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Nashville can be a confusing area
to those with a denominational mindset. For example, think of
the number of churches in the area that call themselves
“churches of Christ”. To
the casual observer, these may appear to be branches of the same
denomination. Based on this premise, many have summarized beliefs by: o
You think you are the only ones going to heaven. o
You don’t believe in music. o
All they know is Acts
2:38. Even among “churches
of Christ” there are descriptive categories: o
Non-Institutional (NI) o
“Anti” o
Liberal o
Conservative o
Main Stream Can even sub-divide further among
“NI” churches: o
Marriage, Divorce, & Re-marriage o
Day-Age Application of Genesis 1 o
Rom.
14 o
Churches that seem to align with “brotherhood magazines” On top of that, there
are also various organized lectures, websites, publications, and
Florida College that are associated with NI churches in the minds
of some. Again, to the casual
observer, this may look like a denominational system. Perhaps, we can even get caught up in thinking in the same
terms, even though we would not normally be willing to call it a
denomination. Consequently, it is
worth thinking about what a denomination is.
One of the definitions given in the American Heritage
Dictionary is “a class of units”.
In the religious world, this definition translates into
divisions of “Christianity”.
Other things commonly associated with denominationalism
are:
What do “we” do
sometimes? o
Various doctrines under “church of Christ” o
No differentiation as long as title is there o
OR differentiation/identification according to sub-titles
(NI, MDR teachings, Rom
14, etc.) o
Creed is not official, but in effect, is based on brotherhood
papers, books, college lectures, gospel meeting preachers’
opinions, etc., rather than the Bible (i.e., based on tradition of
the churches of Christ rather than God’s word) If we are guilty of
these, it needs to be asked if we really understand what the
church is. The first step in not
thinking in a denominational fashion is to understand the meaning
of the word “church” as used in the New Testament.
From
Examples of
‘Ekklesia’ Usage:
3 Examples of why it
will help if we think of the church as God’s assembly of saved
people:
Ekklesia – 2 usages
in the N.T.
What makes a local
church right?
What about the name? o
Remember, one aspect of denominationalism is to require
official titles when God has not specified. o
It is worth asking, “what was established on Pentecost (in Acts
2)?” Not the
“church of Christ as a title (in fact, the Bible uses other
terms to describe His church as well); Acts
2 is when God’s plan to save mankind was put into full
effect, resulting in those who were being saved being added to
God’s whole body of the saved. o
When we claim not to be a denomination, it is not because our
system has the right name, but because we individually have been
added to God’s body of the saved and we are working in a local
sense with others who have done the same.
Beware, we can turn the “church of Christ” into the
very denomination we claim not to be a part of by acting and
thinking in a denominational manner. Christ’s church is
not a denomination:
If we cannot
understand this, who will? There is a great need
for understanding:
Glory
to God in the church by Christ Jesus
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