In American Christianity, we have
a major problem with division. The Church (and I mean in the universal sense,
no reference to any group) historically has been dividing since the first
century AD.
Everyone wants to belong to a
group. They want a group that can help them define who they are and what they
believe. They want a group that is like-minded with them, who will accept them
for who they are (not just how they present themselves), and who will add some
value to their lives. Also, people desire to find a group to which they feel
they add value to as well.
The problem is it is hard to get
a large number of people to agree on doctrine, practice, and spirituality. Praise
God, we have so many believers in Christ in our nation, but it is almost an
unmanageable task to unite that many people. I am sure when Jesus comes back,
he will be the one to do it right, but until then, it may never look perfect.
However problematic things are I
still find myself wanting to at least try to make things more unified in
Christianity, even though I have some rather “unorthodox” beliefs that would
seemingly make it even harder to become unified with other Christians. That
being said, there are several reasons why I don’t participate in this
traditional, “orthodox”, denominational, divisive type of Christianity that
pervades the Christian Church as a whole.
I hope not to
offend any of you with what I say about what I believe, because I am not “anti”
any group or person that is truly trying to serve God and live out what they
believe. However, it may feel that way because some of my beliefs differ from
traditional church teachings and practices. I am truly just trying to learn
what the Bible actually says, not what any church, denomination or person says
that it says. This is one of the main reasons I attend a home fellowship and am
not a member of any of the local churches. I’m not saying that other churches
are bad and I can’t get anything out of them, but it is very hard to listen to
things I disagree with week after week. I won’t go into my beliefs
specifically, at least not in this post. I would rather share my personal
beliefs one on one with those who are truly interested in what I really think
and believe about the Bible. I would be happy to share with anyone who is interested
and not just looking for an argument
Another
problem is I believe it is actually wrong that we have denominations in the
first place. They are very unbiblical, and the Bible is clear that we are not
to say “I am of Paul” or “I am of Apollos”. We would be “carnal” (worldly) if
we were to do that. (1 Corinthians 3:4). I know we want to belong to a group,
but we are to be the body of Jesus Christ and he is to be our head, not some
set of denominational beliefs or a pastor, ministry leader or anyone else. We
should question people who want us to follow their church or their pastor
before they want us to follow Jesus and what he thinks is right for our lives.
Now, it is no secret
that I attend a home fellowship instead of a traditional church service on a
regular basis. What this means is that we gather in someone’s home (in my case
it happens to be my in-laws’ house). We have a meal together and talk about the
things of the Lord We talk about our week and our day and what’s going on with
our lives. Sometimes we are just downright silly at the table. Then we begin
the “official” meeting. We select songs out of a songbook we have made and we
sing a few songs. Then someone may do a teaching or everyone may bring
something to share from what they have been learning and what God has put on
their heart. We also set aside a time for prayer. During this time people may
pray, speak in tongues or give a prophecy to exhort the group. This is
something you don’t really see in many churches. It is very powerful and
awesome, to hear from God and speak in tongues and interpret a praise to God.
Sadly, most churches either don’t do this at all or they do it in an unbiblical
way.
The great
thing about this format (and the reason why a lot of people don’t like this
kind of format) is that it is very personal and people can openly share. Now,
not every home fellowship is set up this way. I have been to home fellowships
where it was not personal. There does have to be some creativity in order to
have an open atmosphere. The problem with some big churches is that they don’t
create the space for others to share. Some people like that because they don’t
have to be vulnerable, they don’t have to be accountable, and they don’t have
to be responsible for personal spiritual growth. Really nothing is required of
them other than showing up to the service. But what about those of us who want
to go deeper into the Word and have true fellowship with one another? I know many churches are working very hard to
create the kind of environment where people can grow spiritually and be more
personal, but it seems that in order to do that, they have to create small
groups, fellowship times and events outside of the main meeting. I would like
to propose that the main meeting should be personal and the more occasional
meeting should be a large worship and teaching type of meeting.
The main point
I want to make is I understand why we have denominations. I know sometimes it
is absolutely unavoidable. We have to split sometimes in order to stay at
peace. Sometimes we can’t disagree on major doctrinal issues and have still true
fellowship with one another. I get that. We need to fellowship with like-minded
believers. For me, it really isn’t an issue of whether we meet in a house, a
cathedral, or a coffee shop. The building, however, is to serve us instead of
the other way around. I have seen many churches focus so heavily on church
membership and making additions to accommodate the growth, that they neglect
true spiritual growth and
discipleship. Churches seem to be able to get people in and saved, but lack
true discipleship. Churches need to make sure that the atmosphere they set up
encourages personal spiritual growth and healthy relationships among fellow
believers. That is not an exhaustive list of what a church should be doing,
just some things I think most churches are lacking. Churches need to think
outside the box a little more when it comes to the format of their meetings.
There are no
easy solutions to these problems. It seems we have woven some thick webs that
separate different groups of Christians from one another. We need to be more
open to others while standing firm on the Word of God. We need to stop feeling
like our church is the only church on the planet that has it “right”. We need
to find out what we can learn from other believers instead of trying to convert
them to our ways of thinking. We need to focus on the quality of relationships
and spiritual growth in churches, not the quantity of members and building
size. We should reach out to one another and celebrate the things we have in
common, and try not to be so judgmental on the things we disagree about. I look
forward to the day when everyone can see that there is only one true Church. It
is the body of Christ and all who believe in him are members of the body. I can’t wait to see all the saints drop their
labels and truly see who they are in Christ. Let’s work our hardest toward
having that kind of unity in Christ until he returns.
