In the Gospel of John, Chapter 17, Jesus prays to the Father that His Church would be one. I believe when Jesus prays to the Father, the Father will answer His prayer; He will bring about the unity of His Church through the power of the Holy Spirit. Such oneness is critical to the strength of the church and to the further establishment of God's kingdom on earth. The church today is under attack from many fronts: the materialistic world, the New Age movement, Islam, various Eastern mystery religions, and a proliferation of cults. If we are to stand against these attacks as the Body of Christ in the world today, then we must stand in the unity for which Christ prayed. But how do we stand?
   From its beginnings, the church has struggled to maintain unity; there were tensions, but there was also unity, and in that unity the early church literally faced the lions. Until the eleventh century unity was maintained, sometimes precariously, but it was maintained. In 1054, the conflict between the East and West escalated and there was a division. Since that time a grief has hung over the Body of Christ. In the fifteenth century with the advent of the Protestant Reformation, the church continued to splinter. Today there are more than 40,000 denominations.
   Since the split between East and West, there have been many attempts to bring the church back together; some have been sincere and godly, while others have been superficial and destructive. There have been movements to merge denominations, establish concordats, and set up dialogues. In this past century, however, many of the attempts have been narrow in scope or have advocated sacrificing key theological concepts for the sake of a false peace and unity. As a result, denominations have been created which end up standing for little, if anything, that resembles the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Again, I believe it is only the Holy Spirit Who will bring about the unity of the church. It is a gift when He graces us to participate in this reconciliation. If we attempt to bring unity in our own strength, at our own initiative, to fit our own opinions, or to satisfy our sentimentality, we do more harm than good. In order to avoid these pitfalls, we need to grow in our understanding of true ecumenism, to learn the strengths and gifts of Christians from other traditions, and to be attentive to the moving of the Holy Spirit. In Acts 2, we are told that the believers were gathered together in one accord. In the midst of that unity, the Holy Spirit was poured out upon them.
   I have found that wherever there is true ecumenism, the Holy Spirit is at work and there is a degree of tension. Usually when we think of tension, we are thinking of something negative. But not all tension is bad. I would like to share some of the ecumenical experiences I have had to explain what I mean.
   For over 30 years, as a result of a powerful move of the Holy Spirit, I have conducted healing services, not only in Maryland, but in many parts of the United States, and in a number of places around the world. It has been a blessing to see people come to Christ, to see people healed, and to see people's lives changed. In addition to these mighty works of God, I have also been blessed by the ecumenical nature of the services. Christians of various denominations are brought together at the services, and together, they worship the Lord in the three ancient streams of worship-charismatic, evangelical, and liturgical/sacramental.
   At healing services, I often ask those attending, "How many people here are Baptist? Catholic? Jewish believers? Pentecostal? Methodist? etc.?" I am amazed how in the midst of need, pain, suffering, and fear, denominational barriers come down, and people open themselves to the moving of a wonderful, loving God in a worship service different from their tradition. Over the years, we have come to realize that the Holy Spirit is doing a special work; not only are the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit manifested in miracles of healing, transformation, deliverance, etc., but the Spirit is bringing people together. I have seen God work powerfully as people willingly set aside differences and begin to worship God in unity, spirit, and truth.
   We believe God and pray to Him for healings while worshiping Him in three streams-in the Spirit, through the liturgy, and with a strong emphasis on the Gospel. There is a unity in the diversity of worship and worshipers. Yet, there is still a measure of tension as people from each denomination have reason to feel uncomfortable, whether they are uncomfortable with Holy Communion, speaking in tongues, or lively preaching. Among other things, this tension causes people to go to the Lord and reevaluate their preconceived ideas about other Christians. The Holy Spirit brings us together, works wonders, and expands our worship.
   In the establishment of the Life in Jesus Community, the ecumenical work begun by the Holy Spirit in the '70s at the healing services has continued. Within our resident community, we live together under life vows before the Lord Jesus Christ, seeking to work out with fear and joy the unity for which Jesus prayed. We are a community made up of people from Protestant backgrounds such as Methodist, Baptist, Lutheran, Episcopalian, and Assemblies of God. We also have members who love the Eastern traditions of Orthodoxy and members who have strong Roman Catholic backgrounds and leanings. With such a diverse group, spiritual and emotional feelings run deep and can create real tensions, yet we are struggling to be one with Him and with one another.
   Recently as I prayed about these tensions, God reminded me that a suspension bridge is held together by tension. Each side of the span is anchored in the bed rock by towers which go both deep and high. From these anchors and towers massive cables are strung. When the right amount of tension is achieved, the towers and cables will support the weight of the bridge as well as the weight of people, cars, and huge trucks. There are mighty mechanisms at the base of the towers where the tension of the cables is adjusted regularly to keep the bridge strong. Tension is essential for the bridge to function. If there is too much tension, the cables will snap, but if the tension is removed, the bridge will collapse.
   The three streams-the charismatic, evangelical, sacramental/liturgical-represent those towers and anchors which keep us firmly planted. They can be found in the Scriptures and in early church history. Let's take a closer look at each one.
   The word "charismatic" comes from the Greek word charisma which means gifts. When we say a church is charismatic or Pentecostal, we mean it is open to the movement of the Holy Spirit in its life and worship. The Church believes in the manifold gifts of the Holy Spirit as outlined in Romans 12:6-8 and I Corinthians 12:4-11. In the Scriptures, especially in Acts, and in church history, it is evident that the supernatural workings of the Holy Spirit were a vital part of the worship and life of the early church and its members.
   The evangelical stream places an important emphasis on Holy Scripture as the Word of God and on leading people into a deep, holy, and personal relationship with God. The evangelical tradition, in focusing on the Holy Scripture, has encouraged and taught the practical application of the Scripture to daily life.
   The sacramental and liturgical stream has its roots in the early church. The first Christians were Jewish, and they worshiped according to their liturgical traditions. Their worship was rich in signs, symbols, and sacraments. This is important: whether we realize it or not, everything dear to us is rich in symbolism. We are a symbolic people. Our wedding rings, our money, and our credit cards are all symbols. Even the pages of our Bible are linguistic symbols-symbolic of the word of God. God is so great that we would never be able to grasp Him or His love without our Christian symbols. The sacraments use natural things such as water, bread, wine, words, oil, and the laying on of hands as points of contact to provide us with supernatural strength, the grace from God necessary for our spiritual growth. In addition to the sacramental means of grace, the liturgy provides structure for worship so we might be a disciplined army of God.
   When the appropriate tension is maintained, these three streams provide a framework to span the painful gaps of disunity. Humanly speaking, in a community such as ours, maintaining the appropriate tension is impossible, but by the supernatural grace of God all things are possible.
   Some denominations are founded squarely in one stream, while others display more than one stream but still emphasize one more than the others. During the East/West split and more so during the Protestant Reformation, the church divided into various camps based upon the tradition or stream each was emphasizing.
   Various Protestant groups emphasized the Scriptures and/or the Holy Spirit. The Catholic and Orthodox groups divided with the primary emphasis on the sacraments and liturgy, with the Scriptures and the work of the Holy Spirit being important, but at times less emphasized. The different denominations became increasingly polarized as anger and hatred were exhibited among some in both camps. Over the years this anger has festered. It has been passed down to many of us without our being aware of it. As we release our part in this anger and ask the Lord for the grace of forgiveness, we help bring about unity one person at time.
   In our small way, here at Life in Jesus we hope to help span the gap of 1,000 years of anger, bitterness, mistrust, and war. Why? Because in Christ's love He has called us to this life. We feel the tension constantly, but we also know it to be a creative and healing tension, a tension that God honors. We believe the tension we bear supernaturally aids the unity of the church even though we are small and hidden.
   We see ecumenism worked out in our community in our daily life and worship. We seek to be faithful to God's Holy Word-not only to Scripture reading and preaching, but also to living out what we read and believe. In our worship we have the beauty, symbolism, and pageantry of ancient liturgy. We lift Jesus Christ in our singing through traditional hymns and contemporary songs and choruses. We are fed and nourished by the seven sacraments, the instruments of God's grace and power for life. We believe in the mighty working of the Holy Spirit in our day and forever. We continue to have healing services once a month. And, we welcome those of all denominations to worship with us.
   I have seen God working in healing services and in communities like our own through the moving of the Holy Spirit, through strong preaching, and through authentic, apostolic sacraments. As a result, people are coming together and finding new life with Christ Jesus and developing relationships with other Christians they thought would never be possible. We are one of many groups God is raising up for such a time as this. We believe God is working to restore His Church, not only to its ancient forms, but also to its ancient unity.
   Apart from God the church will not be reunited. The Church is His Body; He will heal and unite us. We can allow God to adjust the tension in our lives and be willing to stand as a piece in the suspension bridge to further the unity of the Church.