ToGather in the Name of Unity

Written By: Hunter Poppa, NM Volunteer

A Sunday morning on a college campus typically means quiet stillness—maybe a jogger or two breaking out early to beat the Florida heat, or the occasional early-riser getting a head start on prime studying real estate in the library—the quads and walking paths slow to come back to life. But on this particular Sunday, a subtle roar begins to build from the Yuengling Center at the University of South Florida. By the hundreds and eventually thousands, people begin to file into the arena, not in the name of team spirit for a basketball game or gymnastics meet, but to worship Elohim Chayim—the Living God.

Over five thousand people were registered to come together with one accord to celebrate the unity of Jesus’s bride, the Church, and to pray for our beautiful Tampa Bay under the banner of “ToGather.” Slated for Sunday, May 19th, this morning of worship, prayer, and surrender fittingly coincided with Pentecost—the birthday of the Church. Sisters and brothers packed the bleachers of the Yuengling Center, filling the floor of the arena and reaching up to the nosebleeds. As thousands of voices cried out to God in praise and flags were being waved victoriously from the rafters, the 17 Bay Area churches that had closed their doors to worship as one body on this Sunday laid down any denominational differences in the name of unity.

In John 17:20-23, just before Jesus is arrested and then crucified, he lifts up a beautiful prayer to God the Father in the name of Unity: “‘My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.’” We have here in the words of Jesus, Himself, His clear desire for us—His hands and feet—to be one as He and the Father are one. A oneness that transcends denominations and differences, styles of worship and preaching, language and culture. A oneness that shouts to the world in unmistakable love: We are the hands and feet of Jesus Christ.

We see a moving picture of this prayer answered in the Early Church as recorded in the Book of Acts; these believers “were together and had everything in common…they broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God.” They all “were one in heart and mind,” and if anyone questioned the potency of their ministry, we can know that “God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them” as they, with great power, “continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.” (Acts 2:42-27, Acts 4:32-35)

Unity is the unstoppable force used by the Holy Spirit to deploy the Church in the footsteps of Jesus, preaching the good news of the Gospel and serving the least of these. This is where community change happens. This is why on Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit first came to live in the hearts of believers, we see three thousand were saved and baptized as a result of Peter’s sermon delivered in the power of the Spirit (Acts 2:41). Fifty days following the resurrection of Jesus, you see the birth of His Church, and the world would never be the same from that point on.

That is why moments like ToGather are to be celebrated; the DNA of the Church is being fully reflected by the power of the Holy Spirit as we worship all that Jesus has accomplished by His death and resurrection to the glory of God the Father. No denominations, no division, only unity in Christ. Led by several local pastors, the thousands of believers in the arena prayed for Tampa Bay—for the broken and the downcast, for the widows and the orphans, for the hungry and the homeless, for the sick and the lost, and for the very revival of the Church. Also present were 40 organizations equipped by God to answer the call to defend the unborn, to clothe and feed the shelterless, to give the orphan a home, and to free those trapped in the modern day slavery of human trafficking—all of which were there to immediately connect the believer to local ministry and action.

We are all called to oneness as followers of Christ. We cannot practice the Way of Jesus without submitting to unity in the Church. We were never meant to be divided by our differences, but surrendered to our common belief in the One Who loves us and gave Himself for us. In a time of such division, my prayer is that the world would know the heart of the Living God we serve by the love and unity of His Church. As parts of the body of Christ, how can each of us celebrate the oneness we share in Jesus with how we live each day?

At The No More Foundation, we consider it an honor to partner with churches across the greater Tampa Bay Area and across the nation. If you and your church would like to learn more about what this would look like, please feel free to contact us by clicking HERE. We look forward to working alongside you to be the hands and feet of Jesus to those in need.