What exactly does Jesus mean by "oneness" when He prays for us in John 17? Having been a Young Life volunteer and then staff person for over 20 years combined, this oneness, or unity, with local youth workers and pastors has always been a difficult concept for me to put my finger on. Since YL is not connected with any specific church body or denomination, for years it was just easier to believe that this was more of a "conceptual unity." My "conceptual unity" would be like if I was driving behind a minivan with a HE>I bumper sticker, I would just know that together, we were here to glorify God and reach the nations. Boom. Done. Unity.
And even if Jesus' definition of unity included love, I can love you from afar. Just like I "love" people I see on TV across the globe. I mean, isn't it enough to know the youth pastor at the church we attended? I had "unity in purpose," if you will, with all the other youth workers in our community simply by knowing we were all doing God's work. We don't have to actually be WITH someone to have unity, there IS power in "unity in purpose."
But what if our young people witnessed a deeper unity amongst Christian adults? What could God do with that tangible relational picture of unity?
Recently, when I was asked to spend a few minutes sharing with a group of youth workers my thoughts on unity amongst youth workers, I had a list of thoughts founded in more of a conceptual definition of unity. I mean, youth workers can't possibly add one more thing to their schedule so let's just keep it simple, right? Conceptual unity is easier, it's convenient, and I already know that a typical youth worker is exhausted, overwhelmed, and needs to sleep for about 37 hours straight (speaking from experience here). But then, like God often does, He put a real life situation in front of me so I could peel back the layers and find out what I truly believed about Jesus' definition of unity. I mean, if Jesus is not only praying protection over this unity (in John 17), but also claiming that this unity is so powerful that people will know WHO JESUS IS as a result of it, shouldn't we pay close attention to His definition of unity? Isn't everything we do about making sure young people will know who Jesus is?
"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one- I in them and you in me-so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me." John 17:20-23
Two things stuck out to me when I read Jesus' prayer for us recently:
- Jesus is using the Trinity as our example of this oneness, and you can't get more relational than that. Like a tangible, "one person actually knowing another person" sort of relational.
- There is power in diversity. The Trinity is three different entities, with different strengths coming together as one. I don't think it is a huge jump to say that there is power in diversity, whether that be multigenerational, multigendered, multicultural, or yes, even multidenominational!
So back to the real-life situation. We have one single Young Life leader, Erik, at a local high school that I oversee. He has been faithfully plugging away for three years, building relationships with kids, bringing them to a neighboring Young Life club every Monday, sharing the love of Jesus with them, and all the while praying for a team of leaders to help him reach more kids. One day he happened to meet the Youth For Christ staff person, Annie, and as they chatted, they thought it was worth the three of us getting together for coffee to see if there was a way to work together in ministry at this high school.
Now, let me pause here for a minute to give you an honest look into my own sinful nature. And I am going to use the term "we" just in case you might see yourself having a similar reaction (wink, wink). There are a few immediate reactions, mostly sinful, that come up and get in the way of living out unity in these situations.
First, our own pride gets in the way. We tend to see differences through a negative lens, and when there are differing strategies or views, we almost always think we are right. "But their belief on baptism is so messed up!" "The way they structure their youth group is so boring!" "It is so chaotic at their youth group. Kids are totally out of control." "Our kids don't fit in with their kids, they are just . . . . different." And then the flip side of pride is our own insecurities. "What if I look like a failure compared to these other youth workers?" "Do they have their Masters in Divinity? Because I only have my Bachelor's degree!" "What if at our combined event, my kids act like idiots and make me look like a bad leader? Or what if my youth group kids like their leaders better?" So rather than be uncomfortable or take a chance of getting our pride hurt, we just stick to what and whom we know.
Secondly, our priorities are totally "out of whack." This relational unity with other youth workers just costs us too much. Our focus is so much on our own ministry (planning our games, our sermons, our events, our camps/missions trips, training our leaders, etc.) we don't have the time to see the bigger picture - God's picture. And unfortunately, we often determine our success by how many kids are coming to our ministry. So in order to feel good about ourselves, we put all our efforts into our ministry.
Thirdly, our own selfishness often is an obstacle to Jesus' unity. Being with other youth pastors, whether that is meeting monthly to pray, having lunch together, having combined youth events . . . it all costs us something. It will cost us time, resources, relational energy, etc. and lets be honest, it is just easier to do our own thing.
Ok so back to my real-life situation. Annie, Erik and I met, and through a series of meetings and lots of prayer, (and God having victory over my sinful nature mentioned above), we decided that THIS was an opportunity to live out the sort of unity Jesus was praying for. So Erik and Annie are starting an after school "club" in which adults from a variety of ministries and churches in the community, who love Jesus and love kids, are going to build relationships with kids, have fun, eat snacks, and share the good news of Jesus. It's simple. No church names, no ministry labels, just adults letting go of their pride and selfish nature, and making unity a priority. They already have two local youth pastors on board to join them and are continuing to invite others in the community. We have no idea how God is going to use it, but we are trusting that as we move towards the relational unity Jesus is praying for, young people are going to get a clearer picture of who Jesus is.
Building unity with others is not quantifiable. You can't necessarily show your supervisor or lead pastor a spreadsheet depicting results that come from having lunch with local youth pastors once a month. Or from meeting to pray with another youth pastor. Or from having a youth night together with a neighboring church. Or from simply being friends with the youth pastor down the street. Everything we do in youth ministry is because we believe if young people truly know who Jesus is, their lives will be changed forever. So we spend hours making sure kids have this opportunity to know Him and grow in their understanding of Him.
SO if we believe Jesus' own words, that unity can show others WHO JESUS IS, then shouldn't unity be one of the most important aspects of our ministry?