Mission Statement

If you're not a believer yet, then our mission here to you, is our mission in ourselves as believers, and God's mission in us all: we're trying here to help you start believing in the Jesus who died, and now lives again, living right now in all power and authority in heaven and on earth, in order to give us all to be spiritually born again through His eternal word, the gospel, into an eternal, personal relationship with Jesus, and with all who believe in His name for remission of our sins in repentance; born again into His one Spirit, who is both the Spirit of holiness, and also the Spirit of fervent brotherly love; love together eternally as equal sisters and brothers in Christ, for all who find holiness in the gospel, good news of Jesus. 

It is our simple intent for membership in the Prayer Group here to find agreement in, and give expression to, our spiritual unity together in God's love and God's righteousness given to all who will come to be in Christ.  We see and acknowledge that gift of righteousness and love in one another as believers all given His Spirit, drawing us together with one another in Himself ; and by our love for one another as repentant brothers and sisters in Christ, we unite also with the Father in His eternal love and holiness for all believers, which love is Christ, Himself. As the Father’s repentant children together in Christ, drawn together with one another into His Spirit we see in  us all, we thus spiritually unite here to pray together as one with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in their eternal love and holiness for us all, both believing to repentance in Jesus for the remission of our sins, and also loving all such believers, now and for all eternity.

Who We Are

This website, begun in late 2002 and finalized for public view in late 2005, is the product of the Christian unity efforts of many believers across the globe, both before and since the site’s inception.  The two Site Administrators, Bro. Mario Attard and Tim Warlick, who as of the time of this writing have yet to meet face to face, share coequal responsibility for its present operation and wording of the website itself, initially developed with help provided by many others.  Prayer Group Members are responsible for their own posts, subject to the discretion of Site Moderators.

It is gratefully acknowledged that the Holy Spirit has spoken and continues to speak, through many other believers both in the distant past and into the present, to make this website possible at all, through both their faith and their works for spiritual Christian unity. It could not have been hoped to accomplish anything good here without them, or without Him working through all.

By way of background, Bro. Mario Attard is a Roman Catholic priest of the Order of Friars Minor (Capuchin), (abbreviated OFM (Cap)).  When work on this website began, he was in university in Malta.  Receiving ordination in June of 2003, he worked in hospital pastoral service and continued his post-graduate scholastic training, receiving a Licentiate in Pastoral Theology in September of 2004.

As of the time of this writing in preparation for site opening, Bro. Mario continues in hospital pastoral service in San Gwann, Malta, with intentions of furthering his studies in 2006, by pursuing completion, in the U.S., of the last of four units of the Clinical Pastoral Education Program (CPEP) he has undertaken. 

Tim Warlick is a Protestant layperson (of Church of Christ orientation) involved in Internet ministries for Christian unity.  He received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Tulsa in 1979.  Tim lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S., with Sherry, his wife of some 36 years.  They have three grown, married children, and 5 grandchildren, all living in the vicinity. 

Both Site Administrators, before they ever came in contact with one another by email and phone, shared a prior, keen interest in the purpose of seeking spiritual Christian unity of all believers, including all those in all Christian denominations and groups.  Both men were already in fundamental agreement as to the beginning point of Christian unity: the work of the Holy Spirit in all believers through faith in Jesus Christ of the Bible for the remission of our sins in repentance.  The two Administrators were already one together in this faith of Him, although still continents apart geographically, when they eventually “met” for the first time on the Internet. 

In October of 2002, Bro. Mario began searching the Internet for others in the world with like-minded views on spiritual Christian unity.  He found there a large prayer for Christian unity written by Tim, as part of a group of Christian unity websites separately operated, but shared in collaboration together, by Pete Robillard and Tim.  Pete’s a Protestant, United Christian Ministries minister (of Pentecostal orientation) living in Broadalbin, New York, U.S., with Claudia, his wife of some ll years, together with their three children. Both Pete and Claudia are involved in Internet ministries for Christian unity. 

That prayer for Christian unity that Mario found on the Internet had been, itself, the outcome of other collaborative Christian efforts on the Internet, being gleaned in substantial part from years of inter-denominational discussions that took place on an email list for Christian unity, in which Pete and Tim participated.  The particular email list that helped produce the ideas for the prayer seen by Bro. Mario had involved discussions among believers coming from a wide variety of Christian faith groups, including at least Catholics and Protestants, as well as others, who in the main, all found agreement together in this same kind of spiritual Christian unity.

To Bro. Mario, this prayer seemed to express, in essence, some of the same ideas as his own about the spiritual Christian unity of all believers.  Having limited computer expertise of his own, Brother Mario could only wish that other, like-minded believers could find each other the same way, and post their own prayers for Christian unity.  He was confident that there were more out there like us all, already in agreement with this kind of spiritual Christian unity, who would be glad to publicly offer their own prayers together as one for Christian unity, if given the chance.

That’s how the idea for this SCUWPG website was born.

Bro. Mario emailed Pete and Tim to discuss how they might work together to implement his vision for a global, spiritual Christian unity prayer website, as Bro. Mario explained in some of their first conversations by email together, excerpted below: 

“That is what is called the spiritual ecumenism. The excellent way how Jesus of the Bible is to be experienced is exactly (according) to this type of Christian unity, the unity in spirit and in one accord with the One and the same Spirit who works in all Christians, irrespective of denomination, beliefs, dogmas. Via this group a space should be given to all those who cherish this desire for Christian unity to experience this loving fellowship and reconciliation, which only God offers, via prayer...our job is that of inviting and bringing them together in Jesus' name through and by the work of the Holy Spirit. We are just instruments. The Holy Spirit is the player…It is really a Christian spirit which is at the basis of it. That gives us a reason to rejoice and go on in our journey. The question is what are we going to do next?” 

What Pete and Tim did next was rush to report this fantastic news to the Christian unity email list, and then help form a small group with Bro. Mario to get started working together on it. 

Bro. Mario’s enthusiasm for the project was contagious, and had to be passed on to friends. The “awesome” news of Bro. Mario’s suggested, joint effort was immediately relayed to the dozens of other members of the email discussion list for Christian unity to share together in the joy; reported with barely-containable elation, as it seemed a family reunion of long-separated, dearly beloved brothers and sisters in the Spirit, each sorely missed by the others. The familial bonds in Christ were at once felt very strong in this work of the Holy Spirit for spiritual Christian unity. 

Early on in the conversations by regular email between the three, Bro. Mario, Pete, and Tim felt the diversity of the group should be improved by drawing in a fourth to share in the discussions, Outi Vaisanen, a sister in Christ from the same email discussion list as Pete and Tim. She had provided much-appreciated, constructive criticism there in past discussions about spiritual Christian unity, so her input was sought again. Outi, a Lutheran layperson living in Finland, readily agreed to participate. 

Once in place, the small discussion group of four believers conversed by regular email over the following several months to develop and put down in writing key, common elements of text for the website: the group name, domain name, and a one-line, descriptive phrase to be used for the whole prayer group. The narrow focus achieved in these conversations as necessary to derive the required, succinct text about what this Internet prayer group was all about, was the key that unlocked the door to developing consistency in the whole website, and it’s importance cannot be stressed enough. These discussions together that forced all participants to reduce the most important ideas into as few words as possible in these common textual items provided a clear focus for all the website work to come. 

The key textual results: 

Group Name: Spiritual Christian Unity Worldwide Prayer Group

Domain Name: SpiritualChrisitanUnity.org

One-line Description: "Praying for Christian unity in love and holiness together in Jesus" 

From the first steps of the work together, results such as these vital, textual elements were produced in conversations to which all four participants made important contributions, and can be seen well stated for all involved, here in these excerpts from various emails by Bro. Mario:

“We really want to stress this website only as a place of agreement in what we already agree together, (or I would explicate, in what we already are by God's grace) which of course is the person of Jesus, Himself, and what He did for all of us Christians, to give us a chance to *become* Holy, together in His righteousness…this is an inclusive group, otherwise we fall into the trap of those who consider themselves holy, but in effect, they have affirmed their condemnation by excluding that their salvation is principally God's gift to them…praying suggests that it is the Spirit who is praying in us for the unity He effected in the past, present and future through each and every one of us, as vehicles of his power and work. Also the idea of holiness, keeps all Christians fixed to the reality of being perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect. This is obviously done, first and foremost, by the work of the Spirit, who cries in our hearts, 'Abba Father'. It is the same Spirit who moves us to repentance and gives us a new heart, and new mind; the mind of Christ…Perhaps the webpage needs to be more specified as the web page of the global prayer group for Christian unity, rather than a part of another webpage. I think it should and needs to be distinct, otherwise we risk mixing many ingredients in the same pan…it needs to be separated from the other page, so that its impact would be great. By this I am not excluding a section which links it with other Christian sites. It is just to emphasize that this is something specific which by its specificity will attract the attention of thousands of intercessors around the globe to join us in this endeavour.”

That initial, highly productive collaboration of four believers, coming from different Christian faith group perspectives, set the direction for the construction of the whole website to follow. It also showed how difficult and time consuming it can be to conduct group discussions by regular email, even for such a small group.  So once these primary concepts and key textual elements had been identified by the group, it was determined the ensuing work to develop the details of other wording to be used on the website should be carried out by Bro. Mario and Tim together, with Tim using his prior experience in commercial website development to work with the software, build the website, and put the finalized detail wording, as it was developed, in place.

With Bro, Mario and Tim to act as coequal Site Administrators for the new website, it was agreed by both that all details of wording used in the construction and operation of the website would be developed jointly from the input of both Administrators, and no such wording would be finalized for inclusion on the website without the approval of the other. 

Building on the consensus already established in the small group, the further process of arriving at agreement in detail wording was at once easy, and at the same time a great joy in the Lord for both men. On the other hand, both were very often frustrated by the unexpectedly long time taken to construct the website itself, which occurred for various reasons. 

Among them, there were no existing websites quite like this in form or function on the Internet to use as a go-by, so a lot of the work had to be done through trial and error. Additionally, the software used for website construction and operation was, and is, thought to be the best available for this application, but was not a perfect match.  The chosen wording content had to be revised repeatedly in the process of learning the software, as best to fit the website form as it developed; and available software functions kept changing due to revisions by the supplier, requiring substantial rewrites. It was like taking slow aim to hit a faster moving target. 

But throughout the lengthy process, the mutual commitment to help one another complete the website remained strong. Bro. Mario provided constant, and greatly appreciated encouragement in brotherly love and support to the website construction work by Tim, helping always to maintain a focus on the spiritual matters at hand. The fellowship shared in Christ, by both email and phone, was a continual and unadulterated delight in the Lord to both. 

An effort was made to hear the Holy Spirit already speaking through all believers that have committed themselves to the search for Christian unity, each in their own way, whether on the earth now or that have died in Christ. Incorporated into this website, where it seemed appropriate, are the ideas and wording about Christian unity found in the writings of believers coming from a variety of different Christian faith groups. Where we thought we could see Him leading others toward Christian unity, we’ve tried to follow with the same wording and ideas. To the extent that any of us ever approaches the truth for spiritual Christian unity, it is only because the Holy Spirit leads us all there. 

It is intended to produce no new gospel here, but to stress the same, good news of what Jesus did on the cross for us all that has always been believed first by all believers, in all Christian denominations and groups, and always officially and traditionally taught in the past by all Christian faiths, in some cases for centuries. The hope is to point here to the one Truth in which all believers already agree, and provide a website where the unbelievers can see that truth only in Him. 

If that goal is accomplished here, it is only by giving place to the Holy Spirit to speak through all believers, especially in prayer, here where the whole world can listen in, hearing believers praying together in faith of the blood of Christ for the remission of past sins in repentance, in which faith He first begins to lead all into Himself. 

SCUWPG Funding

As regards funding, it’s important to begin by stressing here, as elsewhere on the site, that it is not permitted in any prayer posted here to vow any donation to this website, or to any Prayer Group member, or to any ministry you see represented here. If you want to make a monetary gift to thank God for answering prayer, take it to whichever local Christian church or Christian faith group you are attending when, or after, God grants your prayer. 

SCUWPG costs are defrayed through private donations, presently managed by Site Administrator, Tim Warlick. No expense is paid without the mutual consent of both Site Administrators. Tim can be contacted by email through any of our Administration contact links, Contact Us, as also shown at the bottom of all forum pages. As of the time of this writing prior to opening to the public, we haven’t had time yet to acquire legal recognition of donations as tax-deductible, but hope to do so before year-end, 2006, although that remains unsure. 

Beyond that, we make no solicitation of donations. Our Lord says to strive first for the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things, the things we require to meet our needs in this world, will be given as well. His word adds that God is able to provide us with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, we may share abundantly in every good work. If we’re so striving to share together here, in a work as only He may judge good, happily, funding is His problem, not ours.