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God is No Respecter of AcronymsBy Phillip Hampton Unity is the trademark of revival. A tremendous spirit of unity among the saints marked the infancy of the Church in the book of Acts. Among the many scriptures that could be referenced in this matter, two stand out: "And all that believed were together and had all things common" (Acts 2:44); "And they continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart." (Acts 2:46) Likewise, during the rebirth of Pentecost at the beginning of the 20th century, historical accounts relate a great sense of unity as people laid aside denominational, racial, economic, and other barriers to seek God with one heart. Revival fires began to dissipate when divisions in the apostolic ranks began to appear. Today, I believe that once again God wants a spirit of unity to mobilize Apostolics from all different denominations and backgrounds. I am not saying that all individual apostolic groups should be dissolved into one monolithic organization. I do, however, feel that we can and should reach out to our Apostolic brothers and sisters in other organizations, fellowship with one another, and, most importantly, join together in our efforts to evangelize our communities. With this goal in mind, I determined to do what I could to reach out in the middle Tennessee area, which is home to several different apostolic churches. Last year, with the help of musicians and singers from several surrounding churches, we formed the Central Tennessee Mass Youth Choir. We opened membership up to all Apostolic young people, not just those from United Pentecostal Churches (UPC). What resulted from this effort has been tremendous. We currently have members from at least three different Apostolic organizations. One youth leader from a non-UPC church in our area related to me how much this fellowship has meant to his young people. Indeed, it has been greatly rewarding to see these young people, who before have had little contact with one another, come together in their worship, singing, praying, and ministering across our state. We have sung at both UPC and Assemblies of the Lord Jesus Christ (ALJC) camp meetings and have found out that God is no respecter of acronyms. While we stress the pursuit of musical excellence in our effort to hone a great-sounding choir, I believe the real benefit of this endeavor has been the unity that has been fostered among the Apostolic youth in middle Tennessee. Praise God for proving again how big He is! ninetyandnine.com © 2000, Phillip Hampton -------- Phillip Hampton is an Executive Editor of ninetyandnine.com. Have an opinion on an article? Let us know how you feel! Click feedback & fill us in. |
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