It is a given among many Christians that the splintering of the outward form of the church into many pieces is a disaster. Many millions of believers have prayed that the divisions of doctrine and practice would be healed and everyone could be part of the same organization once again. When they read Jesus’ prayer for unity in John 17, they are thinking outward unity, i.e. the end of different denominations.

 

Maybe I’m just a contrarian at heart, but I’d like to take the opposite view—that herding all the Christians into the same denomination would be a disaster. The explosive growth of Islam mostly wiped Christianity out of Africa and greatly reduced its presence in the Middle East. Thereafter Europe and the shrinking Byzantine Empire were the only places where Christians constituted a majority. For a almost a thousand years Western Europe had the kind of denominational monopoly that it seems many want today. But that kind of concentrated power could be both efficient and abusive. Church authority was joined with secular power, dissent was ruthlessly stamped out, and there were no checks and balances when the central message of the church went off the rails.

 

I think Jesus was thinking about inward unity, unity of thought and belief, in his prayer. I think he was praying not that all might be part of the same organization, but that all might believe God’s Word more and more closely. There’s a difference.

 

In heaven there will be no more denominations. But here on this sinful earth, breaking up church power into pieces means there will be no more Inquisitions. If a believer can no longer in good conscience participate in a certain church body, he or she has many more choices. Just as competition in business is good for both the consumer and the business, Christian worship, outreach, and education all benefit from having many different streams and styles. If there were only one allowed denomination we wouldn’t have chorales, Appalachian shape note shouts, COGIC urban Gospel, country, chants, and contemporary.

 

Where there are many denominations to choose from (including even organizations calling themselves “non-denominational”), people can’t be coerced into joining. They must be persuaded. And that finally is the Gospel’s way. It is not our membership in an outward organization that saves us. It is being connected by faith into the invisible organization, the Body of Christ, the Communion of Saints, that will matter when the Lord returns.

 

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Straight talk.  Real hope.

8/3/2009 - Posted by J
This kind of refreshing perspective is just what the church needs! God made us and loves each of us as individuals; when it comes to churches, what's preferred for one, might not be preferred for another. I appreciate that you are not a minister who wants Christians to be "cookie cutter" robots! -Bless you!

7/28/2009 - Posted by L
Thank you for this viewpoint Pastor J!What a hopeless world this would be, and how desolate heaven, if the Lord had not chosen to look at the hearts of all believers. You have confirmed a belief I have long defended.