At Compassion Connect one of our favorite scriptures is Jesus’ prayer in John 17:22-23: “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—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” This prayer predicts what will happen when Jesus followers love one another and live in unity–the people of the world will know that Jesus loved them so much that he came to earth to live and die for them.
When we examine that scripture, we see there is a truly powerful connection between unity amongst Jesus followers and more people coming to know him!
We are a ministry that equips Jesus followers to serve their neighbors in practical ways (free health clinics, youth mentoring, etc.), but the common goal behind everything we do is unity: bringing local churches together to love and serve their neighbors as Jesus did.
In a world with several historical branches of Christianity and dozens of denominations, it’s tempting to separate into categories of “us and them” and lose sight of the importance of Oneness. It’s also easy to simply miss this important point Jesus was making and let unity fly under the radar. We believe unity isn’t just important to the Church as a corporate body–it should be a transformative feature of our walk with Jesus as individuals too.
So, how would you rank your unity IQ? In this blog, special guest Milan Homola (our Executive Director & Co-Founder) has helped compile several of his favorite resources on church unity below. We hope this serves as a small way to dip your toes into what unity means!
1.) Books About Church Unity
- Book #1: “Household of God” By Lesslie Newbigin Milan’s commentary: “This has been the most powerful read for me so far from an inspiring theologian. He lived as a western leader who helped local Christians in India steer away from western church divisions as they launched their own church (The Church of South India). He speaks of the dangers of seeing the Church as a stagnant, complete entity rather than what he calls “the Church en via.” I love the humility in the concept of the Church accepting that it doesn’t have “it all figured out,” and being on a journey where constant surrender to the King of Kings is necessary rather than optional. My favorite quote: “The gospel of reconciliation can only be communicated by a reconciled community.””
- Book #2: “Rooting for Rivals” By Peter Greer Milan’s commentary: “A super helpful beginning read for church and ministry leaders. Leaders of a large reputable organization realized there was an unfortunate competitive nature to Christian churches and organizations, so they created a super helpful model using the construct of the original 9 deadly sins applied to organizational leadership. I wrote a review on this book which you can read on our blog here.”
Related Post: “Rooting for Rivals Book Review” by Milan Homola
- Book #3: “One Blood” By John Perkins Milan’s commentary: “This book is important. If you have been compelled by Perkins’ life and thinking, read this book. If you haven’t…read this book. It’s a strong, clear, consistent call to a reconciliation that is lacking and yet undeniably the “will of God.” Perkins is always honest, biblical, and practical. We don’t need more theories, we need practitioners. He says “there is a vision shaped vacuum in the soul of the church that will not be satisfied by man made strategies or philosophies, but only by His vision of the church victoriously fulfilling the divine mandate.” Perkins would call the mandate the high honor of living out the reconciling love of Jesus in our churches and neighborhoods across the lines that divide us.
Related Post: “Popcorn & Reconciliation: How to Stop Settling for So Little” (Inspired by “One Blood” by John Perkins)
- Other recommendations: “Disunity In Christ: Uncovering the Hidden Forces that Keep Us Apart” by Christena Cleveland
2.) Podcasts About Church Unity
- The Ecumenical Dialogue Project Milan’s Note: “This is a basic attempt at conversations between seminary trained leaders in several branches of Christianity: Protestantism, Roman Catholicism, and Eastern Orthodoxy. It focuses on specific subjects such as salvation, communion, the Trinity, etc. It’s interesting and has a personal touch to it as the hosts are a group of friends.”
3.) Videos About Church Unity
- Video #2: Compassion Connect Promo 2009: This “vintage” Compassion Connect video lays out visually what we mean by churches working together in unity (even though some of our models have changed over the years!)
4.) Graphics About Church Unity
- Graphic #1: Unity & Compassion 2×2 Graph. This graphic displays an x & y axis of unity and compassion, with the upper right being the goal (high unity, high compassion) and the bottom left being the area to avoid (low unity, low compassion). Churches and Christian organizations usually fall into one of the four quadrants. Can you identify what quadrant your church inhabits? For Milan’s video teaching of this graphic, watch here.
- Graphic #2: The Collaboration Journey. We created this graphic to show a spectrum of attitudes concerning unity that are often found in the church and faith based organizations. The more we move from attitudes and actions based in fear, pride, and isolation (the left side of the spectrum) to ministry rooted in sacrifice, humility, and trust, the greater our witness will be to the wider community as they see Jesus’ John 17 prayer lived out through us. For Milan’s video teaching of this graphic, watch here.
5.) Articles About Church Unity
- Pew Research: Are churches key to solving social problems? Fewer Americans now think so Milan’s commentary: “This is an important look at how society in general is viewing the value of the church in the community. It is especially interesting if you compare it with point #5 in Barna Research’s article, Five Trends Defining Americans’ Relationship to Churches (Barna’s research showed that “the perception of the Church’s relevance to the community is under question—especially among non-Christians”). The question we have to ask is, “what are the reasons for the gap between what Christians and non-Christians say is the value of church in the community?” One answer Compassion Connect would point to is that churches often preach a God of love who has “one body in Christ” but the community experiences a different reality when churches compete and are apathetic towards one another.”
- “And How Muslims Hold the Key to Christ” Milan’s commentary: “An interesting read about the historical impact of church division on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. The article says, “The two Muslim families got to keep the keys and the door because of quarrels within the Church. “Like brothers, we sometimes fight,” confesses the Very Reverend Father Samuel Aghoyan, Armenian Superior of the Holy Sepulchre. “The Churches wouldn’t go along with each other, so the key was taken away from the dominant Church and entrusted to a neutral monotheistic faith that embraces the Christ as a prophet – Islam.””
If you’d like to share about what you’ve been learning about church unity on social media, we have several graphics and sample posts you can feel free to use! Download them here.
