Especially for New Christians (4) Why are there so many Denominations?

Wed, 18 Dec 1996

Clergy/Leaders' Mail-list No. 333 Something from my book GROW! Meditations and Prayers for New Christians. (The fuller version is on our homepage). Shalom! Rowland Croucher Director, John Mark Ministries - resources for pastors/leaders. (Bookroom, library, and worldwide F.W.Boreham Trading Post) Home Page: http://www.pastornet.net.au/jmm ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ WHY ARE THERE SO MANY CHRISTIAN DENOMINATIONS? # In March 1982, when the Archbishop of Canterbury went to Liverpool he was met by about a hundred noisy protesters, waving banners and jeering him, because of his well-known views about the need for Christian unity. His address was constantly interrupted by people yelling 'Judas', 'Hang him,' 'traitor' etc. The interjections occurred even when he was praying. The protesters believed that the Roman Catholic church was unreformed, the 'harlot' of Revelation 13... # Archbishop Oscar Romero was a small man - about five feet high - who urged his priests in El Salvador to 'put feet on the gospel' and challenge the idea that God ordained a few to be rich and the majority to be poor. At Easter 1980 he was celebrating Mass in a hospital near his cathedral. As he raised the chalice a shot rang out, and Oscar Romero's blood mingled with the spilt wine... # For many years, when Americans were asked 'Which living persons do you admire most?' two Christians always appeared near the top of the lists: Billy Graham and Mother Teresa. Billy Graham has probably spoken to more people face to face than anyone else in history. Mother Teresa is probably the best-known Catholic Christian in the world, after the Pope. Billy Graham is a Baptist evangelist. Mother Teresa is an Albanian-born Catholic nun. Billy Graham lives in a beautiful home in one of the world's wealthiest countries - the U.S.A. Mother Teresa ministers to the poorest of the poor, in Calcutta and other places. What do they both have in common? Simply, a sincere commitment to follow Jesus Christ... A well-known Japanese Christian, speaking in English about the many Christian churches would, in halting English, call them 'damnations'. Was he wrong? 'I believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church,' Archbishop William Temple once remarked, 'but regret that it doesn't exist.' The great American Methodist missionary, Stanley Jones, once asked how another missionary group had got such a lovely property. The reply: 'The man who owned it built such high and expensive walls around it that he went bankrupt... and had to sell the property.' Imagine that - bankrupt building walls! Jones wondered (as I do) whether that is not dangerously near the history of Christian churches today? There are many varieties of religious experience. We tend to gravitate towards those who have some affinity with our own beliefs, experience, or social and educational background. Or else we have a particular kind of personality, and we enjoy being with those like us. Latin American Pentecostals will not be comfortable worshipping like German Lutherans, and vice-versa. The human species is greatly varied, so are their religions. But that's not the problem. The difficulty begins when Latins and Germans tell each other 'You've gotta be like me!' Or the Brethren say to the Pentecostals 'Your gift of tongues is worthless'. Or the fundamentalist says of the Uniting Church 'They're too liberal, and therefore not as Christian as I am, a conservative.' Or the Catholics (in pre-Vatican II thinking) tell others they're at best 'separated brethren.' Yes, the Roman Catholic Church believed it was the one true church. Vatican II's Decree on Ecumenism helped to change all that. Theologian, Oscar Cullmann, says of this decree: 'this is more than the opening of a door: new ground has been broken. No Catholic document has ever spoken of non-Catholic Christians in this way.' (1) Traditionalists (eg. Anglo-Catholics) believe worship patterns are fixed: in worship we re-present to God our lives in liturgies which go back into the history of the church. Renewalists (eg. Pentecostalists) believe worship patterns are flexible: in worship we spontaneously offer to God our praise 'as the Spirit moves', in forms which may change from week to week. The pattern throughout the history of the Western church has been: out of a perception of 'deadness', renewal. Eventually the renewal movement settles down and becomes institutionalized - so another renewal is needed. But the order vs. freedom question is only one of many which has divided churches from one another. 'How should the church be governed?' is another: Anglicans are episcopal - ruled by bishops; Presbyterians believe in rule by elders; Baptists and Congregationalists allow the congregation to decide major matters. Then there are different views about ministry: Anglicans appoint bishops, priests or presbyters, and deacons; Presbyterians, have ruling elders and teaching elders, and deacons; Baptists have pastors and deacons (with a growing number now appointing elders). Another issue is baptism: Baptists baptize adolescents or adults only, and exclusively by immersion; although Anglicans allow and affirm baptism of adults by immersion, most of their baptisms are of children by sprinkling or pouring. (As we will see in chapter ?, the main issue is not the age of the recipient of this sacrament, nor the amount of water used, but its being done once, in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This is an example of churches majoring on matters of lesser importance. The earliest baptismal confession - 'Jesus is Lord' - and the Christian credo of the catacombs - 'Jesus Christ, God's Son, Saviour' - were all that was needed for the earliest Christians to identify one another. Each Christian denomination has its strengths and weaknesses. This is a personal opinion, but I believe (with Robert Webber) the Anglican tradition (Episcopalian in the U.S.) has six strengths: an appreciation of mystery, worship tied to theologically respectable liturgical forms, a well-developed sacramental theology, a historical identity, an ecumenical affiliation, and a holistic spirituality. On the other hand, the Pentecostalists, Brethren, Baptists and Churches of Christ insist on a greater lay participation in worship, Bible study and evangelism, and tend to produce more 'hands-on, out-going' Christians. The Uniting Church in Australia (combining former Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregational churches) combines some of the best elements in several traditions. The Salvation Army majors (pardon the pun) on ministries of compassion. The great weakness of all the mainline churches is their tendency towards institutionalism and spiritual inertia. On the other hand, there are sectarian tendencies in other denominations. The Brethren have to be careful about their exclusiveness (sometimes claiming to possess a monopoly on biblical truth). The Pentecostalists have to watch the tendency to produce first and second-class Christians not on the basis of character, but on the possession of certain spiritual gifts (especially tongues, healing, word of knowledge). The Churches of Christ and Baptists make a particular form of baptism a ticket to membership and debar people of good Christian character who have not had sufficient water applied to them. The Salvation Army ought to be careful not to give music too great a prominence: many in their bands and songster groups do not attend Christian growth groups. In summary: the Holy Spirit is a work in every denomination, and every local church (and in every Christian). The devil is also at work. This 'spiritual warfare' shouldn't surprise us: Jesus said an enemy would be sowing weeds among the grain, and it will all be sorted out at the great judgment (Matthew 13:24-30). A comment about the ecumenical movement, which Archbishop William Temple, in 1942, called 'the great new fact of our time'. The further to the right the denomination (ie. the more conservative theologically), the more suspicious it is likely to be about joining together with other churches. The far right has developed conspiracy theories about all this (a one-world church ruled by the Pope etc.). My own response to the ecumenical movement is mixed. I've noticed that those who expend great energy working for the organic union of denominations ('ecclesiastical joinery'), good as that may be, sometimes lose touch with the evangelistic nature of the church. On the other hand, Jesus did pray that his followers would be one, and that this would be noted by 'the world'. At present conservatives are working hard to perpetuate the divisiveness which is scandalous in the eyes of 'the world'. If other Christians are my brothers and sisters in the Lord, perhaps there is a reason why I should not have full fellowship with them, but at present I can't think of it! I have so much to learn from them, to add to the knowledge of God derived from my own limited background. What doctrines should Christians agree about? Try these: there is only one God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; Jesus Christ is Lord and Saviour and will come again as judge; we are united with Christ through repentance and faith, and belong to his church through baptism; our faith is divinely revealed in the Scriptures; Christianity is essentially living out a life of justice and love, in the power of the Spirit. Let me urge you to affirm the distinctives of your own tradition, but also recognize its weaknesses and the strengths in others'. Thomas Aquinas, the great 13th century Catholic theologian wrote, Ubi amor, ibi oculus ('Where there is love there is vision'): knowing and loving are linked. D L Moody, the 19th century American evangelist used to say, ' If you go through the world with love in your heart, you will make the world love you, and love is the badge that Christ gave his disciples.' What unites us is more important - much, much, more important - than what divides us. Let us accept one another, then, for the glory of God, as Christ has accepted us (Romans 15:7). Lord, we come to worship, Lord, we come to praise, Lord, we come to worship you in, Oh so many ways. Some of us shout, Some of us sing, Some of us whisper the praise we bring, But, Lord, we are all gathering To bring to you our praise. Ishmael (English Christian singer quoted in George Carey, A Tale of Two Churches: Can Protestants & Catholics get Together? Downers Grove, Illinois: Intervarsity Press, 1985, p. 158). ____________________________ Clergy/Leaders' Mailing List (Moderated) This mailing list is open to all Christians via Internet e-mail and most fax destinations. Submissions welcome: clergy@pastornet.net.au To unsubscribe, e-mail to: clergy-request@pastornet.net.au with SUBJECT reading UNSUBSCRIBE Copyright: Postings may be re-sent ONLY with all copyright notifications intact. A PastorNET ministry: manager@pastornet.net.au

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