Uniting a disunited church (1), By Ayo Akerele

The body of Christ needs to wake up and get back to the message of the kingdom. Jesus said, “my kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). This kingdom is not consumption oriented. It is demonstrated by decreasing our influence for Christ to increase His influence. We need to come down from our high horses of greed that are built around the mandate and passion to outbuild and outperform ourselves in cash, in numbers, and in kind. Jesus is coming to rapture His body, not a privileged member of the body.

“Does not wisdom cry out, And understanding lift up her voice? (Proverbs 8:1)

Now that many in the new generation, our children, are asking us very serious questions on the confusing and conflicting practices that dominate the landscape of the Christian faith, should we continue to keep quiet? Should we pretend that all is well, when we all know that is far from the truth? Should we continue to tread the faulty lines and paths of “face your ministry” when, if care is not taken, twenty years from today, there may not be any ministry to face again? Interestingly, the same warning was given to the Turkish church in its hey days, but which it flagrantly dismissed. Today, history has proven to be right, 98 per cent of the Christian community in Turkey has been wiped off. ​

Brethren, the onus is on you and I to rise to the challenge by confronting and conquering this monster of disunity in the church on our knees and by our actions, at least to the best of our abilities. In doing this, we are certainly helping to preserve the sanctity of the gospel for the next generation.

Of all the amazing theories I studied in my undergraduate years, the study on the “Gestalt theory of systems engineering” stood out. My systems engineering professor did a fantastic job in the approach he employed on the “Gestalt theory.” Developed by a German, this theory simply proposes that, “the whole of anything is greater than its parts.” But I frontally disagree on the validity of the original source.  This incredible principle was borrowed from the Bible. Jesus is the original author of this kingdom mindset, for the lack of the right word. He said in His word, and I quote, “And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one” (John 17:22).

Are we one? Does the picture of today’s church in any way strike the image of oneness in your heart? Beloved, you and I live in the most disunited church since the early days of the Apostles. We are divided in doctrines, values, followership, and mentorship – a sad situation that has produced a very weak church whose influence on earth continues to dwindle at a very worrisome rate. The mantra, “united we stand, divided we fall” rarely means anything to many of our church leaders for as long as each leader’s individual ministries continue to grow in cash, numbers, and influence.

Probably the strongest tool of destruction of any movement on earth today is the force of disunity.

That evil personified entity, the pioneer of the famed “German Third Reich”, Adolf Hitler, was quoted as saying, “the best way to capture your enemies is to divide them.” True to his words, the weapon of disunity was deployed against the German church. Hitler fractured the church leadership, using the bait of money and other material inducements to balkanise the church community. Yes, that was what he did. It is called “balkanisation,” which is the method of dividing people to ultimately ensuring that the divided entities eventually become sworn enemies. It is one thing to be divided into different entities, while remaining friends even in our divided platforms. Balkanisation makes the divided entities to become enemies of one another.

What is the overarching outcome of a body whose heart is rooted in love? It is called, “kingdom mindedness.” It is the art of cultivating a heart for advancing the purpose of God on earth, with a focus that’s beyond your personal welfare and interests, but for the wider benefits of the entire body of Christ, in a manner that ultimately brings glory to God.

At the very root of the gospel is the force of Love. This is the greatest of all Christian virtues, which Jesus died and resurrected to uphold. He told His disciples in plain terms, “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).

What is the overarching outcome of a body whose heart is rooted in love? It is called, “kingdom mindedness.” It is the art of cultivating a heart for advancing the purpose of God on earth, with a focus that’s beyond your personal welfare and interests, but for the wider benefits of the entire body of Christ, in a manner that ultimately brings glory to God.

Kingdom-mindedness is not about living your life to please yourself or your career or your calling or your ministry alone, but about pleasing God and extending this love beyond yourself to your neighbour, to other pastors, to other churches, and to every other son and daughter of God in the kingdom, to the best of your ability. A kingdom man lives for the body of Christ. Conversely, the body of Christ lives for a selfish man. But as we speak, Satan has successfully divided us into various cliques in the body of Christ; cliques that would have buried the influence and impact of the early church, had they dared to fall for that bait.

Yes, it is true that there are some entities in the body of Christ who are sold out to full blown falsehoods, with whom it is impossible and unrealistic to attain the position of unity. Agreed. But how united has been the remaining section of the church which truly shares very robust levels of doctrinal unity? In what we teach and practice as a church, how have we shown the virtues and values of unity? How many of our church leaders consider the plight of pastors in other churches prior to establishing branches of their churches in the same locations where struggling churches presently exist?

Apostle Paul has done the church a lot of favour in his detailed teachings around how the body of Christ should function. In his analogy, Paul used the typology of the human body to explain the level of strategic dependence that we all share with one another. In this typology, Paul alludes to the fact that every member of the body of Christ, the true church, functions interdependently like the physical body functions, where the eye, the hand, the head, the ​feet, and other parts of the body compliment each others.

“And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it” (1 Corinthians 12:26).

In the early church, the prosperity of one member was the prosperity of the whole church? Why will the God whose word has been made greater than His name instruct a servant of His to invest his resources solely on the expansion of his “own mandate” amidst several other needy and struggling members of the body? It doesn’t add up. It doesn’t represent the values of the true God of the Bible.

In other words, God has arranged the church in a way that the prosperity or failure of a member should actually be the prosperity or failure of the rest of the members of the body. This kind of mindset promotes deep love and compassion in the church and erodes greed, egocentrism, and competition from our midst. Why then should my wealth be solely used to further my own cause amidst a population of poor members of the body?

In the early church, the prosperity of one member was the prosperity of the whole church? Why will the God whose word has been made greater than His name instruct a servant of His to invest his resources solely on the expansion of his “own mandate” amidst several other needy and struggling members of the body? It doesn’t add up. It doesn’t represent the values of the true God of the Bible.

“Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles’ feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need.” (Acts 4:34-35).

It is the spirit of mammon that has craftily penetrated the rank and file of the church and its leadership, producing a distorted message of the gospel, that has successfully disconnected the church from its real identity and from the kingdom mandate. It is a Satanic attack that must be resisted. There are two forces in charge of the church – the force of the genuine God who is totally committed to His word and the force of mammon, which is acutely anti-kingdom, but pro personal empire.

The body of Christ needs to wake up and get back to the message of the kingdom. Jesus said, “my kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). This kingdom is not consumption oriented. It is demonstrated by decreasing our influence for Christ to increase His influence. We need to come down from our high horses of greed that are built around the mandate and passion to outbuild and outperform ourselves in cash, in numbers, and in kind. Jesus is coming to rapture His body, not a privileged member of the body.

Ayo Akerele is the senior pastor of Rhema Assembly and the founder of the Voice of the Watchmen Ministries in Ontario, Canada. He can be reached through ayoakerele2012@gmail.com