The Power of Unity!
04/09/2009 4:49 am Admin John Watts <au-mediaSPAMFILTER@omf.net>
I first met Hannah, a seemingly vibrant East Asian believer, when we worked together training some local counsellors. We talked as we worked, and gradually I realised Hannah was really struggling. She was under enormous pressure from business, marriage and family difficulties. Was there someone with whom she could bring all these hassles to Father? There wasn’t. So I offered myself to pray with her each week in her skyscraper office after work.
Six to nine months passed, and Father did miracle after miracle in Hannah’s life and work. As she recounted each one, her eyes would sparkle and she would marvel at Father’s power to change defeat, hopelessness and anxiety into victory, joy and peace.
But why does unity unleash such power? Because of the strategic purpose Father has for unity – e.g. in Jesus’ prayer in John 17: 23b NIV “May [all believers] be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” And in Jesus’ promise in Matt 18:19 NIV - “… if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.”
In my last 2 years in East Asia, I’ve experienced the power of unity time and time again. Father is calling His people to this unity by breaking down steely walls of distance, suspicion, fear and hurt. It’s been happening between cross-cultural workers from different organisations, between groups of workers within OMF, and between local believers from two sides of a seriously divided church. It’s also happening in Australia between supporters of OMF workers.
What does this growing unity look like? It’s locals and foreigners starting to work together in genuine partnerships, rather than in formal hierarchies. It’s workers forming into dedicated teams around a Father-given vision and mission, rather than ‘each man doing what is right in his own eyes’. It’s previously-isolated house church leaders meeting every month for worship and prayer, and seeking to build bridges of transparency and co-operation between themselves and their government. And finally, it’s faithful and willing supporters agreeing to belong to a Homeside Ministry Team, and so working in close partnership with the OMFers on the fields. Unity is powerful, it’s fruitful and it costs! But very clearly, from Father’s point of view, it’s worth it!