Many years ago, a group of musicians all got together and recorded a single of which the sales were to go to the starving kids of Africa. Everyone alive during that time knew the song and could recite it with ease. The concept of the lyrics were considered to be idealistic and probably unsustainable in world with hate and strife. Even still, it gave everyone hope that maybe, just maybe, the world could unite for this one moment, and perhaps carry it on to others avenues as well. Of course this never materialized, but the sentiment was admirable.
A couple years ago, God was speaking to me about the need for the churches in the area I am serving in to unite and worship together. Little did I know, God had placed this same desire in 2 other men as well. Through a series of unlikely events, we all met and decided to hold a Creative Arts worship service for any church who wanted to be involved. I had heard this was impossible. I had heard we would go strong for 6 months then it would fizzle out. But God had a different plan.
When we started, we laid out a few ground rules.
1st, no sermons. We wanted to focus on those things which would unite us, not divide us. When you have a sermon, it is very likely a lot of people will disagree with the interpretation of the Word of God and thus they would not return.
2nd, Unity would be achieved through accepting those things which were different, but not wrong. We have African-American Churches, Rural churches, and white city churches all in the same service. So in this same service, you would have urban Gospel dancing one moment followed by a quartet of southern Gospel, followed by Skits and dramas. You just never knew what to expect! But we made should to celebrate our diversity. They aren't wrong, just different!
3rd, We would emphasize the fact that Jesus is the head of the church. And We, all of us,are the church! Different styles, One Savior! Different Locations, One Church! Different Look, Same Family! The World will know you are mine if you love one another!
As a result, we have grown and grown and grown! So much, the places we normally have the services are too small! Henderson County churches are coming together in record numbers, 2 years later!!! Now, we have churches partnering together in ministry that have never even spoken together before! They are even performing at the services together. God is doing a cool thing, and we seeing God use this thing He created to reach people who would have never heard before!
So let's continue to get along! Let's continue to serve with each other! Let's continue to realize we are not in competition, but rather we are on the same team!!!! All for the Glory of Jesus!!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment