{"id":634368,"date":"2024-02-01T09:46:48","date_gmt":"2024-01-31T22:46:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hillsong.com\/collected\/?p=634368"},"modified":"2024-02-15T12:25:11","modified_gmt":"2024-02-15T01:25:11","slug":"faith-for-increased-unity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hillsong.com\/collected\/ja\/blog\/2024\/02\/faith-for-increased-unity\/","title":{"rendered":"Faith For Increased Unity"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u7533\u3057\u8a33\u3042\u308a\u307e\u305b\u3093\u3001\u3053\u306e\u30b3\u30f3\u30c6\u30f3\u30c4\u306f\u305f\u3060\u4eca\u3000\u30a2\u30e1\u30ea\u30ab\u82f1\u8a9e<\/a>\u3000\u306e\u307f\u3067\u3059\u3002<\/p>

The beginning of every year is a natural built-in opportunity to reflect on the lives we are living.\u00a0 Fasts of all sorts are happening, as Christians all over the world are asking God for clarity for the year ahead.\u00a0 My dream as we do this, is that we include asking God to direct us as a global community on how to increase our efforts towards ethnic and racial unity.\u00a0 In quoting our Senior Global Pastor Lucinda in one of her recent messages<\/a>, \u201cI have faith for this.\u201d<\/p>\n

In John 17:21-23 we find one of the few recorded prayers by Jesus.\u00a0 It is a very radical prayer.\u00a0 It was countercultural then and it still is.\u00a0\u00a0 Interestingly, Jesus prays for all of us, for unity.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t matter where you live in the world, your walk of life, age, race, ethnicity, culture, your profession and your ministry calling.\u00a0 The prayer is for every single Christ follower living and who would live.\u00a0 That alone is powerful.<\/p>\n

I encourage you in the next few weeks to read Jesus\u2019s prayer for our unity a few times.\u00a0 Meditate on it.\u00a0 Look at it in different translations of Scriptures.\u00a0\u00a0 Read books that break it down.\u00a0 Let\u2019s look at part of the prayer in the Message translation:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe goal is for all of them to become one heart and mind\u2014<\/p>\n

Just as you, Father, are in me and I in you,<\/p>\n

So they might be one heart and mind with us.<\/p>\n

So they\u2019ll be as unified and together as we are\u2014<\/p>\n

I in them and you in me.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is important to note that God does not pray for uniformity.\u00a0 Uniformity is something completely opposite from unity.\u00a0 Uniformity has everyone acting the same, it is sameness.\u00a0 Which if God wanted His creation to be the same this would have been part of His divine design.\u00a0 Instead, Jesus is praying that in our diversity we would become one in heart and mind.\u00a0 God wants us to be authentically who He created us to be as ethnically and racially diverse humans.\u00a0 He wants us to love and worship Him in His divine design for us as image bearers of Him.\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t want us to water that down, because if we do, we essentially are watering down His divine design.<\/p>\n

The reality is that the work of unity is an ongoing intentional journey.\u00a0 Here are a few considerations for you to reflect on to individually assess your own efforts and journey:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Consider whether ethnic and racial unity is a priority within your church community.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Consider whether you have made God in your own image, to look like the race and ethnicity you are.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

       <\/p>\n

        \n
      1. Consider whether you are letting worry about the topic be a barrier. So much so that it\u2019s an obstacle to you doing the work.\u00a0 Worried you will get it wrong.\u00a0 Worried of what you might have to give up.\u00a0 Worried you might feel uncomfortable.\u00a0 Worried about what others might think.\u00a0 Worried about the amount of work needed to bring us to ethnic and racial healing and unity.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

         <\/p>\n

        Recently I was talking with my friend Dave Ware, who has been a worship pastor for many years within our church.\u00a0 It was beautiful to listen to him share his heart for God, worship, and for unity.\u00a0 I especially remember him sharing about the writing of the song \u201cThis I Believe, The Creed.\u201d\u00a0 He remembers being struck by the ethnic and racial diversity in the room, there being many people present.\u00a0 He also remembers the felt unity present as they wrote the lyrics of a very powerful song that I think we all are familiar with.\u00a0 It is a beautiful picture to me and is illustrated in another song \u201cGood Grace<\/a>\u201d by Hillsong United:<\/p>\n

        \u201cPeople come together
        \nStrange as neighbors, our blood is one
        \nChildren of generations
        \nOf every nation, of kingdom come<\/p>\n

        Don’t let your heart be troubled
        \nHold your head up high, don’t fear no evil
        \nFix your eyes on this one truth
        \nGod is madly in love with you\u201d<\/p>\n

        What if we took this heart posture for the work of ethnic and racial unity.\u00a0 What if this became part of our prayer?\u00a0 What if we came together with one heart and mind<\/u> to do the hard and complex work of ethnic and racial unity<\/em>.<\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n

        Written by:<\/em><\/p>\n

        Hillsong Global Ethnic and Race Diversity and Inclusion Manager\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

        Maria Hansen-Quine, LASW, MSW<\/em><\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n

        We acknowledge all First Peoples of the beautiful lands on which we live and celebrate their enduring knowledge and connections to Country. We honor the wisdom of and pay respect to Elders past and present.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        \u7533\u3057\u8a33\u3042\u308a\u307e\u305b\u3093\u3001\u3053\u306e\u30b3\u30f3\u30c6\u30f3\u30c4\u306f\u305f\u3060\u4eca\u3000\u30a2\u30e1\u30ea\u30ab\u82f1\u8a9e<\/a>\u3000\u306e\u307f\u3067\u3059\u3002<\/p>\n

        The reality is that the work of unity is an ongoing intentional journey.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54160,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15414],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFaith For Increased Unity - Collected<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hillsong.com\/collected\/nl\/blog\/2024\/02\/faith-for-increased-unity\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"ja_JP\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Faith For Increased Unity - Collected\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[:en]The reality is that the work of unity is an ongoing intentional journey.[:]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/hillsong.com\/collected\/nl\/blog\/2024\/02\/faith-for-increased-unity\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Collected\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-01-31T22:46:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-02-15T01:25:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"angelaheberley\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hillsong.com\/collected\/de\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/hillsong.com\/collected\/de\/\",\"name\":\"Collected\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/hillsong.com\/collected\/de\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"ja\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hillsong.com\/collected\/nl\/blog\/2024\/02\/faith-for-increased-unity\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/hillsong.com\/collected\/nl\/blog\/2024\/02\/faith-for-increased-unity\/\",\"name\":\"Faith For Increased Unity - 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