“Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers (and sisters) dwell in unity!” Ps 133:1
If you haven’t experienced the sweetness of this unity, I pray that you will very soon.
For a long time, there has been disunity and even competition between churches. But our loving Father has never been content with this. He desires for His children to experience the swelling joy that comes from living in unity with one another, not merely in our own churches but church to church.
It wasn’t that long ago that the Spirit put it on the heart of our Lead Pastor, Matthew, and two other local church pastors that we should pursue unity in the very best way we know how: through worship and prayer. We may not all agree on our theology or share the same ministry philosophy, but we all love Jesus and want to worship Him together. We all believe in the power, joy, and necessity of praying together.
Unity doesn’t mean perfection; it doesn’t even mean we agree on everything. It is setting aside the lesser things to join our hearts together in love because of our First Love. We release control and embrace the beautiful mess. Our first City-Wide Worship & Prayer night happened in the Fall of 2023, and there were three churches and one heart. It was wonderful—no egos, no competition, just loving each other, loving Jesus and loving our city. There was no sermon, just guided prayer and worship through singing. I was giddy the first time, and when it was my turn to share, I started by saying, “This is the best thing I have ever done!” What I meant to say was that participating in this night of united prayer and worship with everyone was the most wonderful experience of my life so far. It was heavenly, and that is not hyperbole.
The most recent Worship and Prayer night was in June, and we opened it up for the whole city; I believe at least 20 different churches were represented! We have the privilege of being able to host, and God has blessed us with more than enough room (The Centre for Performing Arts in the core of downtown Vancouver is our church home). The most wonderful part was when we began our time of individual prayer ministry. We had about 100 people lined up across the front of the stage to pray for others. Almost immediately, they were all full, and lines were forming up the aisles! So many people wanted prayer that the entire room became the prayer team! It was incredible. The whole auditorium was filled with people from different churches, all praying for one another.
When the time to wrap up the night came, no one was ready for it to end. Even when the pastor took center stage and tried to close, everyone just kept singing. Even when he asked the band to stop playing, the people sang over him. A foretaste of heaven, the embodiment of Psalm 133:1. “Behold, how good and sweet it is when brothers and sisters dwell together in unity!”
The next Vancouver citywide worship night is November 29, 7 pm, at the Centre for Performing Arts, 777 Homer Street.
Melissa Menzel
Westside Church | Prayer & Renewal Minister