Since almost the time of its inception, the Christian Church has had to contend with the reality of division and factionalism. I remember my Church History professor at New Brunswick Theological Seminary, Dr. John Beardsley, who taught us that even in the early Church, there were "denominations, if you will." Having experienced attendance at Lutheran (Wed. afternoons for religious instruction) and Methodist (Sunday School and worship) churches in my childhood, and then growing up in a Pentecostal church during my adolescent years, being a Pentecostal minister and Bible teacher for 11 years, and then finally being a Reformed Church minister since 1978, I have always wondered what it would take for the Church of Jesus Christ to supersede both its external and internal divisions.
In my experience, there have been several factors that have kept the various churches apart. They are:
1. Doctrinal and theological differences. Each church believes that it has, not only the best, but the "correct" doctrine and theology, and that the doctrines of other churches are either false or only partially true. The Catholic and Orthodox churches claim antiquity as the basis for claiming that they are the Church that proclaims "the faith once delivered to the saints." The Protestant churches claim to base their doctrines on Scripture, but each one has a different interpretation of Scripture which they claim to be the "correct one."
2. Fear of compromise and doctrinal erosion. There are many churches that fear that if they collaborate and cooperate, fellowship with others, that they will run the risk of having their particular teaching, which they consider unique, to be eroded, and that they will end up compromising what they consider to be God's truth.
3. Loss of power. Many Church leaders, especially those who hold positions of leadership at the upper echelons of their denominational structure, fear that if their church unites with others, they stand to lose their hold on power. The question then becomes "Who is going to end up being Bishop or Overseer of the uniting churches? Who is going to be the main theologian?
Is there a way out of this theological conundrum? What can we do to bring Christians together in the unity that Christ prayed to His Father for? There are no easy answers, as everything that can be considered as worthy of attempted unity has been tried and tested, with only limited results. I will make some recommendations, some of which have been made and tried before, in the hope that even if we don't achieve perfect unity, we can at least keep the momentum of struggle for.
1. Continue emphasizing the Christ, not any of us, is Lord of the Church, and that to Him and Him alone, we owe our full devotion and allegiance. All other positions of authority within the Church are secondary and subordinate to Him.
2. Continue the effort to achieve doctrinal clarity so that we can know not only what we believe, but why we believe it. One of the many reasons why doctrine divides the Church of Christ is because we are careless and sloppy in our use of the Scriptures and of the traditions of the Church.
3. Finding areas of common ground to collaborate. The National and World Council of Churches, since their inception, have focused on areas such as global, social, and world justice. In doing so, they put aside their doctrinal differences without abdicating or surrendering their particular theology, and focus on how we as a church can make the world a better place to live in.
These have been, but a few of the many steps that we can take to achieve unity in the Body of Christ. Our call is to march on to that perfect unity.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen!
Rev. Dr. Juan A. Carmona
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