Board Walk Unity

One of the games that we had our boys play in Royal Rangers was called “the board walk.” It was a game composed of two boards which had 3 sets of rope handles on each board. A group of three boys would place the boards parallel to each other on the ground and then put their left feet on one board and their right feet on the other. They would then grasp the rope handles and race around a predetermined “racetrack” to see who could walk on the boards the fastest. The key was to work together in unity by coordinating their steps. This was easier said than done because each boy had to lift up their foot and slide the board forward at exactly the same time as their team-mates. Although the keys to success were good communication and coordination, these were typically what were missing the most. This illustrates concepts that people sometimes use interchangeably but in reality are not; unity and union.

Unity is when people are united together as one unit with singleness of purpose while union is the uniting of different people together for mutual benefit without achieving singleness of purpose. When the boys work in unity, they can move the boards as though they are a single unit. When the boys are just a union, they are unique individuals brought together on a team to play a game that they are unlikely to win because they don’t usually achieve the singleness of purpose of controlled board movement.

As unity has practical applications in the physical realm, it also has applications in the spiritual realm. Have you ever wondered what makes a church receptive to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit? We know from reading Acts that on the Day of Pentecost, the new church experienced an awesome outpouring of the Holy Spirit and we know that God never intended this to be a one-time historical event for the church. In fact, God wants every church to experience the revival and power of Pentecost over and over again. Pentecost was designed for every generation and every believer.

So, what does Pentecost and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit have in common with board walking? Part of it boils down to unity. Acts 2:1 tells us, “They were all together in one place.” One hundred and twenty of Jesus’ followers stayed together for ten days in a large upper room. These were not just apostles and other religious leaders. Many were just ordinary male and female believers who had committed to follow Jesus. They all had their problems and challenges in life, but they made a conscious decision to set them aside to unite together for one purpose. Based on averages, they spent about sixteen waking hours a day together for ten days which amounted to 160 hours. That is equivalent to a little over 2 years of Sunday morning worship services at the church I attend. The important take away here is that the 120 were together and were in unity.

Unfortunately, the modern church of Jesus Christ can all too often be like the boys who come together in union only. Some people come to church to get their names on the attendance rolls, make cameo appearances on Sunday mornings and occasionally throw a few bucks into the offering plate. In their thinking they have obeyed God’s instructions found in Hebrews 10:25 to “not forsake the assembling of ourselves together…” and nothing else is required. For others, they attend but they constantly bring with them baggage that prevents them from unifying with other believers: bad feelings, hidden agendas and turf protection to name a few.  

So what can we do to encourage unity? There really isn’t a quick fix to this problem. To achieve this type of unity will take a great deal of time, intentionality and honesty. One of the biggest challenges is in the area of time. People (including myself) have allowed themselves to become so busy that they didn’t leave time to build quality relationships with anybody outside their familial unit. As the body of Christ, we need to be intentional in creating time to spend with other believers. We need to transition from the convenience type of friendships that we have with fellow believers (where we only fellowship with them when it is convenient for us) to multi-sided friendships where all sides are making an effort. These should be friendships where multiple individuals purposely seek to walk with each along their paths in life. These types of friendships need to focus on the emotional support and spiritual care of all involved. The church needs to become a living body of unified human relationships graced by the Spirit of God and devoid of the self-serving agendas that frequently infiltrate our fellowships. Becoming a unified body of believers will require us to work together to create relationships that will become the fertile soil for growth, revival and a tremendous work of the Holy Spirit.