Two churches in the Rowland Heights area of Southern California gathered together for a joint night of worship on Friday, as leaders of the congregation highlighted the significance of unity in the body of Christ.
“It doesn’t take much to know that we have a divided nation,” said Pastor Soon Teck Lee, the lead English ministry pastor at Rowland Heights Christian Community Church (RHCCC), at which the worship night took place.
Addressing the congregation of some 100 members from RHCCC and The Home Church, Lee said that in contrast to the division that may be evident today, Christians are already united by Jesus.
“We are not supposed to create the unity – in fact, that unity has already been made,” he said. “Jesus, by dying on the cross, he has broken down the wall of hostility and has brought us together as one body.”
Lee added that having joint worship services like this one demonstrates that unity, and that churches need each other to do God’s work.
“No church – however gifted, however big – is an island entire of its own,” said Lee. “We need every one of these churches to be healthy and strong and to reach out.”
Members of The Home Church and Rowland Heights Christian Community Church gathered together on March 3 to worship and pray together for the city.
The joint worship night is a result of a gathering of pastors from four churches in the Rowland Heights area that has taken place on a regular basis for about six months, according to Pastor Mitchell Perez of The Home Church.
“We have formed relationships with some of the fellow English Ministry pastors in the area and a few months ago we talked about doing a Combined Night of Worship for the purpose of bringing our congregations together to glorify God, display the unity, and diversity in the gospel,” said Perez.
“I think it’s important for our churches to understand how God is working through surrounding Jesus-loving churches around us,” he added.
The churches come from differing denominational backgrounds as well, including Nazarene, Baptist, and Methodist denominations.
Those who attended the joint worship service – which included a diverse age representation, with children, teens, young adults, and adults in their later years – heard messages from both Lee and Perez. Praise bands from both churches led the congregation into worship.
Attendees also gathered in smaller groups of people from both churches to pray together for “God to continue to use our churches to make disciples,” for “God to use us to help lost people find Jesus in our jobs, schools, families, and friends,” for “God to give pastors wisdom and boldness in leading our churches,” and for the city of Rowland Heights and those in the city who “don’t know Jesus.”
Perez, who shared a message on spiritual warfare, said that prayer is the very means by which Christians can join in the spiritual realm and the spiritual battles that are taking place.
“God sovereignly works through our prayers,” he said.
