A call for unity among Christians on campus

Coming to a huge university, like The Ohio State University, it is expected there will be a large Christian population. What was not expected for me was the divide and disunity in the body of Christ I have seen on campus.

Before packing my bags and driving to school, like any responsible student, I researched activities and groups that I might be interested in joining once I did arrive on campus. My priority was to find a Christian group, so I got on that search as soon as I paid my deposit for school.

To my surprise the Ohio State University has more than 36 Christian organizations to choose from. Some are targeted for Christians with very specific backgrounds such as: Athletes in Action, Chinese Christian Fellowship, and the Christian Dental Association. These specific groups tend to be smaller in attendance, with usually less than 50 students involved. There are also several very large groups, like RealLife OSU and H2O Students, that are less specific in their membership, but have upwards of six hundred students involved!

My first thought was that I was so completely stoked to have so many options, but at the same time I knew it would be too big of an undertaking to find the ministry that is “perfect” for me by visiting all of them. My second thought was why does the Christian student population need so many ministries? There is evidently very little unity within the body of Christ.

Unity, meaning the state of being united as one or a whole, is something that is very important in order to not only function correctly, but also to be successful and to have impact.

As Christians we are called to fellowship—God wants us to unite by spending time together because he did not make us to live alone. Look at the unity and fellowship of the trinity—God himself lives in community with Jesus and the Holy Spirit. As we are made in Gods image (Genesis 1:27), it is clear that just as God unites in fellowship, we should also unite as his people.

In unity with one another we find so many good things. We get encouragement from each other (Hebrews 10:24-25). We also function better and can do more together by uniting Christians with different gifts and abilities (Romans 12:4-5). Overall it is good and pleasant when God’s people live together in community (Psalm 133:1).

Unity is something that we should want to find on our campuses between our ministries and believers for many reasons, one of which being that in unity we are able to live out our purposes here on the Earth. You were put on this earth for several purposes, but two of the most significant purposes are to love God and to spread the Gospel (Mark 16:15, Matthew 28:19-20, Matthew 24:14, Matthew 22:37, Mark 12:30, Deuteronomy 6:5).

Within my past semester here at school I have seen little to no interaction or collaboration between Christian groups. This gets me thinking about the impact the Christian groups are having on campus, which I have realized is a very small impact compared to what God can do and wants to do.

It is a simple fact that the larger, more unified and more dedicated a group is the more impact they will have. This is not to say that the Lord cannot use small ministries to bring his Kingdom to your campus or that he will not anoint small groups (Matthew 18:20). But it is clear that what God truly desires for his people is for us to unite.

Think of the liberal media and how powerful it is today in our society. We are facing a very strong anti-Christian-morals society that is gaining more influence by the minute because of how united it is becoming. The young people of the liberal movement get things done—they make groups, start projects and use social media to get as many supporters as they can so that they can make things that they want to happen, happen.

The people of the liberal movements in our country see the importance of unity to get things done, so how much more should we as Christians value unity. The more we fail to unite, the weaker our resistance to satan and the anti-Christian society will become.

Therefore it is time to put away with the label you have put upon yourself or that someone else has put upon you as a Christian and realize our shared desire to seek Christ, to love God and to spread the Gospel. God made us to unite into a community so that we can function efficiently and powerfully for him. I do not care if you are Catholic or Baptist or Pentecostal or Non-denominational— we are all part of the body of Christ.

Stop thinking you are so different and begin to unite. Make an event for every Christian ministry to come to and worship together despite your perceived differences! In uniting we will see breakthrough in our lives, on our campuses, in our cities, and in our country. In order to withstand what is coming our way, we need to build strong an supportive Christian communities. It is time to stand as one and to get things done for Jesus.

1 Corinthians 1:10

“I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.”