The Clarion Call

“One day we’re going to have to question some of the things we have allowed in the body of Christ”, I heard him say. “Like some of the words we have allowed ourselves to use... The word ‘Denomination’, for instance...” Ohhh boy, it wasn’t about to be a fun session up in that Pentecostal church! No hollering and hooping to be heard. “The meaning of that word, by its very nature is divisive...” he continued. He could have very well stopped there, but he didn’t and by the time he was done, I was close to tears. All I could think was, "How could we have missed it so badly?!!!"

I’m reasonably proud of the ministry that I’m a part of. I’ve seen God move in unprecedented ways there and grown leaps and bounds spiritually just sitting under the teachings of many of the preachers we have. As believers, I think most of us would allude to some sense of pride in whatever ministry we’ve chosen to be a part of and my aim is not so much to detract from that, as it is to get us to consider ‘the big picture’ and maybe start to think a little differently. Bear with me on this one. Whenever I’m challenged by anything, I can’t help but offer up the challenge to someone else.

Apparently, people who take the time to study these things have found that every great revival in history has been preceded by a coming together of the church (read as ‘all of Christianity’ or ‘the body of Christ’, not just a building as the word is often used). If that’s really the case, I can’t say I’m too encouraged by the current state of affairs. In fact, we might as well forget all about it! Has the church ever been more divided than it is in the 21^st century? Is it even legit to call ourselves the body of Christ at this point? In my opinion, it’s only a dysfunctional body that can have the left leg trying to go somewhere completely from the right leg, coupled with a head that’s really just laying down on a pillow - all at the same time!

Body parts are not designed to be completely independent of every other part of the body. So why do we find some of the Catholics, Anglicans, Presbyterians, Evangelicals, Baptists, Methodists and all the others on the endless list of denominations, comfortably operating in isolation and completely detached from everybody else? Don’t get me wrong here, I’m not saying that each one isn’t walking in some degree of divine revelation, but I would be hard-pressed to believe that any single denomination has all the pieces of the puzzle. That’s simply not how God works. He’s the master strategist when it comes to making sure that no man is an island. Everybody needs something from somebody else.

Before I go on, let me quickly highlight these two bits of scripture that were uttered from the lips of Jesus during His time on earth.

(i) Matthew 12: 25 » Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand.

(ii)John 17: 20 -23 » My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

So again I ask, how could we possibly have missed it so badly?!

It would seem very plain that the plan was never for us to be so divided that we even start to come against each other. In fact, He said that our unity would be one way in which the world would know that the Father sent Him. Therefore, it would appear that we’re not just doing ourselves a disservice by setting the kingdom up for destruction, but we’re also misrepresenting Him! Now, now, now, don’t make the mistake of thinking that I speak of a uniform church where everybody does everything the same way. Not at all! The call is for a united church, not a uniform one. We mustn’t stifle the diversity, but we can’t let it be what divides us. The multifarious nature of the human race demands that there be diversity in styles of worship. Cultural differences demand that there be different approaches - but the principles must stay the same and be based completely on the Bible. We are at a point where there is a desperate need for a fresh revelation of Christ because that’s what it’s all about. Seriously, what would Jesus have to say about the church today if you asked Him?

When I speak of a coming together and an appreciation of our differences, I am not implying that we should shut our eyes to some of the practices that we know are not biblical (even when they’ve become commonplace and have been going on for centuries), but please recognise that some stuff is family business! As a united family living in love, it’s easier to learn from each other, share revelation and take correction. Love is still the most powerful agent of change. No honourable family airs their dirty laundry in public. Why do we think it should be any different in the church? Publicly disowning and fighting against your own because of differences in opinion is not a good look. The workings of the media would have you think that simply putting out disclaimers is a plausible solution to issues that are clearly deep-seated, but I beg to differ. Issues don't just melt away because you announce that you have no hand in them. To further corroborate the argument, I think it would be easier in a place of unity, to weed out the phoneys like the witchcraft chasers that we saw on Channel 4 recently, manipulating vulnerable people and conning them out of their money. Things like that really just thrive on the divisions in the body because nobody knows whose they are and consequently, they fact that they parade themselves as part of this same body is nobody's problem to deal with.

I really just believe it’s time for us to rethink our stance on whom it is that we say we represent. Whose body do we say we are? I see the walls of division coming down in the days ahead and the warning for any parts that choose to resist the call for unity is this: In the same body that you find a brain and a heart, there are also fingernails. Defiance and resistance to this unity will reduce you to a malfunctioning body part with less and less relevance till you eventually find yourself facing amputation at the hands of the master surgeon (i.e. God). We are much stronger in a place of unity than we can ever be divided. A word they say, is enough for the wise.