Unity for Unity’s Sake?

There’s a couple of questions that come up when it comes to this idea of Unity among Christian fellowships on this campus. These are questions that are very important to engage and discuss together so that we can move forward together on this campus as a body of Christ. I would also like to offer my opinions and hopes for these questions. These questions and the influences of my answers come from this book i’m currently reading, called Campus Renewal by Justin Christopher. I would honestly recommend this book to all Christian leaders on campus.

Is this unity for unity’s sake?

“The goal is never unity. The goal was to see the transformation of the campus and to someday literally reach every unbelieving community on campus with the gospel. The goal was to see the campus transformed, not to unify.”

The ultimate goal is not just to have a bunch of Christians come together. That could be fun, but I can do that without putting a title on it. I could just go play basketball with a bunch of friends who happen to be Christians and put the label unity on it. Unity isn’t just when Christians from different fellowships are coming together for some kind of meeting, that could happen pretty easily. Plan a dinner, invite everyone you know, the chances that they’re from different fellowships won’t be that bad. But the ultimate goal here is to see the gospel of Jesus Christ actively transforming individual people’s lives first and foremost, and then intentionally coming together so that we may be praying and reaching out to transform the rest of the campus through the gospel. The glorification of God in our lives and on campus is the ultimate goal. The unity that comes through it is just a means to an end, and we should never be satisfied if it is. Therefore, if Christians are together, I hope that our time together is fruitful, joyful, and intentional, otherwise, go spend time with the non believers in your life that you should be reaching out to with the gospel.

Is it all going to be about events?

“We were sure that God would lead us at times to plan events, but the purpose of our meeting would be for prayer, not planning events. Our purpose for gathering was to get to know one another and to pray for awakening at [Cornell].”

It’s also very easy to point to the events and be satisfied with the success of some of them. But that’s not what we should be celebrating. We should be celebrating if people are falling out of love with the world and in love with Christ. We should be celebrating when a mass of people’s new hobby is reading God word and praying to Him every free second they have. The other stuff that comes from this intense love with God and with people, like outreach and prayer and praise events, are a plus, and sign of the fruit of what’s happening in our hearts, but can never and should never be the end goal of our efforts.

I believe that one of the most worthy things we can do is to be meeting with each other to share with each other what God’s doing in your lives, sharing prayer requests, and praying for one another and encouraging one another on in their own personal relationship with the Lord. Another thing that should be happening is the encouraging of reaching out to and praying for our friends on campus. If this was happening intentionally, we probably wouldn’t even need outreach events.

Are we all going to look the same?

“We talked about this concern and simply agreed that we could each best reach the campus if we maintained our differences and were who God called each of us to be. It was possible to pursue unity  and maintain diversity in a way that honored each other and honored God. Ironically, after 13 years of praying together each week, something unexpected has occurred. Now that we know each other so well, we are more different than ever, but in a healthy way, with each ministry knowing its part in the Body of Christ. ”

When I first arrived on campus, I kind of wished that we were all one big fellowship. I still kind of wish that could happen, but then again, I think it would be a logistical mess unless we were ridiculously organized. But as I’ve continued to spend more time here on campus and in fellowship with people from different fellowships, I realize that there’s a reason for the variety. Sure Campus Crusade for Christ is the most ethnically diverse fellowship on campus, but not everyone is comfortable with that. Korean Church at Cornell – English Ministry is in a prime spot to be reaching out to korean americans who feel comfortable with people like themselves. KCCU is in a prime spot to be reaching out to korean international students. FCA is in a pretty good spot to be reaching out to the athletes on campus. Cornell Chinese Christian Fellowship – Chinese internationals. Chinese Bible Study – Chinese Americans. Asian American InterVarsity – asian americans. You get the point. But the thing that needs to happen is that each and every single one of these fellowships need to understand and embrace their unique position not only on this campus, but also in the body of Christ here at Cornell. Each one of them also needs to be intentional about reaching out to the communities that they were created for. And the second they don’t, they’re not very useful, they’re just kind of sitting there.

My vision for working together – also influenced by the book

“Strategically working together to see Cornell University community transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ.”