May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus. Romans 15:5
Morgan, Blessings and Grace share their own personal reflections about what unity means to them.
Morgan Malster, International Volunteer (Canada), Communications
“In the culture I come from we value autonomy over unity. We are taught to look out for ourselves, to seek advancement and progress in our schooling, careers and personal lives despite the people around us. ‘For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.’ – Romans 12:4-5. We value individualism over relationship. We have forgotten what it means to belong to others, to be in unison with them instead of trying to surpass them.
The men and women we have the privilege of serving alongside every day - from different backgrounds, cultures, races and denominations - have many gifts, abilities, experiences and uniqueness that are beautifully woven together to create one body. We are intentional in being unified in our calling, despite what we are taught by the world. We don’t always get it right but we are committed to making an honest effort to living out those familiar words from Romans.”
Blessings Sambo, African Volunteer (Zambia), Regional Support Team
“God brings us together for a purpose. We were not brought into this world alone. It is His desire that we live together with one another, in community. Through living and working together, we are united with our brothers and sisters as we work toward one common goal; serving our Father in Heaven. Unity is born of God. In Psalm 133 it says ‘How good and pleasant it is when God's people live together in unity!’ It is something we need to fight for every day. The devil does not want us to live and work together, he wants to be divided. But as children of God, unity is vital and it brings glory to Christ Jesus.”
Grace Kariuki, International Volunteer (UK), Regional Support Team
“For me unity does not mean being uniform and looking exactly the same as everyone else. For me it means bringing the diversity and differences that we have to achieve one goal. It means pursuing one vision above our own ambitions, for the greater benefit of the one body – Christ’s. An example that comes to my mind is the church being described as one body with different body parts in 1 Corinthians 12:12-31. Each part has a unique role to play and no one can replace the other. The strength of each one enhances the strength of the whole body and the weakness of one part plays into the weakness of the whole. What God has challenged me with is are we serving God with our very best? Are we serving His children with our best? How are we building the vision to care for the most vulnerable holistically? How can we make it a personal commitment to further His kingdom? So I ask you how can you be united with God’s vision, how can you play a part in God’s body by caring and speaking on behalf of the most vulnerable?”