Johnson Thomaskutty notes that in Jesus’s high priestly prayer in John 17, he prays for three things: for himself (17:1-5), for his current disciples (17:16-19, 17:24-26), and for “future disciples worldwide.”¹ In verse 21 in particular, his request is that the global church “may be one…so that the world will believe that you sent me.”

As far as I can tell, this is the only place in the gospels where Jesus prays specifically for future generations of Christians. This makes it a singular window into the cosmic, high-priestly work he has been doing since the ascension (Rom 8:34, Heb 7:25, 1 John 2:1). Here we see that Christ is especially interested in two things: the church’s unity and its mission. He views unity across future generations as a central fulcrum in the plan of God—without it, the mission for which he came cannot succeed.

Early Christian Unity…and Discord

In Luke’s account of the earliest Christians, we see a story initially unfolding exactly along the lines of Jesus’s prayer. The church’s unity—displayed in part through radical economic cooperation (e.g., Acts 2:44 and 4:32)—results in just what Jesus had prayed for: the church multiplies as disciples draw others into vibrant life with God.

Yet Luke also tells us that the church’s unity soon begins to fracture. Ananias and Sapphira lie to the apostles and to the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:1-11), undermining the spirit of cooperation that marked the community to that point. Then, fighting breaks out between Greek-speaking and Hebrew-speaking Jews (Acts 6:1-6)—a division that is linguistic and cultural, but also economic: some widows were receiving better care on the basis of cultural affinity.

The rest of Acts and the epistles paint a similarly mixed picture: at times, Christians display rare and remarkable unity, as many from every tribe and tongue come to saving faith in Jesus. At the same time, disunity is an ever-present peril: Christians are divided by loyalty to specific leaders (1 Cor 1:10-13, 2 Cor 11:4-5), social and economic status (1 Cor 11:17-22; Jas 2:1-4), and typical interpersonal conflicts (Phil 4:2-3, Jas 4:1-2). And while the church achieved unprecedented unity across ethnic lines, its diversity often threatened that unity.

So unity, like holiness, apostolicity, and catholicity, is best understood as an “already and not yet” reality. It’s a hallmark by which we recognize true churches, but also a goal toward which we strive in our local congregations and in the global body of Christ.

How are we doing now?

So, how are we doing, 2000 years later here in Asia? In his seminal work, Mangoes or Bananas?, Malaysian bishop Hwa Yung calls for Christianity to be “fully incarnated in the Asian soil.” When this happens, he argues, churches can address the divisions in Asian Christianity and pursue mission with greater pastoral relevance and fruitfulness.²

We remain a long way from this dream. The work of contextual theology in Asia is moving in hopeful directions,³ with encouraging examples of collaboration around the region, especially through the Asia Theological Association and missions-focused groups like Arise Asia. Yet as in the early church, ethnic and cultural differences, as well as disagreements about doctrine, power, and finances, persistently threaten the unity and mission of God’s people in Asia.⁴

A Unified Household on a Mission

Despite these challenges, the Asian church can help the global church realize the kind of missional unity that Jesus prays for, especially by helping us regain a vision for the church as a household on a mission. Many have noted that the centrality of family is a key feature of almost all Asian cultures.⁵ In most Asian contexts, there is no symbol of unity more potent than the family, often defined broadly in terms of a clan, line, or tribe. At times, this emphasis can be a challenge.⁶

Yet this same family entwinement makes Asian Christians especially skilled at the virtues required of members of the household of God. It is in the family that we learn patience and long-suffering; submission to leaders even when it is difficult; and how to love one another faithfully, day in and day out. In short, it is in the family that we learn how to be one.

In many Asian churches, Christians apply these values also to their spiritual kin—the household of believers (Eph 2:19). In these contexts, Christians make remarkable sacrifices for one another, giving the global church a powerful example of a church in which the water of baptism is “thicker than blood.”⁷ This is precisely the kind of radical unity for which Jesus prayed.

Yet Jesus prays that his future followers will leverage their unity for the proclamation of the good news. The household of God is not a static institution turned inward; it is a family made up of those who were once strangers and enemies (Eph 2:10-20), brought into unity by the Holy Spirit, and called to “proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Pet 2:9). Healthy unity always yields greater focus on mission; and a healthy focus on mission is usually the most powerful medicine for a church struggling with conflict.

We need to celebrate the ways in which the Asian church is showing us a picture of the “already” of Christian unity and mission. God is doing remarkable things in this corner of the world. At the same time, our posture should be to keep praying for the Asian church to become—even moreso—a household on a mission.

Dr. Stephen Pardue serves as Program Director for the ThM/PhD in Theological Studies offered by AGST in collaboration with IGSL. He also serves as Associate Publications Secretary for ATA Publications. He is an American who grew up in the southern Philippines and he lives in Manila with his wife, Teri, and four children. His most recent book is Why Evangelical Theology Needs the Global Church (Baker Academic, 2023). Prior to this work, he co-edited Asian Christian Theology (ATA/Langham, 2019), Majority World Theology (IVP Academic, 2020), and the 6-volume Majority World Theology series (Eerdmans/Langham).