We lead a pastors prayer group in Toledo called Merge. It began out of relationships of a handful of leaders wanting to support one another, then spread out to include many pastors and ministry leaders gathering once a month to worship, pray and fellowship.

Our first priority is building relationships. Then, out of these relationships, cooperation. And finally from that, sharing of resources. We hold our monthly gatherings in a different church or ministry center each month.

During the early days of COVID, we were able to bring in a truck load of food from Convoy of Hope to fill a number of food pantries through our partnership with one another in the city. Convoy sent us a truck because it was not one large mega-church asking for help, it was a group of churches working together, spreading the blessing. 

Every February, we have a Merge Summit – an overnight gathering at a nearby state park where we come together to worship, pray, and fellowship. This year, we brought in professional counselors to talk with us about trauma and leading through traumatic times, recognizing trauma in our churches and in us. It is not a conference with speakers, but a time to pull back, be encouraged, and to encourage others.

We do three meals together, which might be the greatest part of the two days, as we are simply with each other. We will have 80+ leaders come together for our summit, and every year it gets better. Also, on the National Day of Prayer, we gather that evening with at least sixteen pastors and ministry leaders, leading the congregation in prayer for our nation, our city, education, and more. This is one of the most diverse events in our city. Powerful prayers being lifted up by men and women of all ethnicities and backgrounds.

We are seeing pastors and leaders from many different cultures, denominations, styles, and ethnicities come together. We are currently engaged in significant conversations with a longtime African American Bishop in Toledo. We are simply trying to understand each other’s experiences as we read and discuss books like “The Color of Compromise” together. Recently, the Bishop commented that the book study with Merge is the longest continuous meeting between black and white pastors in the city that he has ever been a part of.

We are committed to listening to and supporting one another. When George Floyd was killed, some of our African American pastors put together a march. White pastors who had built relationships with pastors of color showed up to march. The pastors of color were amazed and commented “In Martin Luther King Jr.’s day, the evangelicals didn’t show up for anything.” This has led to significant repentance from all of us. The Bishop even repented for not wanting to work with evangelicals. Listening, supporting, understanding, and repenting has opened the door for many other things.

We do not pastor a large church, but we are told that we are pastoring a city, and pastoring pastors from around the city. Some may ask how do pastors like us make this kind of impact? We show up. We show up at a pastor’s celebration, we show up when a church has a celebration, or we show up at building dedications. Most of the time we are not sure what we are supposed to do, but simply show up without an agenda.

The Vineyard prepared us for this. When we came into the Vineyard in the 1980s, John Wimber taught us to love the whole church – even as he was getting attacked from parts of the wider Body of Christ! Church unity is us, because it is part of our Vineyard DNA. We can work at being a multicultural church and may or may not succeed. But, we can also work with other churches from different cultures, denominations, and races than us. It has to be more than a ‘mission trip’ mindset – just taking our church into a low income area for a week to work. We need to build long-term relationships with churches and people not like us.

Our Vineyard DNA helped others see us as ‘safe’. We were not a threat. They know we are not moving towards them in order to plant a church next to their church. Other leaders know that building relationships across differences is the thing we Vineyard folks do. We started 30 years ago with 30 people in our little church leading city-wide March for Jesus worship events with lots of different kinds of churches, cultures, and races simply honoring Jesus. That sowed the seeds for the trust that we enjoy with one another.

Our Merge meetings consist of coming in and worshiping together. We take time to pray. We give opportunities for prophetic ministry which always brings a very encouraging word. There are people in the room who are not from charismatic backgrounds. We make room for everyone. The Vineyard’s naturally supernatural style has helped all the churches to experience the Spirit.

To me, these are signs of the Kingdom. Power and praying are signs of the Kingdom – we see that in our Merge relationships. But another sign of the Kingdom is when we live out the answer to Jesus’ prayer in John 17.

At our last Merge summit, the keyboard player in the band, a pastor, had just been fired from his church. As he helped to lead worship he sensed the Spirit say “You’re going to Disney World”. Unbeknownst to him, a couple in the back of the room had a sense they were supposed to give that same keyboard player a check to pay for a vacation for his family. After worship they walked up and gave him a check saying “We felt God say use this for your family vacation. Take them to Disney World or something.” The Holy Spirit was moving in the background, arranging a blessing for a couple deeply wounded. Loving one another leads to moments like this…

When it’s done right and done healthy we realize we’re not in competition with anybody else. We want to be friends and come around one another. It’s not about doing the tasks first. It is a whole lot easier to get tasks accomplished when you’re doing it with people you love and like. Our best friends are now these pastors from all different cultures, races, and denominations from around our city. A lot of this is simply to keep showing up to support others, to listen, over and over and over again.

We are Vineyard.