Denominations

Question received 14th Feb. How should Christians deal with denominational disagreements?

My reply: I used to tell ecclesiology students that denominations were created for the convenience of men and the inconvenience of God. Whilst I would contend that the church of the New Testament is the local church, I do understand the how and why denominations were and are formed. For the purpose of my response to this question, I will simply accept the fact that denominations exist and there is sometimes disagreement between these organisations.

Groups of churches became known for and/or defined by particular doctrines that they believed that, in some way, made them appear to be different to other churches. In a somewhat simplified view of Church history, we see that for many years, there were no denominations per se. Essentially there were churches whose allegiance was to the Bishop of Rome (who claimed to be the Universal Bishop) and those churches from Eastern nations who claimed greater purity or orthodoxy of doctrine. Churches from the “Eastern Block” are still named/denominated as “Orthodox” churches today, their more defining titles (e.g. Russian Orthodox or Greek Orthodox etc) simply defined them as having their base in a particular nation. Ultimately, those churches aligned with the Universal (NB this is the meaning of the word “catholic”) bishop claimed the name Catholic Church (i.e. the Universal church), however when structural divisions divided the “universal” church, those who remained faithful to the Bishop of Rome began to be denominated or named as the Roman Catholic church to distinguish them from other churches who protested that the Bishop of Rome was not the actually the universal head of the church on earth. The protesting groups were known as Protestant (because they protested) churches. Henry V111 of England, famously severed the relationship between Rome and the churches in England, thus the “Church of England” was created. There were many people who followed Martin Luther in wanting to reform the church and its doctrines, followers of Luther became known as Lutheran. Other denominational groups were denominated by more specific doctrines. Anabaptists (ana meaning again – this group “baptised” people “again”) were so named for their view on the doctrine of baptism. Presbyterians (the Greek word “presbuterion” means a group of elders) were so named because they were governed by elders rather than regional bishops. Pentecostals were so named because of their belief in a personal “Pentecost” experience for each believer. Seventh Day Adventists were so named because they insist on Sabbath (i.e. 7th day of the week) worship – the International Organization for Standardization is the body that defines date and time standard for nations across the globe and it is interesting that ISO 8601 says that Monday is actually the first day of the week, which means of course, that Sunday is in fact the 7th (or Sabbath)day ..... now there’s a REAL can of worms for someone to sort out!!! Of course there are today hundreds of different groups, each given a group name because of a particular “stand out” doctrine that they believe and practice, or are self named to give focus on that which they see as their purpose, or perhaps named after a leader or for many and varied reasons. Generally, an “outsider” will have some idea of what a local congregation believes or practices because of the group (denomination) to which they belong or with which they are aligned. In some of the larger and older denominations, there are further defining “titles” (e.g. “Evangelical Anglican”, “Charismatic Baptist”) that indicate that they are aligned with a particular group within the larger denomination with which they are affiliated. As noted above, that is a VERY superficial description of denominational tags or titles.

The very fact that some “denominational” names draws attention to a particular doctrine that a church promotes, means that there will be some Christians who hold very strongly to that particular doctrine and there will be some, from otherwise denominated churches, who hold a different view on that same doctrine. So, when there is disagreement, how should it be handled?

First, it is important to understand that sometimes there’ll be disagreements over issues that are not central, where we can respectfully agree to disagree. There are some “non-negotiables” in the Christian faith and these are set out quite well in the Nicene and Apostles Creeds. But there are things that we may hold dear but are not essentials of faith – like how the church should be governed, how often we should have communion etc.

I have 3 “categories” of doctrine. The first contains all the essentials (like salvation by faith, the substitutionary death and literal resurrection of Jesus etc) and I have no basis of relationship with those who deny these fundamentals. My second category contains doctrines that I feel strongly about (like believer baptism, continuity of the gifts of The Holy Spirit) and I can have Christian fellowship with those who view these doctrines differently – my fellowship is based on the common ground that we share with my “category 1” doctrines – these are the ones that define us as Christian believers and create a “family” relationship, so our fellowship rests on these fundamentals and, whilst the “second category” doctrines may define differences in the way we assemble to worship, the way our local church operates etc, they should not hinder day to day Christian fellowship nor prevent us working together in activities that reflect our common ground (e.g. an interdenominational evangelistic outreach). My “third category” contains doctrines that I consider to be opinion (e.g. how end times unfold) and these should never in any way hinder fellowship or relationship – they may be interesting to discuss, but the answers aren’t always clear in the Bible and they should never become the basis for any breach of fellowship.

Of course, handling differences within the Christian community, is not just limited to differences between denominations, we find the same issues rising within denominations as well.

Christians are like any other bunch of people in that they have diverse personalities, passions and talents and those differences may well lead to new churches and even whole denominations emerging that reflect unique personalities of their adherents. Some people may like particular traditions that have been passed down over generations or even centuries, others may prefer an unstructured form of worship. The best way to handle the differences is to consider the common ground and focus on that.

I’ll end this with a story. Two boys were brought into the principal’s office for fighting in the school corridor. One boy was about 180 cm tall, the other about 150cm. The principal asked what had started the fight, and the shorter of the two immediately replied “He called me shorty!” The wise principal looked at the two boys and told them to stop fighting over the 30cm difference between them and go and work together using the 150cm that they had in common. Good advice for the church!