Make Your City a House of Prayer

In reaching out to a people group, even if that people group is pastors, churches or cities, we come with a package of ideas we think should be effective and welcomed to bring about reconciliation or unity. But, truthfully it is not about what we think should be acceptable, it is about what they think is acceptable. We cannot say that we went to the pastors and presented our case for unity and they did not receive it, so that means we tried. No, actually, we go to them and ask them what they think unity looks like and then we meet them at that level. This requires a huge amount of time and relationship. Making your city into a house of prayer needs to be done in the context of relationship, if we expect it to succeed.

In John chapter 17, verse 23, Jesus talks about his desire to see unity, “…that they may be perfected in unity.” The idea to have unity among the churches originates with Jesus, not us. It is his burden that he shares with us. We miss the mark of working toward unity when we try to define it according to our own thoughts on what it should be. We have to completely set aside our thinking on what unity needs to be and start over. In the Gospels, there are several occasions where Jesus invites the people to completely set aside their current way of thinking and consider something new, radical, contrary and revolutionary. Consider his address from Matthew chapter 5:

You have heard it said…but I say to you… Matthew 5:21, 22.

Again and again Jesus challenges the people with a greater grace. The teachings Jesus brought were in opposition to current thought. It takes a greater grace to lay down our ideas of what community should look like. Jesus’ teachings were the opposite of commonly accepted thought. Until we surrender our concept of unity we will not have community among the churches. If we come to the table of unity with a plate full of ideas, we will have to surrender each idea for the betterment of community and finally we will have to surrender the plate itself. We want unity and change, but we want it according to our understanding and not according to community. Community is a completely revolutionary concept that will resemble nothing like what we think it should.

If we have an ideal, such as unity in the church, we will have to think with a completely different paradigm than what would seem the obvious direction to go. If we want change, we have to be the one who changes. When we step up to a higher grace, others will see the fruit and follow. If we are not willing to surrender our concept of unity then we ought not to think anyone else will either. Another principle applies to this concept as well. If we want people to honor and accept our ideas, we must first show honor and respect for theirs. The measure you give to others is the measure that will return to you someday (Luke 6:38). Remember, that if you want to see change, you are going to have to be the one who changes first. Do not expect everyone else to change and line up with your preferences. First, you change and meet them where they are.

We have to stop and ask ourselves what our mission is in reality. Is it unity and making our city a house of prayer, or is it conformity to our way of doing ministry? If unity is really the goal, then we need to change our paradigm completely on how we will achieve this goal. If we are honest, we really are not seeking unity, we are seeking conformity to our hopes and ideals. This is not community. Remember a few chapters back when we defined community, find the common in order to find unity? The common good we have between believers is written Scripture. Written Scripture becomes the basis for COMM (common) unity in our corporate gatherings. This means when we are in corporate settings we need to stick to the written Word of God for the sake of community.