The power of partnerships across metropolitan dividing lines.
One of the most powerful and effective promises given to the Church is the power of agreement. A supernatural force is released from heaven and revealed on earth when believers decide to faithfully and intimately agree in spirit, prayer, purpose and power. When this level of agreement is reached, Jesus promises that anything that is asked will be done by the Father. On the surface, Christian ministry agreement and partnership would look like a very simple and easy task. But truly agreeing, across all the differences that can easily separate us, is anything but easy.
The two of us come from different cultural, theological, and geographical settings. Bishop McNear's tradition is African-American Pentecostal/Charismatic; Lin Crowe's background is Euro-American Presbyterian/Reformed. But we met in 1999 sitting side by side in the mayor's conference room. The City of Philadelphia and surrounding counties were at the height of an unprecedented crisis of mass incarceration. Facing lawsuits because of drastic conditions in overcrowded prisons, the highest murder rate in the history of the city and a looming spirit of violence and danger, the city was desperate for answers.
Over time we began to see the power of God released over the city in one of its most complex and crucial systems: the criminal justice system that encompasses police, courts, prisons, probation and parole, the district attorney's office and public defenders, public health services, and community service agencies—and now churches.
In 2008 we worked together to bring to the city a U.S. marshal's program called "Fugitive Safe Surrender." Working with the whole range of criminal justice agencies, Bishop McNear's church, ...
from Christianity Today Magazine https://ift.tt/2DF4KHr
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