“Two Wisconsinites - a white Anglican priest and a Hispanic Evangelical pastor - are playing soccer against a team of youth in Mexico…”

No, this isn’t the start of a joke, but rather a beautiful picture of joy during a joint Mission Trip involving two very different Madison churches. How did this come to be? Let’s back up to April of 2020.

Fresh in the pandemic, the lunch staff at Lighthouse School came to Pastor Marcio and Principal Tia with an idea: to continue cooking hot meals for their kids, available for parking lot pickup. 

This idea grew. And with it, a need for more volunteers. 

Within this network of volunteers and organizations, personal relationships grew, including one between Pastor Scott Cunningham from Christ Church and Pastor Marcio from Lighthouse Church. 

Fast forward…Christ Church rents their worship space from another ministry, and on one particular Sunday in 2021, their usual space was unavailable. So, Pastor Scott contacted Pastor Marcio to see about collaborating on a worship service for that date. This experience went so well that they repeated this united worship service, consisting of an Anglo-dominant Anglican congregation and a bilingual, Hispanic-dominant Evangelical congregation. To help build relationships among their congregations, they began eating together after worship, using the well-known spiritual practice of potluck.

This summer, these two churches took a mission trip together, serving a local church in Mexico. They facilitated bilingual daily devotions, ate meals together, ran Bible Camp throughout the day for the children, and held street worship services. 

In a reflection with a group of Madison pastors after their trip, Pastor Marcio shared his heart for unity: that we can only be united with one another through Christ by means of ongoing relationships. None of what has happened could have been possible without the growing relationships and mutual care for each other. Within those connections, God does the work.

We know that someday, every tongue and tribe will be worshiping together. Influenced by his recent experience, Pastor Marcio challenges all of us, God’s Church in Madison: “Why not start here?”

Interested in coming together for a united worship service here in Madison? Join in with 25+ churches already committed to worshiping together on Monday, November 20th, as a Thanksgiving service. Save the date!