An excerpt of this article was published in the Fairmont Sentinel, September 2014.
This year’s Martin County Fair saw a new attraction – the Unity Station tent. Unity Station was a cooperative effort between The Gathering, Martin County Youth For Christ, and over a dozen other local churches and ministries from the Martin County, MN area. It saw a variety of people with different ideas, passions, and goals come together behind one idea: unity of God’s people.
1 Corinthians 1:10 says this:
I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose.
Too often Christians divide: denominations, worship styles, priorities, theology. If we want to reach younger generations, this must stop. We need to come together more behind the things we agree about that are of primary importance, things like the truth of the Bible and the fact that Jesus Christ has provided a way for us to be forgiven of our sin. We need to let those other things that are secondary stay secondary and not get in the way of us working together for the common good.
Unity Station was a good start for our community. We saw believers in Jesus Christ from a variety of churches, ages, and backgrounds come together to celebrate what our faith community does to improve Martin County and to share the love of Christ with our community. It was encouraging seeing teens through 70-somethings together for the same purpose and goal. But it needs to not stop there.
To truly see our communities, our churches, and each of us as individuals reach the potential we have, we need to see more of this. We need more groups looking to work together for the good of others, more sacrifice for the sake of what God wants us to accomplish, and more commitment to unity across our community. If we can continue this trajectory, we can become what God has intended for us; to be communities committed to loving God and loving others. I believe that nothing would draw people faster and in greater numbers to an area or a group of people than to become a group of people that are known for their genuine love and concern for one another.
Driven 