by Lee Berger
“How good and
pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!” (Psalm 133:1).
It all started with a phone call.
Pastor Gary Schwitz had been noticing
a vinyl banner sign that appeared on weekends in front of a small private
school. It had the name of a church on
it and included the pastor’s name and phone number. Over several weeks, Pastor Gary had thought
he should call the phone number, but this day he felt a compelling urge—almost
a command. So he stopped and wrote down
the number.
On Monday, Pastor Gary (of New
Journey Cumberland Presbyterian Church) made the phone call and spoke with
Pastor Lee Berger (of Grace Christian Fellowship). “Would you be interested in discussing the
idea of our two churches meeting in a regular unity worship service?” On Tuesday the two pastors met, both with
aging and numerically declining membership of their churches, but both groups
wanting to continue to worship with the people they have known for
decades.
Smaller numbers of members meant
less income to spend on benevolence, community aid, facilities and
programs. Older age of members meant
less energy to take care of the church responsibilities. But what if we brought together the two
groups of 20 and created a congregation of 40?
It doesn’t erase the fact of advanced age of many of the members, but it
does provide more people to provide income and tackle the needed chores.
And it doubles the number of
members participating in worship together.
More voices singing together, more people to assist with the sound
system, the music, the ushering, the Bible studies, the children’s
classes. More people to help with the
lawn care and the custodial duties. More
people to share in the potluck meals and to visit shut-in members at home or in
the hospital. Two part-time pastors to preach,
counsel and serve the shared needs of the group.
But more than anything else, two
long-time church groups of totally different denominations coming into unity
worship would make a clear statement about the power and purpose of unity
within the Church as the body of Jesus Christ.
“What would it be like if, rather than split and divide, two groups of
Christians joined together in unity?” Maybe
Christians of other churches and unbelievers in the community would see and
hear about the unity that comes from the love that God said would be the
identifying sign of all believers: “By this everyone will know that you are my
disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:35)
After several meetings and many
hours of discussion and prayer between the two pastors, the possibilities were
brought to the members of the congregations and pros and cons were openly
discussed. Pastor Lee got advice from
long-time pastors he respected, ideas were put into writing, doctrines and
church culture of both groups were researched and discussed, and all wanted to
follow the steady lead of the Holy Spirit.
Six weeks after Pastors Gary and
Lee first met, Pastor Lee’s members closed their church doors for a Sunday and
shared a worship service at New Journey’s owned facility—conducted in New
Journey’s normal style. Six weeks later,
New Journey came to Grace Christian’s rented facility to share in Grace
Christian’s worship service. All went
amazingly well, and there was a positive chemistry of the Holy Spirit. The potential benefits began to create a
feeling of excitement!
A few weeks later, both churches
embarked on a month-long “trial run” of unity worship at New Journey’s
facility. For four Sundays, aspects of
each group’s worship styles and songs were meshed to begin creating a “blended
service” that honored the history, culture and preferences of both groups. The pastors preached on alternating
Sundays.
After the four weeks, both groups agreed
wholeheartedly to make the unity worship permanent. The groups maintain their denominational
affiliations behind the scenes, but they share in worship, Bible classes,
social events, service projects and other functions. Two church families becoming one in
heart. On Easter Sunday, it was six
months since the two churches came together to the glory of God the Father, in
the name of Jesus Christ, and by the calling of the Spirit.
There were (and continue to be)
glitches in the process, but there is a lot of godly love and patience to
smooth over the rough spots. Overshadowing
any glitch is the exciting and permeating awe of shared worship, the joy of fellowship
with new church family, and a gut-level belief that God is leading the groups into
unity to glorify His name and to model harmony among followers of Jesus. In a small (but very meaningful) way, in a
quiet corner of the Christian community, a seed of unity is being planted.