One Church

We are currently participating, along with over 1600 other churches in over 20 different countries, in a series called One Prayer at LifePoint. Today we heard from Craig Groeschel, the pastor of LifeChurch.tv and the guy that launched the idea for this series. (he also is the author of a one of the best books I've ever read: Confessions of a Pastor

The idea of one prayer is that the church would be unified...with our focus on the ONE. First, and foremost, we have to understand that the church DOES NOT exist for US. We should not have a consumer attitude when we attend church. The church exists for the world and to bring God glory!!

Groeschel gave a great example of how the kids in the backseat fight over important stuff on long trips...who sits in the middle, which song to play on the radio, who crossed which line, etc. The church is no different! We fight in our church and amongst other churches over the same type of important stuff. What style of music, what clothes to wear, which version of the Bible to use, etc.

What would happen if the church came together with these 3 common ones?
ONE enemy - satan...not other churches, religions
ONE heart - to serve and love people
ONE purpose - to make His name known & bring Him ALL the glory

Groeschel also highlights that if TODAY the church would be unified...this is what we could do in a week:
Monday - eliminate starvation
Tuesday - give everyone access to clean drinking water
Wednesday - meet all medical needs
Thursday - eliminate poverty
Friday - meet the needs of all orphans
Saturday - have the whole world not only know the name of Jesus, but SEE it
Sunday - praise our Lord like never before

Now...if you think those sound far-fetched, let me give you a statistic that David Nasser told us last week at camp. (given to him from World Vision)

If less than 7% of churched people would step up and decide they have an extra room to open up for a child....there would be no parent-less child left.