How Central is Unity among Church People?

When we started our church, in 1998, it wasn't long before a group called the Sentinel Group made a splash in my circles with several documentaries aiming to make the point that, around the world, amazing things were happening because of God in places where the church people of that city or area or even country in question put aside their
differences and prayed together (and presumably spoke well of each other).   Brian Odom's posting picture here is a vestige of that, as we've pointed out--he's holding up a monster carrot from a Latin American city featured in one of these documentaries where the pitch was that even the agriculture became crazily abundant as a result of this unified prayer.

Well you didn't have to make this pitch twice to me and to some of my pastor friends in Cambridge!  We started praying together, something that's continued to happy effect right up to the present day, with some ebbs and flows along the way to be sure.  Connected to the message of the Sentinel Group was a wave of pastors' prayer summits around the country, in which pastors and other church leaders would gather together from a region to pray for their city and get to know each other better over the course of 48 hours, spread over three days.  We have one in Boston and another one for non-Boston New England pastors and leaders.

And they've had lots to recommend them!  I do indeed feel networked with other pastors and churches in a way I couldn't otherwise.  The one thing that some of my friends have found lacking in them is...the reason they came together.  All those Sentinel Group promises!  For all this unified prayer around America, I'm not aware of any American city that would say they've seen the kind of move of God described in the videos.  And, sadly, a fair number of the cities and regions profiled in the videos no longer seem to be experiencing the amazing stories that were said of them.  Other reports have suggested that at least some of those stories were overblown in the first place.

That said, how bad could it be to pray with other people trying to follow Jesus whom you otherwise wouldn't have a reason to hang out with?  Clearly that seems to have upside.  Jesus in John 17 prays that his followers would experience a sort of profound "oneness."

And yet I do hear the occasional-but-ever-less-so story where these gatherings have frayed--where the opportunity to leverage gatherings like this for political action along the preferred lines of some members is too great to resist, for instance.  Or where, dare I say, there's some clash along stage 2/ stage 3/ stage 4 lines. 

While the opportunity still seems, to most of my friends who participate in such things, to be a worthy one to try to capitalize on, at the same time, if the original premise now seems a bit hyperbolic and if the small but not inconsequential distinctions often seem quite intractable, the question comes up: is unified connection of this sort (1) a wonderful thing if it's easily attainable, or is it (2) an iron-clad mandate, whatever the differences (even with people who, say, can't imagine that people across the stage lines could be, at heart, worthy people of faith)?  These have been tough questions in many a conversation I've had recently.

What's your take on "unity" of this sort?  Is it something that you pursue as a mandate, differences be hanged?  Is it nice-if-possible?  Or something else?

Comments

[Titi]

I think actually achieving unity of this sort requires an act of God, because we are inherently incapable of surmounting all of the obstacles in its way for any length of time. So rather than being the generator of a miraculous move of God, it would be more like a sign that such a move is actually occurring.

What then is our part in making way for such an act of God? Is there anything we can do to "bootstrap"? Our role is limited, but I think it's pretty standard stuff from the Gospels and Acts. Preparing the way of the Lord via self-examination and repentance, laying down our lives (including our stages and cultures) for others (both inside and outside the church), "doing what we see the Father doing".

I dunno. Seems simplistic, and may be a little too boiled down to fundamentals, but I think that's where my current phase of life has led me. I know it's where I feel I need the most work if I want to experience God's benefits, small or large.

[Jeff]

I was at an enormous interdenominational prayer meeting a few years ago. I do remember thinking "there are so many times when I'm not sure if I'm doing what Jesus says, but at least this one moment, I'm pretty sure this is what he wants us to do."

That said, I don't really do this much. It sort of falls in the very large category of "really good things I could do but don't."

[Paul]

I wonder if it's helpful to see "unity" as something that Jesus has already accomplished rather than something we need to accomplish ourselves. A decent case can be made that being a follower of Jesus makes us part of a larger reality (His Body).

I've been in settings where a challenge was issued to "get united", as if we needed to do stuff to achieve unity and make it happen. This always felt like a burdensome task, especially when lots of differences are involved (and frankly, who has the time when we all can barely manage our own ministries?)

But gathering with other followers of Jesus across differences has been very life-giving when unity wasn't so much a task as a reality, something that God already accomplished that we become a little more aware of and live out a little more deeply.

[Otto]

A few observations...

1) the fact that unified prayer doesn't happen much and that, when it does, it often devolves into political jockeying goes to show that, in this country at least, being right is more important than God's power. We have fertilizers, pharmaceuticals, computers, and lasers? What do we need prayer for?

2) It would be a bummer for fertilizer manufacturers if all it took was people coming together in prayer to produce giant carrots. What about pharmaceutical companies? I know a bunch of people who would be out of a job, or who would be disappointed shareholders, if asthmatics suddenly turned to prayer instead of Advair.

3) I recall in 2004 there was a strange sense of unity among Red Sox fans and a wish for a victory. I don't know if church people ever unified and prayed together around this issue, but the comeback this team made in the World Series was pretty miraculous, and at any rate, it sure made Bostonians a lot happier than any quantity of giant carrots could have achieved.

[PB]

The people closest to the "center" of a given culture are the ones who get rewarded the most. Job promotions, relational closeness, and leadership opportunities are the rewards.

It's difficult to practice unity in a me-centered culture where diversity is the thing that's celebrated. When unity IS at the center of a [job/work] culture, it seems like full agreement is often demanded from those in charge, and it's hard to "just be me" in those places. Have yet to find a happy middle.

[Dave Schmelzer]

It's interesting: your number 3 is one of the few areas where it's possible I COULD give unified prayer some props. One man I met at a prayer summit in early 2001 had a prophetic dream (to his mind) that he shared before the prophecies he felt it heralded came to pass. I might even have mentioned this to you, Otto, way back when. Namely, in Sept 2001, when the Patriots were, if memory serves, 0-2, coming off of a 5-11 season, and just after their star quarterback, Drew Bledsoe, went down with what at the time was potentially a life-threatening injury, this guy felt like God said the Patriots would play on and win the Superbowl that next February, and it would be a sign of God's favor returning to the city of Boston. Additionally, it would open up a season of unprecedented prosperity over Boston sports teams--also as a sign of God's favor returning to Boston for the sake of the nations. Even the "in Februray" was weird--the Superbowl was going to be in late January. But then 9/11 hit and the Superbowl was moved back to February. Tom Brady showed up right about then. And you know the rest.

All to say, that was actually one of the few spooky things--to my mind--that HAS come out of unified prayer...

[Dave Schmelzer]

That very well captures the tension that I was fumblingly trying to express here, PB. I do think that's the complaint that I hear about "unity" gatherings--the "unity" works so long as the culture of those closest to the center is adopted, no questions asked. Diversity often CAN'T prosper in those settings. I'm sympathetic to the challenge of finding a "unity" under such constraints. But I've very much experienced the downsides to assuming an uncritical embrace of the values and culture of those closest to the center as the toll that must be paid for "unity."

[PB]

One thing (I think it was) Brian Odom said on here one time was, "Cooperation without full agreement." I saw it again today on Michael Hyatt's blog, the CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishing (michaelhyatt.com), "Alignment without full agreement."

I wish there was a way to translate this to prayer settings. But you're right, prayer is tricky, maybe trickier than a work environment since you can't hire and fire other people who are praying. It's tricky because people ask for things so directly related to their theology/beliefs, and to align with someone else's theology would feel like I'm giving up key parts of who I am.

This is the dorky type-A in me, but would it be possible to outline ahead of time the things that will be prayed for? "We will be praying against poverty. Please do not come if you don't want this to happen." hehe...

[Matej]

Two experiences form the ecumenical efforts:

a) Most ecumenical activities doing for the sake of being ecumenical don't make much sense and impact. Instead, living together makes a lot of sense. Instead of establishing ecumenical prayer, go to their (whoever they are) prayer meeting or invite them to yours.
b) Doing something else together makes a lot of sense as well. Charity, missions done together for sake of doing that something else, makes IMHO bigger impact on your life together as well.
c) Have mercy on each other. Let them say stupid things they do, and maybe they will forgive you the stupid things you do. Don't try to be acceptable to them, or you will loose all your taste. There is nothing more boring and useless then ecumenical meeting where everybody tries to be acceptable to each other.

[Brent]

Paul, I am soooo with you. I think this is the key to realizing a powerful, truly pluralistic Christianity.

[Jeff]

So what prayer exactly was it that you prayed over sports teams? Cause we have a lot of megachurches in Minnesota and we might really be able to get something going...