John 17:23b “May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”

How do you introduce people to Jesus? That is a big question for Christian churches at a time when churches are shrinking. How do we get people to sit still and listen long enough for us to tell them the good news?

A few will let us approach them as strangers and tell them why we have interrupted their lives. Over the years my own congregation has done a lot of neighborhood canvassing. We have knocked on thousands of doors. Perhaps half the time someone answers the door. Perhaps half of them take our information, but only a few people are interested in a discussion about faith. This kind of approach can be useful, but the percentage of people who respond to it is very low.

People are more likely to listen to a friend or accept their invitation to church. Once they get there, a sense of love and unity can offer a powerful witness. Nicholas, a member of a sister congregation in Ontario, invited his girlfriend Ambyr to church. Not everything made sense to her right away. She was nervous to be in a church. But she kept coming back because she found a community. She found people who cared about each other and cared about her. She saw that the church is not a big, scary institution. It is people who love Jesus and love people.

When she took the pastor’s class for inquirers, she learned about God’s free grace. Now she says that this church has changed her life. Ambyr is just 19 and has no car, yet she will pay as much as $40 for a taxi ride to get to church on Sunday morning if she has to.

Isn’t this the reason Jesus was praying for our unity? “To let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” There are days when I wish Jesus was still around, and I could lead someone up to him and say, “Friend, this is Jesus. Jesus, this is my friend.”

Jesus’ plan is to let people see him through our love and unity, and hear him through our words and witness. So he prays for the unity of all believers, because he uses it as a witness.            

Dear friends, today let’s be the answer to Jesus’ prayers.