Unity of All Believers
ROB O’NEAL, DIRECTOR OF CHURCH MULTIPLICATION
This month four people from the congregation I serve in Shakopee, MN are heading an hour west to the town of Wilmar. They will be taking 82 baskets filled with Christmas presents for the children of Grace Baptist Church. They’re doing it, because the parents of those children are all refugees.
Grace Baptist Church serves Karen refugees. That wasn’t always the case. Not too many years ago, Grace was a small church comprised of more traditional Minnesotans. Then refugees fleeing religious persecution began settling in the area. Some of the Karen refugees were Christians, because they had been exposed to Jesus in their home country.
When Karen refugees began attending Grace in larger numbers, the previous members and attendees slowly left. The pastor and his wife stayed, ministering cross-culturally to a vulnerable group of people. The church began to grow. More and more refugee families began attending, and they began leading their fellow-refugees to faith in Christ.
People from our congregation are ministering to Karen refugees, because we are brothers and sisters in Christ. Their need is our need. That’s the kind of thing we mean in the CCCC when we say that we believe in the spiritual unity of all believers in Christ. Karen refugee Christians are brothers and sisters to Christians of Norwegian, Swedish, German, Irish, and Czech descent.
Incidentally, these Karen refugees became followers of Jesus because someone introduced them to Jesus. The mission to reach the Karen was started by Adoniram Judson after he and his band set out from Salem, Massachusetts. Judson was a Congregationalist when he left Salem. Before he reached Burma, the homeland of the Karen, he became a Baptist. The fact that Judson became a Baptist reminds us of the spiritual unity of all believers in Christ. (We still claim him!)
Once in Burma, Judson began the work that led to the evangelization of the Karen. Now they are coming to this country, leading even more of their people to follow Jesus. Who knows? Someday they may end up sending missionaries back to New England to tell people there about Jesus!
We are part of one great big family. This family includes followers of Jesus from the United States and Burma. It includes Congregationalists and Baptists! Our family even includes saints of the past and faithful people today. Let’s continue the work of expanding this family!