Mac Pier, founder and CEO of The New York Leadership Center in Manhattan, which hosted Movement Day 2015 last Thursday, warned in a declaration that division in the church is breeding atheism in the world and called for the body to unite.
"We confess that we are a divided church. We are divided by race, by denomination, and by geography. We confess that division in the church breeds atheism in the world. We confess that we have yet to fully answer the prayer of Jesus that we be one that the world might believe. As Jesus wept over Jerusalem, we weep over the condition of our cities," noted Pier in the declaration co-authored by Bishop Claude Alexander Jr. of The Park Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Movement Day, which was launched in 2010, is designed to catalyze leadership teams from the world's largest cities to serve their cities more effectively by advancing high-level, city-changing collaborative partnerships.
In the last six years, the movement has attracted some 6,500 leaders, primarily from North America.
Christianity in Manhattan has grown 500 percent in the last 25 years and Movement Day has been helping to tell the story of the work of Christians in the city and attracting resources. NY CityServe and City Fest grew out of Movement Day 2012.