Today we talk a bit about the incredible fracturing of the Church into its way-too-many denominations and groups. Don’t kill each other over anything!
Matthew 4:12-23; 1 Corinthians 1:10-18; Psalm 27:1,4-9; Isaiah 9:1-4
Roman Catholic Church. Southern Baptist Convention. The United Methodist Church. National Baptist Convention, USA. Church of God in Christ. Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Presbyterian Church (USA). National Baptist Convention of America. Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. Assemblies of God. African Methodist Episcopal Church. National Missionary Baptist Convention of America. Progressive National Baptist Convention. Episcopal Church. Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. American Baptist Churches USA. Churches of Christ. Pentecostal Assemblies of the World. African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. United Church of Christ. Baptist Bible Fellowship International.
Those are the Christian denominations in the United States with over 1 million members. There’s about 50 or so more with membership over 60,000. And many more independent churches or smaller denominations. It’s not a huge stretch of the imagination to wonder how we can be the body of Christ together when the Christian church has splintered into over 38,000 denominations worldwide. Yes, you heard that right. 38,000. The family tree of the Church branches many times over.
It all started with one group: twelve apostles and several other disciples around them. As Christianity spread, certain cities came to prominence over others: Rome, Antioch, and Alexandria the most significant of them. In the 4th Century, Constantinople joined those three. These different cities all started to have their own ‘brand’ of Christianity. By the 5th Century, two major groups had already split themselves off from the main branch, the Assyrian Church and the Oriental Orthodox Church. The 11th Century brought about the so-called “Great Schism” between Rome and Constantinople, where the Eastern Orthodox church and Roman Catholic Church split from each other. There were no major changes in Christianity until the 16th Century, when everything went a little squirrely.
First, Martin Luther did his whole thing and the Lutheran church was born. Then Calvin and Zwingli started forming their groups. Their followers founded other groups. King Henry declared himself the Pope and Anglicanism came about. By the end of the 17th Century, we had Lutherans, Anglicans, Presbyterians, Christian Reformed, and Anabaptists. About half a century later, the Baptists and Congregational Church had sprung up. In the 19th Century, Methodists, Adventists, and Pentecostals had all started their respective movements. In the 20th Century, it’s not so much a rise in denominations that affect Christianity, but a rise of independent churches with no denominational association. Some of them form partnerships with each other, but still operate primarily on their own.
With all these different denominations within Christianity, Paul’s words in our reading from 1 Corinthians is as relevant to us as it ever has been. “I appeal to you … in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.” The church in Corinth had already started having issues within itself, where the believers were starting to separate themselves into groups based on who taught them what. Some were saying they were followers of Paul, others followers of Apollos, others followers of Peter, and still others followers of Christ. In just one church in one town, there were at least four separate groups of believers. Not even thirty years after the crucifixion, the Church was already segmenting.
Yet Paul reminds the Corinthians, “Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul?” To put it in our terms, “Did Martin Luther die for you sins? Were you baptized in the name of Philip Melanchthon?” Oftentimes Christians put too much focus on our differences instead of focusing on our similarities. We all proclaim that Christ died for our sins and rose again in glory. We all profess to be sinners in need of forgiveness and grace. And we all confess that we are saved by grace through faith and not by works.
Instead, we too often focus on things like worship style, or when to baptize, or how to baptize. We spend time worrying about how often to have communion, or whether to use wine or grape juice. We get distracted by if or not we should have music in church, or sing “a capella”. That’s just a taste of the arguments Christians have been notorious for over the years.
And yet there is hope. In our little town, we have a group of pastors that meets once a month to pray together, share what’s going on in our ministries, and to plan events for the whole Christian community. We all believe certain things a little differently, but what binds us together is Christ. That’s what Paul was telling the Corinthians, and what he has for us today. All of Christianity’s 38,000-odd denominations are part of the Body of Christ. That is what’s important — not how we baptize; not how we do our worship services — but Jesus Christ.