Our Mission
The 17:23 Initiative is a call to prayer, pure and simple. It is a call to take on the Father's heart for a united church, a call to join our Lord in His prayer for the unity of all believers. The single focus of The 17:23 Initiative is this: asking our heavenly Father to answer Jesus' passionate prayer for reconciliation and unity within the body of Christ.
The church has attempted for centuries to win the world to Jesus, just as it has tried in many times and places to come together in Christian unity. But only God can give us this unity of the Spirit in our midst that will convince the world that God sent the Lord Jesus and that He loves them. When that unity takes place, the Great Commission to preach the gospel of the Kingdom to all the nations will soon be accomplished, and then the Lord will return.(1)
Our Mission is to raise up "watchmen" over this treasured prayer - watchmen who will first give of themselves to be discipled to this prayer and it's significance by way of a daily devotional called The Hidden Treasure. We are looking to our Lord to appoint watchmen who will not take rest for themselves or give our heavenly Father any rest, until He answers this prayer and makes the church a praise in the whole earth.(2)
The Hidden Treasure consists of 30 daily devotionals that point toward the answer to our Lord's prayer. Also available to you is a minted coin with the prayer on one side and the Gethsemane Watch scene, as is depicted on the seal above, on the other. The coin is to be carried in the pocket or purse as a reminder to be continually in union with our Lord's prayer. The purpose is to have our Lord's prayer indelibly stamped onto our hearts so that our attitudes and actions towards our brothers and sisters in Christ will be as He wills and so "that the world may know" and be ultimately drawn to Him.
At the end of the 30 days, the watchman will pass on The Treasure to a person the Lord has revealed. It is our hope that in this way, more and more of the church will be praying our Lord's prayer every day and more and more of the world will identify with the answer to our Lord's prayer.
Footnotes:
1. Matthew 24:14, Matthew 28:18-20
2. Isaiah 62:6-7, Hebrews 12:22-23
