Makes a Difference
A united prayer can help us overcome the barriers of our differences and unite as one. This is the goal of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, an ecumenical observance that takes place each year between January 18 and 25, ending on the Feast of the Conversion of St Paul. Each year, a different ecumenical group from a particular region of the world compiles a booklet for the Week of Prayer. They are invited to produce a basic liturgical text on a biblical theme and an international editorial team of the WCC and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity edits this material.
As the global church struggles with a variety of issues that threaten the unity of Christianity, the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity can provide an opportunity to refocus our attention on Christ’s prayer “that they all may be one” (John 17:21). Too often the most visible divisions in Christianity are between Christians and other world religions or among different Christian churches and denominations. These rifts are less a reflection of Jesus’ prayer and more a result of the many conflicts that have arisen over doctrinal differences.
For instance, the Minnesota Council of Churches selected a theme for the 2023 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity that focused on racism: "Learn to do good; seek justice; rescue the oppressed; defend the widow and the orphan; plead for the poor." In the midst of racial injustice in our country and around the world, this is a powerful call to Christians to unite in prayer that seeks healing and reconciliation.
When we pray together for unity, we allow God to work on our hearts and minds to bring about his Kingdom on earth. We don’t need to be perfect or even whole to be used by God, because he uses broken imperfect people that are passionate about the message of Jesus. Prayer helps us be unified in love for Christ and in support of the mission he has given to his church. It is the way that we will be ready to welcome him when he comes in all his glory!
2. It Makes a Difference in the World
In a world that sometimes seems more divided than united, it is important to remember the importance of unity. Jesus prays that his followers would be one, and the goal of the Church is to make his prayer a reality. One of the best ways to accomplish this goal is through the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
The Week of Prayer is an international ecumenical observance that takes place each year. Each year a different group of ecumenical partners from a particular region is invited to produce a basic liturgical text on a biblical theme for the Week of Prayer. The text is then refined by an international editorial team of representatives from the WCC and Roman Catholic Church to ensure that it can be prayed everywhere in all Christian traditions.
This week the prayer focus is on the biblical call to "learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, plead for the widow" (Isaiah 1:17). It focuses on the call for all Christians to work for peace and justice. The ecumenical group that has produced this year's booklet points out that all forms of separation and oppression stem from the same root – sin. The ecumenical group encourages all Christians to unite in their shared responsibility for equality of all God's children.
While some may find the idea of unity stifling, believing that it requires conforming to some kind of group norm, it is important to remember that unity is not uniformity. Rather, true spirituality is living with Jesus in you by grace and allowing him to lead you in unity with his Father. This is the kind of unity Jesus wants his followers to have, a loving bond working together to share his message with the world.
Whether it's making friends with tax collectors, healing lepers that others were afraid to touch or talking to the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus wasn’t a man confined by social convention. In the same way, Seventh-day Adventists fully appreciate the uniqueness that God has given them and work to spread the message of Jesus in all corners of the world - including the need for Christian unity.
3. It Makes a Difference in Your Life
The Bible calls us to unity. Christ wants His followers to be so in tune with each other that they function as one body. This is sometimes referred to as being “one in spirit and mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel.”
But this isn’t easy. It requires an open and willing heart, a willingness to see the needs of others, and a strong commitment to Jesus.
It’s a daily practice that must be nurtured and sustained, just as a wild flower blossoms and grows over time. The goal is to develop a prayer life that brings you closer to God each day. This will allow you to draw from Him in times of distress or sorrow, and it will help you grow as a disciple who is confident that Jesus lives and works within you to accomplish His plan.
A daily habit of united prayer also helps us to recognize and stand up against injustices and oppression. It helps us to build empathy for people different from ourselves, so that we can understand their pain and help them find healing. This is what Jesus taught us when he told the story of the Good Samaritan. The Samaritan was despised by the people because of his race, but he cared for a stranger who had been hurt.
During the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, we focus on the ecumenical task of developing the partial communion that exists between Christians into full communion in truth and love. We seek to bring about this unity through our prayer for the sanctification of all believers and for their missionary work. This work isn’t restricted to this observance, but must be a permanent feature of the ecumenical life. This will help us to be effective witnesses of the Gospel to our world. It will also enable us to overcome the sin that causes divisions between Christians and all other human beings. That sin is called racism, and it is found wherever anyone privileges some groups over others. It is a sin that can be overcome only through the grace of God and the commitment of all Christians to work together for justice and equality for everyone.
4. It Makes a Difference in Your Church
The Church is called to pursue unity. However, in a very individualistic society it can be difficult to achieve the type of unity that the Bible commends and commands. Churches are tempted to promote their differences as strengths. They use tactical programs to induce growth and give their networks of congregations unique names, such as Seeker-friendly Churches, Cell Churches or Missional Churches. community for jesus
When a church is unified, it promotes a clearer picture of the Three-In-Oneness of God to its members and the world around them. In contrast, churches that are fragmented and in conflict paint a picture of God that is incomplete and misleading to the outsiders.
One way to help the church to become a community of unity is through prayer. When believers pray together, they are in tune with each other and able to agree on how to approach the Lord. When people are in agreement about how they approach the Lord, it makes it much easier to be unified in other areas of their lives as well.
A church can also become a community of unity by practicing biblical values and by defining its family. For example, it is important to define how the church will live on mission as it seeks to bring the gospel to the world. This helps the church to avoid the pitfalls of divisions that can hinder its effectiveness. The story of Euodia and Syntyche in Philippians 4 illustrates the importance of living on mission as a community and the depth of unity that can be experienced when this is done well.
In addition, the Church must define what it believes about Jesus and the gospel of salvation. When there is clarity about this, it will help to avoid divisions over secondary issues such as style of worship or music.
To help the Church to become a community of unity, the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity was initiated by the Second Vatican Council in 1908 and has been an annual observance since then. Each year, a different theme is chosen for the prayer observance. For 2023, a group convened by the Minnesota Council of Churches chose the theme “Do good; seek justice” (Isaiah 1:17).