The "Oneness" of Cooperation

And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul; neither said any of them that any of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common. - Acts 4:32

Wikipedia is a non-profit effort formed to provide a knowledge forum where people can work together on any subject to enhance knowledge about it. The restriction is that they agree to allow others to use it freely and without restriction and that in passing that knowledge on they do not restrict others from using it or passing it on freely as well endlessly. The goal is to enable the passing on of knowledge not to profit financially from it and to insure that continues to be the case. It has always been upheld by that discipline and the contributions and financial donations of others whether small or large.

The same principle drives the working of the Free Software Foundation which cooperatively birthed the Linux operating system into existence worldwide as an alternative to Microsoft's which was produced solely on the basis of market control and financial gain. Microsoft shares nothing of it's advances unless it absolutely has to therefore it is often very slow or negligent to correct them. The free software and knowledge community shares with and cooperates on everything so that all benefit and can continue to develop and pass it on. We might be more familiar with the "Android" system, a somewhat derivative, that powers some phones and smaller computer devices as an alternative to Apple's potential monopoly.

Even though such efforts are prone to occasional error it is notable that correction or improvement of those errors can come by way of the most seemingly insignificant member/participant very often far quicker than those commercial systems can produce. It is inherent that because no one cooperating can claim exclusiveness in anything that there is tremendous openness to correction (rather than the hiding of errors and unwillingness to have them be corrected from the "outside" inherent in more commercial efforts.) The level of cooperation and selflessness is quite often astounding considering the dog eat dog world we live in.

When I built the software that powered the INCN site years ago, I learned what I needed to know from the freely available and correctable programing efforts of others in that cooperative world. In addition, the servers were running on Linux system created and maintained by the cooperative effort of others. The Christian news articles were all produced or passed on by various cooperative efforts. I only supplied (or at this juncture in my life prefer to say "funneled") the means to publish them efficiently on the web. I found myself cataloging them first and foremost according to country or locality rather than by organization, something that I partook of earlier in my walk and certainly not my own exclusively. How else could a carpenter with a GED and no experience accomplish something like that by himself. I can never say I did it or designed it because ultimately it was formed on the backs of others before me.

One day at my desk when I was finding myself overwhelmed by the awareness of all the cooperation that went before me, I was reminded of the scripture and warning from Jesus, 

"And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light." - Luke 16:8"

What if the Church, the followers of Jesus in Christ was originally designed to function like that in utter selfless cooperation and willingness to be corrected. Where the greatest among us is as a servant. And, if so, is it possible that the Creator of the Universe who has His hands in every event that unfolds upon the earth, speaking to a Church which has fallen to the state of many independent Balaams that desire to prophesy for personal gain. Speaking to that Church through the very donkey that it is riding on? "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him (Jesus) the iniquity of us all." Isaiah 53:6

How about a revival of Holy Spirit led "oneness in cooperation" among all the believers in Jesus Christ?