Tom Demaree

But the real battle we're fighting isn't political; it's the spiritual battle of division in the Church, the root-cause of the most visceral polarization our nation has ever experienced.

The simple truth is that our nation is only divided because we, the Church, are divided.

An overflow of brotherly love.

Along with a few stalwart pastor-friends, I'm heading to Philadelphia tomorrow (Monday) to partner with some local/regional pastors as we prayerwalk throughout the city and its environs, believing for a breakthrough according to its holy namesake...that "brotherly love" would overtake this spiritual epicenter, that ripples of revival-unity would flow out from Philadelphia to the ends of the earth, acording to Christ's High Priestly Prayer:

I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be ONE, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be ONE in us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. (John 17:20-21, emphasis added)

No matter who we elect, unless we repent and come together as friends, our nation will never be ultimately healed. Jesus says so: Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. (Matt. 12:25)

Source: Tom Demaree - Pentecost Walk e-Newsletter, 6 Nov 2016, http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?m=1101890603611&ca=06af368b-6e1c-4580-9e3b-690d5b14c240

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Quoting Steven McDonald, a NYPD officer shot by a teenager and paralyzed:

When I was a very young kid, Dr. King came to my town in New York. My mother went to hear him speak, and she was very impressed by what she heard. I hope you can be inspired by his words too. Dr. King said that there's some good in the worst of us, and some evil in the best of us, and that when we learn this, we'll be more loving and forgiving. He also said, "Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it's a permanent attitude." In other words, it is something you have to work for. Just like you have to work to keep your body fit and your mind alert, you've got to work on your heart too. Forgiving is not just a one-time decision. You've got to live forgiveness, every day.

Source: Johann Christoph Arnold - Why Forgive?, pp.181

Why Does The Leader Of YWAM Work For Unity?

My dad’s last admonition to me before he died was to focus on the restored unity of the Church, so in spite of my huge responsibilities in Youth With A Mission, The International Reconciliation Coalition and its repentance prayer initiatives remain a significant priority when expending our limited time and energy.

Source: John Dawson - Personal intercessory email, 13 Dec 2017

Traci Blackmon

Echoing Carter’s concerns was Traci Blackmon, acting executive minister of justice and witness for the United Church of Christ. A well-known speaker on race and religion, Blackmon offered a pastoral presence in Ferguson, Mo., following the fatal police shooting of black teenager Michael Brown in 2014.

“It often seems like justice can take forever. But we cannot give up. We cannot quit,” she said.

Prayer is an essential component in the struggle but is most effective when we “pray with our feet,” Blackmon said, quoting the 19th-century social reformer and abolitionist Frederick Douglass: “I prayed for freedom for 20 years, but received no answer until I prayed with my legs.”

“God so desires our obedience and cooperation that God is unwilling to carry out God’s purposes until men and women have energized and honored their participatory role in their own prayers,” she said.

“I am not suggesting that work and prayer are the same thing. Work is not a substitute for prayer. They are not to be equated but neither are they to be separated. Prayer must include the obedience of one’s conviction and a willingness to seek that which is good and just. Dormant prayer must not be a substitute for action.”

Blackmon said those advocating for racial justice could take hope in a parable found in the Gospel of Luke describing an unjust judge who neither feared God nor respected people, but who nevertheless granted justice to a widow who persisted until she received it. Though the text explicitly says the judge never “changed his heart or mind,” the widow’s dogged persistence effected a change in his behavior.

Source: Traci Blackmon - As quoted by Robert Dilday, "Racial reconciliation tough but essential, say leaders at New Baptist Covenant summit", Baptist News Global, 19 September 2016, https://baptistnews.com/article/racial-reconciliation-tough-but-essential-say-leaders-at-new-baptist-covenant-summit/#.V-VcYZMrI0q

TJCII Europe - Is Your Heart Weeping?

We are almost at the end of octave of The Week of Prayers for Christian Unity🙏🙏🙏 which is dedicated to the meetings and prayers of Christians from different denominations💒⛪️💒 for the unity of those whose Jesus is the Lord.

Prayer for unity is also in the heart of TJCII however we see strongly the key role of Israel🇮🇱 and repentance😥 in the work of healing and reconciliation of the Body of Christ. These are elements which are sometimes overlooked in the ecumenical initiatives.

What we discover in the TJCI journey🛤🛣 is that the beginning of all reconciliation and unity work lies in humility, repentance and deep sorrow over the division💔😥.

❓Ask yourself: Is your heart weeping because the Body of Messiah is broken❓

Source: TJCII Europe - Posted on Facebook, 24 Jan 2020

Joined Together Constantly In Prayer

On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” ... They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

Source: Bible - Acts 1:4, 14

Peter's Justification For Baptizing (gasp!) Gentiles

15) As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on these non-Jews just as he came upon us Jews on the day of Pentecost. (16) Then I remembered what the Lord told us, ‘John baptized in water, but you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit.’ (17) So if God gave non-Jews the same gift of the Holy Spirit that he gave to us Jews who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could resist the ways of God?” (18) When the Jews heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, “God has also given repentance to non-Jews that leads to eternal life.”

Source: Peter - As quoted by Luke in Acts 12:15-18 (IEB)

Pope Francis --> Youth @ Riga

The Pope hopes that these days that bring you together in Riga will help you not to be afraid of your limits but to grow in trust in Jesus, the Christ and Lord, who believes and hopes in you. May you, in the simplicity to which Brother Roger bore witness, build bridges of friendship and make visible the love with which God loves us.

From the depths of his heart, the Holy Father gives you his blessing, to you young people participating in this meeting, to the Brothers of Taizé, and to all the people who welcome you in Riga and the surrounding region.

Source: Pope Francis - As quoted in "Pope sends message to Taizé youth gathering" by Vatican Radio, 27 Dec 2016, http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2016/12/27/pope_sends_message_to_taize_youth_gathering/1281913

Boston, 2017

Do we need energizing reminders in these turbulent times that this call to unity, this vocation, is more real and needed than ever? Yes, we do. And the signs are there that the Holy Spirit is alive and active, lighting the fire in our hearts for more visible communion with one another as followers of Jesus.

Such signs were manifest in Boston during the January 18-25 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. There was a prayer gathering in a different denominational church each night of the week. On the opening evening, Wednesday, Christians from around the city gathered in an Evangelical church. On Thursday evening, people came together in an Eastern Orthodox church. And on Friday evening there was an energizing service of song and prayer in a Pentecostal church.

Source: Thomas Ryan, CSP - "Keep the Fire Burning", Paulist Fathers blog post, 6 February 2017, http://www.paulist.org/the-conversation/keep-the-fire-burning/

Austrian Round Table

This consortium – calling themselves the Round Table – of Protestant Free Church and State Church leaders, Evangelical mission leaders, leaders of Catholic movements meets approximately twice a year for three days at a trot under the chairmanship of Catholic Diakon Mag. Johannes Fichtenbauer, the Deacon of Vienna and Cardinal Schönborn’s assigned representative to the non-Catholic Christian groups of Austria. Their theological basis can be found in the German original at the website Weg der Versöhnung, http://wegderversoehnung.christen.at/.

Source: Paul Miller - Footnote 25 of "Evangelicals Cooperatively Evangelising & Discipling with Catholics in Faithfulness to Evangelical Distinctives", by Paul Miller

Christ at the Center

Pope Francis hailed the fact that Catholics and evangelicals are commemorating the historic events of the Reformation together “in order to put, once again, Christ at the center of their relations.” He recalled that deep down the church reformers were “animated and restless” about how “to indicate the road to Christ.” He said that should be at the heart of Catholic and evangelical efforts today as they move forward on the road to unity.

Pope Francis welcomed a joint evangelical-Catholic initiative in Germany to hold a ceremony of penance and reconciliation in March because “to heal memory, to witness to Christ” is an ecumenical task.

Source: Gerard O'Connell - "German Evangelical Church issues historic invite to Pope Francis", America : The Jesuit Review, 6 Feb 2017, http://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2017/02/06/german-evangelical-church-issues-historic-invite-pope-francis

What Would Paul Say To The Church Today?

This is a matter that first came home to me when I was doing my PhD work in the book of Galatians. In Galatians 2, Paul severely rebukes Peter because Peter's no longer having meals with Gentiles, he's withdrawn from unity with the Gentiles … and I began to think, what would Paul say to the church today, if he came back and saw the fracturing of the church? And that drove home to me the tragedy of modern Christianity, the disunity of the Church.

Source: Dr. Peter Leithart - Preview of his new book, The End of Protestantism, at https://youtu.be/jUYFftPlfyI

Dwight Longenecker

The idea that Evangelicals can make a real contribution to Catholicism is not simply an Evangelical impertinence insulting to Catholic sensibilities. Even Evangelical converts to Catholicism – often the most hard-core of Catholics – can welcome Evangelical outreach. For instance, Dwight Longenecker – once a Bob Jones Fundamentalist, then an Anglican vicar before finally ending up in the Catholic camp – writes, “I stand here calling myself an evangelical Catholic. I value, and thank God for, the Evangelical customs and traditions in which I was brought up. I want ordinary Catholics to become more aware of the riches of that Evangelical tradition.” (Longenecker 2003, p. 17)

Source: Paul Miller - Footnote 3 of "Evangelicals Cooperatively Evangelising & Discipling with Catholics in Faithfulness to Evangelical Distinctives", by Paul Miller

Thomas Campbell, 1809

Many Presbyterians, such as Thomas Campbell, his son Alexander Campbell, and Barton W. Stone, were fed up with the divisive spirit. This frustration is evident in Thomas Campbell’s Declaration and Address (1809), a sort of manifesto for unity in the church. Campbell insists: "that division among christians is a horrid evil, fraught with many evils. It is anti-christian, as it destroys the visible unity of the body of Christ; as if he were divided against himself, excluding and excommunicating a part of himself. It is anti-scriptural, as being strictly prohibited by his sovereign authority; a direct violation of his express command."

Source: Keith D. Stanglin - "The Restoration Movement, the Habit of Schism, and a Proposal for Unity", by Dr. Keith D. Stanglin, in Christian Studies, Volume 28, August 2016, http://austingrad.edu/Christian%20Studies/CS%2028/Proposal%20for%20Unity.pdf

Mutual Encouragement

And so we came to Rome. The brothers there had heard that we were coming, and they traveled as far as the Forum of Appius and the Three Taverns to meet us. At the sight of these men Paul thanked God and was encouraged.

Source: Bible - Acts 26:14-15

Reformers & the Creeds

Even the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformers, especially magisterial men like Martin Luther and John Calvin, understood that there was an established historical foundation deeply rooted in the Scripture. The creeds and the doctrines taught by a consensus of the early church fathers were continually appealed to by all the great Protestant Reformers. For them, common faith was expressed in the earliest ecumenical creeds.

Source: John Armstrong - Your Church is Too Small, p. 19

A Lutheran Bishop Honor Other Streams

The Lutheran bishop of Austria ( we have only one) went with us for 3 hours when we did the "Way of the Book" where bibles and other lutheran books were smuggled from Germany to the hidden-protestants in Austria. We all came to the conclusion that all these Christians Waldensians, Anabaptists and Protestants are an example for us how to live our faith in times of condemnation.

Source: Verena Lang - Report on the Austrian Way of Repentance pilgrimage, August 2016

John Dawson & Jeremiah

The great intercessors of the Bible all approached God with a genuine sense of shame and embarrassment. They did not come into God's presence in order to cover up sin but to agree with His assessment of it, to face with stark honesty the wickedness of the culture around them. The prophet Jeremiah is a good example of this, as he stated:

"... For they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know Me, declares the Lord. Everyone take heed to his neighbor, and do not trust any brother; for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbor will walk with slanderers. Everyone will deceive his neighbor, and will not speak the truth; they have taught their tongue to speak lies, and weary themselves to commit iniquity." (Jeremiah 9:3-5)

Intercession is not an escape from reality. Our communication with God must be rooted in the truth - the eternal truth of His holy standards and the awful truth about our society as God sees it. The intercessor experiences the broken heart of God through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. The intercessor also identifies with the sin of the people, because the intercessor has personally contributed to God's grief.

Source: John Dawson - What Every Christian Should Know About Reconciliation, p. 19

"Mississippi of the Spirit"

But today our sovereign God is drawing many streams together that heretofore have been separated from one another. It is a little like the Mississippi River, which gains strength and volume as the Ohio and Missouri and other rivers flow into it. So in our day God is bringing together a mighty "Mississippi of the Spirit."

Source: Richard Foster - Streams of Living Water, p. xv

Trey Kent

AWAKENING #3 I’ve always hated racism, but more passively than actively. Recently Jesus told me that the prayer movement would be a key part in seeing racial walls come down. The last few weeks I’ve been on a crash course reading two Martin Luther King, Jr. books and one about the slave turned statesman named Fredrick Douglas. I’ve recently joined two citywide groups of leaders that are working to end racism in ATX and to bring John 17 unity to our city. All because God said, get busy working to see My church become one!

Source: Trey Kent - "A Pastor's Heart" blog post on Northwest Fellowship, 7 July 2020
https://northwestfellowship.com/blog/2020/07/07/a-pastors-heart