There’s a man, who we will call Scott. Scott grew up in Commercial Point, Ohio just south of Columbus. He and his brother were raised by a single mom. When Scott was a young adolescent, his mother was approached in a grocery store by a Christ follower. They talked about Jesus. Within a couple weeks, his family was attending a local church. It was at the local church that Scott first heard the gospel. His entire family became Christians. That was many years ago. Now Scott is serving in full-time ministry with his wife and children.

In 1 Corinthians, Paul famously talks about spiritual gifts and the different parts of the church body. He summarizes with this statement: “All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it. Here are some of the parts God has appointed for the church: first are apostles, second are prophets, third are teachers, then those who do miracles, those who have the gift of healing, those who can help others, those who have the gift of leadership, those who speak in unknown languages.” (1 Corinthians‬ ‭12:27-28‬ ‭NLT‬‬)

We at WIIWT don’t know if it’s because we are not at church or that we are fairly new, but many leaders don’t seem to take us seriously as if we aren’t doing enough. We are simply playing the role of the Spirit gave us. Our ministry exist for one purpose, to share the gospel message everyone in the Columbus area. Many people have told us that they heard the gospel first from us. It may seem super trivial but it’s critical work few are doing.

WIIWT has developed a set of tools that is highly effective in presenting the Gospel. Between 10-50% of all people who see our content take action and are presented the gospel.

We don’t compete with local churches. We enable attendees of local churches to evangelize the communities they live in. However, helping us seems to dilute volunteer hours for internal ministries and outreach.

Every single believer was tasked with sharing the gospel. We consider ourselves the tip of the spear. Our content may be the first time ever or in a long time that people have heard the gospel message. It is the gospel the changes people‘s lives. “For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes.” (‭Romans‬ ‭1:16‬a ‭NLT‬‬)

Eventually, people will get plugged into local churches but only if we are casting a net to them. As various ministries, we cannot act as if we are competing against each other. In Jesus’ very last prayer for his disciples, He makes the true intentions of his heart known. This is chronicled in John 17, “I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me.” (John‬ ‭17:23‬ ‭NLT‬‬)

The Greek word heis, translated unity, means One. When Jesus says “they,” he is not just talking about his disciples put everyone in the future who hears their message and believes. That means us today. Every ministry should cooperate with others to the point where the world sees us operating as One. We can’t feel as if any of us has found the best way to “do church.”

We have hundreds of thousands of “Scott’s” around our metropolitan area who have never heard the gospel. We must be humble in understanding our own roles and that none of us can do at all independently. We cannot let arrogance or jealousy get in the way of our collective mission, making disciples of everyone. All of us are called to this city for a reason. Let’s not just cooperate, but be in complete unity.