That They May Be One

Last year, we featured a campaign by Clapham client Open Doors USA entitled One With Them. Based on 1 Corinthians 12:26, in which St. Paul claims that “If one part (of the body of Christ) suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it,” One With Them sought to increase awareness of persecuted Christians around the world. Hoping to  “make goodness fashionable”—a maxim of our beloved Hannah More’s—they sold bracelets resembling barbed wire to help Christians remember and pray for their brothers in chains.This year, we again feature the One With Them campaign so as to highlight a new facet of the movement. Now, you have an opportunity to share your creative gifts through the mediums of word, film, and—coming soon—art, and tell the story of our persecuted brothers and sisters. Work may be submitted through the website, where links for a prayer mailing list and wristbands are also found.As this month’s newsletter suggests, we adore the creative arts here at Clapham. Not only do we believe in their ability to shape and mold people—as Percy Bysshe Shelley once said, “Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world”—we also believe that creativity is a fundamental part of our identity as image-bearers of God. Made in the image of the Creator, we, too, must create, must express ourselves. Our Christian family around the world cannot explore this aspect of what it means to be created in His image, wearing chains for their attempts to do so. What better way to use our gifts than to speak for them when they cannot, to use the wealth of talents that the Master has given us to promote the cause of His children—and, ultimately, Himself?Nancy Ritter