Why are there so many different kinds of churches? Wheeeeeew! We could write a thousand pages on this one! I have a book in my study that lists over 250 church groups/denominations... by the way, the word "denomination" comes from the word "denominate" which simply means "to name"... so if your church group has a name it's "denominated" I sort of crack up at all these groups out there who say, "We're non-denominational"... I mean in some instances that works if both parties know what the other means by that... i.e. "We don't have a central office that dictates things to our congregation..." or, "We're autonomous" (i.e. self-governing... we hire our own pastors... make our own decisions about purchasing/selling property... write our own by-laws, etc...). If both parties know what you mean by "non-denominational" then it's fine. But for most people driving down the road... all they know is they pass "Christ Lutheran Church"... then "First Baptist"... then a "St. Paul's Catholic"... then a "Living Water United Methodist"... etc. And all of them are supposed to be "Christian"... it's so confusing? Back to our origninal queston--"Why are there so many different kinds of churches? Well, let me begin with what I think is a significant, and encouraging thought. In God's eyes... there AREN'T many church groups... there's just THE CHURCH... i.e. there's just ONE group of people who have trusted Jesus as Savior and follow Him as Lord (Ephesians 4:5). On judgment day, God's not going to ask, "Well, what church group were you part of?" or, "Did you finally get all of your doctrine ironed out so that it's perfect?" ... He will simply ask, "What did you do with my Son? Did you receive Him or reject Him" And... "What did you do with the time, talents and treasures I gave you? i.e. what did you do with your life... did you live for you or for me?" Doctrine is very important. It guides us in our walk with Christ. It impacts every area of our life... but I would suggest that LOVE is MORE important... Galatians 5:6 "The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through
love." John 13:35 "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." Do you hear those verses? Jesus didn't say that all the world will know we are His disciples if we have all of our doctrine down perfect (as important as it is to have good solid, biblical doctrine)! He didn't say the world will know we are His disciples if we build BIG buildings or have great programs... or tons of bible knowledge... He said "They'll know you're my disciples IF YOU LOVE EACH OTHER!" No one will stand before Jesus on judgment day and say... proudly, "Yep, Jesus... I did it all RIGHT! You gotta let me in." No way! We'll all fall to our knees in worship and thank God for His amazing grace and the blood of Jesus... period! So... why are there so many church groups... We'll, for LOTS of reasons... In many cases abuses called for reformations/splits... Church groups have split to form new groups throughout history because people in the given church group perceived that there were abuses of power, or blatently erronious doctrines being taught. In other cases it was differing views of church government that caused the rifts... i.e. Should we have a hierarchy with priests, bishops/presbutyrs, arch biships and a pope type figure, etc.??? Or should we be 100% autonomous and choose our own leaders from within our own congreation to lead us? ... and all kinds of view in between... by the way, a case for each view can be supported by Scripture... For me, here's the bottom line... All Christians agree on a core set of beliefs: 1. Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God and the Savior of the World. 2. Jesus was virgin born. 3. No one comes to the Father accept through faith in Christ. 4. The Bible is the divinely inspired Word of God. There are more... but you get the idea... ALL Christians are followers of Jesus who
have trusted in Him as Savior and Lord and are striving to follow His Spirit and Word to the best of their ability. So... we have all these different names on church signs because people through the years have messed up or disagree so strongly on some issue/doctrine that they felt compelled to leave that group and start another... or in the process of trying to reform the group they were in another group evolved... that's often the case... the original "reformer" doesn't want to splinter the church... they only want to "fix" the problem... but inevitably what happens is people gravitate to the reformer's view and a spit occurs. So there ya go... We Christians are a messed up, disfunctional family... but we are... praise the Lord... forgiven and saved by grace! THE CHALLENGE: 1. Love God with all of your heart... 2. Love people... 3. Find a church that does the same... 4. Dig deep into the Word, listen to the Holy Spirit, and live by your convictions... 5. Don't freak out over disputable matters/opinions... strive to be united with all believers on the core beliefs! In doing this, hopefully the world will see that in spite of all the different names on the signs out in front of our buildings... we really do love each other and follow the same Lord! I think that would make Jesus happy... don't you? Blessings, Pastor Brad |