Taken from the book Mission Drift: The Unspoken Crisis Facing Leaders, Charities, and Churches. Pg 173.
The global church needs each member, a lesson enthusiastic North American mission trip participants sometimes need to hear. We all have something to give, and we all have something to receive. For example, I have learned so much about prayer through my brothers and sisters in Rwanda and the Philippines. In the Dominican Republic, the church members have taught me about experiencing joy in Christ as I ’ve never experienced it before. No one person or org. has all the answers. As Paul said, “Just as a body, so it is with Christ.” Though this applies to individuals, it also covers institutions. We’re part of a much larger family and independence just isn’t an option.
Very rarely do we get a glimpse of Jesus’ prayer life. Though we know He frequently sought solitude to spend time with His Father, few passages reveal the prayers. That is what makes Jesus’ prayer in John 17 a fascinating glimpse of Christ’s heart.
Jesus lays out His attention for the body of Christ:
“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 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.”
BOTTOM LINE: Unity is the central characteristic of the body of Christ. And it’s this unity, Christ says, that will compel others to pay attention to the message of grace. In essence, we have the opportunity to fulfill Christ’s prayer when we partner with the local church in a spirit of friendship and mutual dependence.
NEXT UP: No entity is more expansive than the local church which grounds all good works in the grander vision of humanity’s fall and God’s redemption.