To all members of the body of Christ (The Church):

Ephesians 4:4-13 says, "There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men .... And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ."

This has been my theme scripture since the mid-90's when God gave me the vision for Unity of the Faith Ministries. He quoted:

John 17:21: That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

The one yet unanswered prayer of Jesus is "that [we] may be one."

Some time after getting and preaching on this vision, I read the same message in Tommy Tinney's book, "God's Dream Team." In it he said, "God dreams of unity but his difficulty and chief obstacle is the will of man."

"Our identity should become so interlocked (though not lost) with one another that we no longer divide ourselves with terms such as "us and them" but simply "us and Him." It is in this depth of unity that we are made "perfect in one."

At a Men's Fellowship I attended some years ago in Oceanside California, an older and obviously well seasoned man of God quoted one of my favorite scriptures, which captures my heart on this subject.

Ps:133:1-3 (KJV) "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments. As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life for evermore."

At the end of Tommy Tinney's book, "God's Dream Team," he presents a model covenant agreement entered into by a number of pastors in the city of Baltimore and encourages other city pastors to follow this example. He called it, "The Baltimore Covenant - A Declaration of Dependence" I concur with this suggestion and pray that all pastors all over the world would embrace this level of unity.