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Dear Unity, a compilation of more than 30 love letters from renowned Christian leaders, was launched by its editor, Philip Ryall, in front of a packed crowd that included former Prime Minister Scott Morrison, the Most Rev. Archbishop Christopher Prowse, Orthodox Bishop Bartholomew, Danny and Leila Abdallah, and acclaimed singer-songwriter Darlene Zschech.

Award-winning tenor Mark Vincent provided the musical score for a night that was more than a book launch, but a unified prayer of hope that will inspire a new movement of love and an overdue culture of honour across the Church and the nation. Book chapters feature Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa, Francis Chan, World Council of Churches chief Rev Jerry Pillay and Dr Mary Healy among the impressive gallery of authors championing the movement across the world.

Only weeks prior to the Sydney launch, the movement was launched in London with co-author Nicky Gumbel, Dallas (with Randy Clark and Heidi Baker), and Quebec (with former World Head of the Salvation Army General Brian Peddle and Catholic Cardinal Gerald Lacroix).

Watch this synopsis video of the book below, in the eyes of key contributors.

Scott Morrison told those gathered that while in parliament, he hosted a weekly Bible study for members of all denominations. “Every Tuesday night in Parliament, we had a Bible study in my office with brothers and sisters of all the different denominations – this is what I have come to miss most,” he said. The book’s vision similarly pursues the promise of David in Psalm 133, where we are reminded “How good and pleasant it is when God’s people dwell together in unity… for there the Lord commands His blessing, even life evermore.” Psalm 133 (v1,3)

One Heart

Leila Abdallah spoke of the urgent need for unity, telling those gathered: “Forgiveness is what brings healing, but unity is what binds everyone together in one heart and one voice.” Leila and her husband share intimate backstories in the book of their tragic loss of their three precious children, killed by a drunk driver, Samuel Davidson, on 1 February 2020, while they were innocently walking to the shops to buy an ice cream. Within days of the tragedy, they publicly forgave the driver, and the news went viral around the world within 24 hours.

In the Abdallahs’ chapter of Dear Unity, Danny shares the details of his first meeting with Davidson in prison, a man now fully devoted to God and literally  “a new creation in Christ”.

When Davidson was asked by Danny why he decided to become a Christian, he responded, “Danny, I want what you have. Yours and Leila’s one act of forgiveness changed my life undeservingly.”

Danny goes on to explain, “This is the love that sets the captives free and messes with the hearts of a world so desperate to see Christ in the way we love each other.”

Even Channel Seven News covered the Dear Unity book launch.

During the powerful launch of the book, Catholic Archbishop of Canberra-Goulburn Christopher Prowse posed a challenge to the almost 200 gathered guests, urging: “We must not get used to disunity. It’s a scandal that this continues today. We must yearn with Jesus to allow the Holy Spirit to make us one.”

In sharing something of his early conversion story at the hands of group of Pentecostal believers, he confides in the book: “Then the pastor asked me an extraordinary question, ‘Have you accepted Jesus Christ into your heart as your personal Lord and Saviour?’ No one had ever asked me this.” When Fr Prowse was elevated to the office of Bishop and was asked to decide upon his episcopal motto, he chose two simple words: “Only Jesus”!

The Face of Christ

Although raised a Catholic from his earliest years, the book’s visionary and editor Philip Ryall found his faith at a Baptist horse-riding camp when the love of God touched him deeply, and began within him a life-long journey of gratitude and the need to go in search of the missing body parts of the Church. His belief is that while we are all truly pieces of the Master, we in fact are called together as the Church to become God’s masterpiece so that the world might finally know and see the face of Christ it is so desperately looking for.

Watch the video interview below with Nick Gumbel and Philip Ryall, Dear Unity Editor & Founder:

Ryall is convinced that this book is straight from the Father’s heart as he reflects: “I am really a nobody when it comes to my qualifications to curate this book. Somehow, I found myself passionately asking all the somebodies of the Church to write of their common yearning for oneness… and they all said Yes! This is a miracle in itself and gives testimony to the way of God that hides ‘these things from the learned and wise and reveals them to mere children’.”

In addressing the launch to guests who represented a wide multitude of Church expressions and movements, Ryall appealed, “I honestly believe that this “Dear Unity” book of cross-denominational love-letters is God’s dream come true. The real question for all of us is whether we will allow this to become our dream come true!”

In speaking of the two greatest commandments Jesus gave us in Matthew chapter 22, Ryall suggests that “there are two great conversions we must pursue with God’s grace… Our conversion to love God with all our heart, soul and mind, and our conversion to love our neighbour as ourselves! This is a conversion from the disgrace of division to the grace of oneness. Here too the commanded blessing reveals itself, not as a great duty so much as a great beauty!”

The Dear Unity Book is now available worldwide on all platforms, including Koorong, Barnes & Noble and Amazon.