The No. 1 problem facing the church today is a lack of unity. There are a lot of people who have very similar values but who are constantly and maliciously divided by small, meaningless details that are pushed through media channels and by groups who profit over such divisions.
We need to come back to our foundational values that unite us and hold us in empathy and accountability for one another.
I had a vivid dream in 2008. I was standing on the shores of a beautiful lake with my friend Mike Bickle, the founder of the International House of Prayer. The sun was going down and the sky was a brilliant purple-red color. Bickle pointed his finger over the lake and asked, “Do you see that huge angel over the lake?” I told him, “No.” He said, “Just keep looking,” still pointing in the same direction.
Suddenly I saw an enormous angel where Bickle was pointing. This angel had a large net in his hands. As soon as I saw this angel, thousands of other angels appeared at once. All the angels were holding nets, some of them in groups of four with each angel holding a corner of a net. At the same time, the angels went into the lake and came right out with their nets filled with fish. I knew in my dream that the harvest angels had been released. (See Matthew 13:39.)
Then I heard the Lord say in a loud, resounding voice, “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:3, NIV)!
I don’t know why Bickle was standing next to me. He could be representing the prophetic movement and I the apostolic. Or it could be that God wants us to move in unity even if our theology is different (not that it is between the two of us; Bickle and I would agree on almost everything pertaining to the kingdom).
Whatever the dream means, I do know that God wants us to work (“make every effort”) to walk in unity and love with one another. I believe that, as of this writing, the Billion-Soul Harvest has begun. But we must deal with the root issues that cause disunity.
First, we must address doctrinal differences. My appeal here is that there are always going to be doctrinal differences on secondary doctrinal issues. If the major orthodox beliefs are the same (that is, the divinity of Jesus and so forth), I believe that we can work together and come together in unity and prayer.
Having been part of the unity movement since 1992, I am learning that what is more important than doctrine is having a united vision and united values. I think different streams and denominations can come together over the vision of seeing revival and reformation in their nation. Seeing a nation reformed will mean having a measure of the following values restored. This is not an exhaustive list, but it is a list of values that I see uniting people from different denominations.
- A pro-life value leading to reformation as reflected in the pro-life legislation being passed in the United States of America. This begins with Roe v. Wade being overturned, resulting in the states passing pro-life laws to outlaw abortion on a state-by-state level. Along with evangelical believers being pro-life, we have a major concern with helping the poor, the single parent, the marginalized and vulnerable members of our society at every stage of development and in every condition—including the unborn, the disabled and the dependent.
- The value of religious freedom. We all want to enjoy the freedom to worship in person and not have the state interfere with the free exercise thereof.
- Personal freedom. As of this writing, the political leader of our nation has ordered a vaccine mandate for every federal worker, and then he took the next step to mandate that public companies with 100 or more workers must force all employees to be vaccinated or the companies will face fines. Unfortunately, companies are enforcing the vaccine mandate by firing people who refuse to get the vaccine. These egregious and totalitarian decrees coming from the government and woke companies must be resisted by all who believe in personal freedom. The issue is not the vaccine but the government forcing people to get the vaccine. We believers can unite around the value of personal freedom.
- The biblical value of family. God defines marriage as between a man and a woman (see Gen. 2:24), and we must uphold this.
- Our biblical understanding of one’s identity as male or female. (See Gen. 1:27.) This includes rejecting the notion that you can choose your gender depending on what you are thinking or feeling like you want to do that day.
- The unity between Jew and Gentile as reflected in Jesus’ High Priestly prayer in John 17. Jesus prayed divine oneness among His Jewish disciples and “also for those who believe in Me through their word” (v. 20)—that is, Gentiles that would come to salvation. (See verses 20-23.) Indeed, Jesus went to the cross not only to offer forgiveness but also to establish peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating “in Himself one new man from the two” (Eph. 2:15, NKJV). According to John 17:21, this unified relationship is a catalytic key to seeing a global harvest of souls, so “that the world may believe” that Jesus is the Messiah. As we get nearer to the second coming of the Lord, we are being called to a greater demonstration of God’s love between Jewish believers and Gentile believers in Jesus. (See John 13:34-35.)
Other things that divide the church are what I call “carnal, fleshy issues” like jealousy, the spirit of competition, pride, selfish ambition and the like. We must crucify the flesh if we want to be followers of Jesus (see Gal. 5:24), and we can’t let another person’s greater gifts or sphere of ministry cause us to shy back from unity because of these carnal issues. We need to repent and see that God values unity to the point that He devoted a whole chapter of the Bible (John 17) to praying that we would be one as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one.
Unity in the body of Christ is a powerful force that will testify to the world the lordship of Jesus Christ and the power of the Spirit of God. When linked together in unity, our prayers are joining a battle in the heavenly realms, sparking change that God wants to see take place on the earth.
We must see that we are not in competition with one another, but we are competing against the enemy. We must unite if we want to see God’s kingdom come in power and bring about the transformation of nations that we are all longing for. {eoa}
Dr. Ché Ahn and his wife, Sue, have been the senior pastors of Harvest Rock Church in Pasadena, California, since 1994. Dr. Ahn is the president of Harvest International Ministry and the International Chancellor of Wagner University. He has authored numerous books, including his latest release, Turning Our Nation Back to God Through Historic Revival. For more information about Dr. Ahn, his ministries and his resource materials, visit cheahn.org, harvestrock.church, harvestim.org, wagner.university and revivecal.org.
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