Last weekend, the local church where I worship with my family, joined 30 other churches drawn from all the towns within the region called Medway in South East England.

It was 5-day event which culminated in a united worship service in which I was privileged to serve in one of the ministry teams. The event which was planned to coincide with the beginning of the London Olympics and was aptly tagged, ‘Medway More Than Gold’.

I was fascinated watching men and women of all races, tribe and colour come together and lift up their voices in worship. It was no wonder that the presence of God filled the huge tent which was set upon the Fort Pitt Hill.

For me, it was a small peek into how worship would be in heaven. The churches that came together definitely had different styles of worship and prayer but they all put their differences aside and came together in unified worship.  I remembered the scripture, ‘See how good and pleasant it is when brothers and sisters live together in harmony! ‘  (Psalm 133:1)

Many came to the event just because they were curious about what was going on in the white tent set upon the hill. Some of them heard the salvation message and either came forward or went away changed.

I came away from that meeting, persuaded that whenever we put our differences aside and choose to focus on Christ who unites us, we will achieve great feat for the Lord.

“After these things I saw a large crowd from every nation, tribe, people, and language. No one was able to count how many people there were. They were standing in front of the throne and the lamb. They were wearing white robes, holding palm branches in their hands,   and crying out in a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the lamb!" (Rev 7:9-10)

It is true that different congregations have different styles of worship and prayer. The differences are a natural consequence of the cultures and traditions of the people.  The differences however, should not divide the Church of Christ, they should rather create more doors to bring people from different cultures into the fold.

One of those I ministered to, was a white woman. I could see her hunger and need for the Lord. When I asked if she would like me to hold hands and pray with  her, she did not hesitate.  When I finished with her, I looked around me and saw people praying together. It did not matter whether the person praying was white and the one being prayed for was black.  It was for me a memorable event.

Christ is our unifying factor. His blessings, gifts and callings are the same no matter who or where you are. Let us promote what binds us together while paying less attention to the things that differentiates us.

 

Steve Popoola is the editor of Biblepraise Newsletter and the owner of Biblepraise Fellowship Online at http://www.biblepraise.org. He lives in London where he works as an IT professional. He is the Moderator/Editor of Biblepraise Newsletter. He can be reached through His email address, steve@biblepraise.org