The world’s institutions are broken, and there will never be lasting reformation or change without an inward working of God to deal with the iniquities and corruptions of the heart. And it takes the Church to lead the way.

The world is looking for an answer and the answer lies in the Church, when Jesus is our Lord. It’s time for soul searching and a corporate heart awakening for revival in the nation, and it will come by choice, circumstance, or consequence. Better to have a heart awakening than a rude awakening.

We will always have our personal preferences and differences. But in the midst of our differences, we must focus on the centrality of The Cross, recognizing we would never be family without the work of the Cross and the power of the resurrection. It’s only there, at the Cross, that the world can find this same place of liberty and freedom allotted to each and every one of us who call upon the name of the Lord.

Over the years, I’ve been asked to join and facilitate gatherings of groups of pastors from various denominations and ethnicities. One such gathering we were gathering at City Hall in Houston for a time of prayer for the ills and unrest in our nation. More specifically, I was asked to close out in prayer and prepare us for communion. I realized, in the middle of all that’s going on, isn’t communion symbolic of our need, as the Body of Christ? It’s a fellowship offering demonstrating that we need one another. As Christians, we are called across our racial, denominational, and generational lines to set a plumb line not just of righteousness and justice, but with healing and hope.

I shared that my mother was Japanese and I was born in Japan, and that although I’m proud of my Japanese heritage and my cultural background, as an American of Asian descent, when I placed my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, I became part of something bigger than myself.

Jesus said in Matthew 12:50, “Whoever does the will of my Father in Heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

I then looked at the pastors and all who had gathered to express we are family. In the Body of Christ, we are family and a beautiful reflection of the Kingdom of God.

We have real challenges and broken cisterns and things that need to be addressed in the Body of Christ and in our nation if we’re going to heal the soul of a nation. In the advent of social media it has become easier for many to just blast our thoughts, emotions, and feelings. Yet, we, especially as ministers of reconciliation, must be sensitive to how we express ourselves, even in our strong disagreements. We cannot paint one another with a broad brush or stroke. But instead—at the Centrality of The Cross, being One New Man and of One Blood—we can be Ambassadors for Christ and Ministers of Reconciliation, bringing hope to the culture in which we live. At The Cross, we’re no longer separated but together.

We are all one blood in Christ, and even more so through the work of the Cross power of the resurrection. Jesus, while I was in my sin, gave His life for me and brought me into this amazing family called the Church, the Body of Christ. We are one family with many gifts and many parts, but one body with one blood.

As family, we must love one another as Christ has loved us. John 13:35 says, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34-35).

If we look through that prism first and come into the presence of a Holy God with worship and adoration, then all the things that seem to separate us begin to dissipate.

2 Chronicles 5:11 gives us a beautiful picture of the priests coming from the Holy Place, the Presence of God, without division. When we make Jesus the centrality of our focus, the things that that bring us together are more than what separates us. In that place, we are equalized. Regardless of our backgrounds, we come out not according to division, but with one voice and one sound. And then the glory of God comes.

BY DOUG STRINGER