Four steps to unity

The congregation that Chief Apostle Jean-Luc Schneider ministered to on 25 June 2015 in Singapore was international. “With so many brothers and sisters from so many different countries and regions, I could not resist the temptation to talk about unity,” he said. The Bible text he had chosen was John 17: 21–22: “… that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one.”

The Trinity as example

The perfect example for unity is the Trinity, so the Chief Apostle. “God has revealed Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They are three persons, but are joined together in unity. They are in complete agreement. And that is the oneness that is expected of us.”

“What does it mean if God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one?” he asked, and mentioned four points in answer:

• they have the same will.
• they share everything.
• they do not speak much about themselves, but bear testimony of the others.
• they pursue the same purpose and work toward the same goal.

Origin: separation from God

“Our understanding of unity is rather limited,” Chief Apostle Schneider said, and directed his focus on us human beings. “If there are no conflicts or disputes, and we accept each other, we already consider that to be oneness. But the Lord is much more ambitious. He wants us to be one like He and His Father are one. And with Jesus Christ this is possible.”

“Let us look at the origin of the lack of unity,” he continued. “Adam and Eve had perfect fellowship with God. And then they fell into sin and were separated from God. This continued with their sons. There were conflicts between them. And since then man has attempted in vain to achieve oneness.”

Foundation: unity in God

“Oneness among human beings is not possible without God.” Jesus took the first step in this direction. “He became man to share our human condition; to feel with us and to suffer with us. He brought the sacrifice. He gave us His life. Through baptism with water and the Spirit, God dwells in us. He gives us Holy Communion so that this divine life can develop in us.”

“This is the first step: God in man,” the Chief Apostle pointed out. “The rest is our task. We have to become one with Jesus Christ.” In order to accomplish this, we have to follow the example of the Trinity. Unity in Christ therefore means that

• we have the same will as God. “He wants us to enter into eternal fellowship with Him.”
• we share everything with Him. “His thoughts are our thoughts. His feelings are our feelings. His brothers are our brothers. His friends are our friends. His enemy is our enemy.”
• we are a testimony of Jesus Christ. “When we are one with Jesus we don’t speak that much about our own deeds and all the great things we do, but talk about His deeds and His love and His sacrifice.”
• we work together and work towards the same goal: “We want to work together with Him and commit ourselves to His work.”

“We need each other”

“Unity does not mean that we all have to become the same. To be one, we do not have to give up our personality. We do not have to give up our tradition and our culture,” Chief Apostle Schneider underlined. “We are different, but we have one and the same will. And the one who decides is Jesus Christ. We do His will.”

“Many problems would be solved, I think, if everyone were aware of their mission, namely to glorify the name of God, instead of wanting to force their own ideas, thoughts, and deeds onto everybody else,” he admonished. “God wants us to work together and to set a good example so that the mission of the Church can be fulfilled: to proclaim the gospel to everyone and to grant everybody access to salvation in Christ. We need each other in order to fulfil our mission.”