by Tom Blackaby
I recently returned from speaking at a city-wide gathering of churches that held their annual joint worship service in a park. Participating churches included United Church of Christ, Free Methodists, Pentecostal, Baptist, Church of God, Nazarene, and others. More than five hundred believers came and worshipped together in a service that concluded with communion. Because it was organized by the local ministerial association, it went overtime (considerably) but no one seemed to mind all that much.
But not everyone was happy. Another church had booked the park facility immediately after our group to hold their own private worship service. They had determined that they were “biblically” prohibited from worshipping with the other churches because of theological differences. Apparently they showed up while the other 500+ were worshipping together and decided to go home rather than request that we vacate the premises. That was probably wise as my theme was based on my last book, Experiencing God’s Love in the Church: the missing ingredient in today’s church and how to get it back!
I understand the need to hold to one’s convictions. I agree that we need to be firm in our understandings of our biblical doctrines and theology. But there must be some level of agreement and cooperation between the various bodies of Christ in the same neighborhoods, towns, and cities. Yes of course our many doctrines differ in various places; that’s why we have so many denominations! But the core beliefs of Christianity should hold us together. The old “Apostle’s Creed” used to be a rallying point for the confessing churches; a statement of common beliefs which read:
Traditional English Version
I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord;
who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell;
the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven,
and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy catholic Church; the communion of saints;
the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. AMEN.
If in fact we have the same Holy Spirit at work in our hearts, worship the same Heavenly Father, the same Lord Jesus Christ, and believe He will come to take the faithful back with Him to everlasting life, surely, if we are to live with one another for all eternity, we can make some effort to get along with one another here on earth!
Differences between churches of different denominations are understandable. But the truth of the matter is that even among churches of the SAME DENOMINATION, there is often friction, jealousy, and isolation. Some began as splits of a sister church. Some started in competition with other churches and stole many of their members. There is church envy, pastor envy, ministry envy, facility envy, staff envy and more that result in suspicion, resentment, jealousy, arrogance, pride, vilification, criticism, and ungodly behavior and attitudes.
Liu Zhenying, known to his friends as Brother Yun, was born in 1958, the fourth of five children, in a traditional farming village in the southern part of China’s Henan Province. Both his salvation story and the way God raised him up to become one of the leaders of the home church movement in China are miraculous. He endured several imprisonments, torture, and life-threatening situations as God used him incredibly to spread the gospel message in his home country.
When he at last escaped from prison in China and made his way to the West, he thought he was free from persecution and hardship. But he was wrong. He simply faced a new kind of persecution: that of criticism, character assassination, ridicule, slander, and rejection.
In The Heavenly Man, he writes, “In China I had been used to beatings, torture with electric batons, and all kinds of humiliation. . . .I guess that deep in my heart I had presumed that now I was in the West my days of persecution had ended. In China, Christians are persecuted with beatings and imprisonment. In the West, Christians are persecuted by the words of other Christians.”
As I began writing this article a particular Scripture verse came to mind that I would not have, at first, thought appropriate. But the more I ponder it, the more I believe it fits very nicely.
Hebrews 10:23-25 “ Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering (for He is faithful who promised), and let us consider one another to provoke to love and to good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. (MKJV)
Now I realize this is most likely referring to a local congregation, but not necessarily exclusively so. As there were no denominations at the time of writing this, and it was inconceivable that there would have been so much interchurch hostility and animosity, I wonder if this verse could be a modern rallying point.
When I pastored an international congregation in Europe, I met regularly at the local NATO base for a Bible study with the pastors/chaplains in the English speaking community. This included Methodist, Baptist, Pentecostal, Catholic, Lutheran, and Anglican pastors and chaplains. Our church was in charge of the English speaking community Good Friday service held in the 12th Century Dom Kirk (cathedral). The Interdenominational church hosted a Thanksgiving service. The Anglican Church led out in the Carol Service at Christmastime. We spearheaded the children’s summer Bible school and one year the praise team consisted of me (Baptist) on the drums, the Anglican pastor on guitar and the Lutheran pastor on keyboard – the Three Amigos! No, we did not agree on issues such as the mode and meaning of baptism, the meaning of communion, the views of who will be saved in the end, church polity, and various other issues. But we did agree that children needed to hear the Gospel message and be given the opportunity to accept Christ into their lives.
Each time we assembled together as the body of Christ, we demonstrated our common faith in Christ, the unity of believers in the kingdom of God, and our common purpose of sharing the Gospel message with those who needed to hear it. The rest of the time we each focused on our own churches and ministries and on reaching the community for Christ in our own way. When the Lutheran pastor was ill, I visited him in his home. When the Pentecostal pastor had heart surgery, I went to the hospital to see him. When the International church was without a pastor, we offered to help carry the load with their children’s ministry and youth ministry. When one of us succeeded, we all succeeded because we are all in the same league. We wear different jerseys, have different strategies, have different understandings of how to play the game, but we are all in the same league and we all need one another.
Did I compromise my beliefs because I had coffee with an Anglican pastor? No. Did our church lose our identity or compromise our core values because we worked with non-Baptist churches to run a Bible school? Not in the least. Did God remove His Spirit from our worship because we associated with churches of other denominations at various times in the year? No. We prayed for those churches in our worship services, we even sent money to pastors who were struggling financially, and God blessed us.
I believe churches that are isolated from one another are a disappointment to Christ. I believe churches that refuse to associate with other churches that have a variant view of secondary church issues, are narrow-minded and self-centered. I believe if churches are unable to find any common ground with other Christian churches in order to work together in their community, are missing out on some incredible opportunities. I believe the Evil One is winning as we are competing, criticizing, resenting, and envying one another. As Christian churches squabble, other religious groups are advancing all around the world.
Beware of the false religions, cults, and those who profess to be Christian but at their core they are not. Ask God’s Spirit to give you spiritual discernment to know who is friend and who is foe. But do not fear working with leaders from other Christian churches. Find prayer partners with pastors in other denominations, you will be stretched and you will grow in your understanding of God and His Word and His Kingdom when you do. Understand that if we cannot unite together with points of common ground, the world may never truly know that God sent His Son and that He loves them just as He loves His One and Only Son. In this let Christ have the last word,
John 17:20-23 “I pray not only for these, but also for those who believe in Me through their message. May they all be one, as You, Father, are in Me and I am in You. May they also be one in Us, so the world may believe You sent Me. I have given them the glory You have given Me. May they be one as We are one. I am in them and You are in Me. May they be made completely one, so the world may know You have sent Me and have loved them as You have loved Me.” (HCSB)