(the power point)People thrive to be connected with other people, in fact we were created to be. People have fun, and grow while amongst others. The same is true for Christians and their need for one another. We gather under one roof, in a variety of churches, to experience joy and growth together as believers. Although different denominations can bring followers together for many reasons, they can also cause the body of Christ to be divided. It is my hope that through this research, we would find our common ground in Christ and discover a way to become united believers.(次)
During the time of the original church in the Bible, there were multiple churches but only one denomination; followers of Jesus. However, some of the people during that time were giving themselves their spiritual leader’s titles. The people of Corinth were warned by Paul the Apostle in 1 Corinthians 1:12 (NIV)
‘“One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul?”’ What Paul is saying is to stop giving praise to these mortal men, for it is Jesus that deserves it. We too sometimes act like the pastor of our church, or the denomination itself, should be praised more than it should be. This attitude can lead to separation of believers instead of unity. By examining church history we can get an idea of the unity and division within each group, and what lessons to apply today as believers.(次)
The first denomination to examine is Coptic. This denomination was first founded in the first century around 40 AD. The Coptic denomination was instituted in Egypt, and became widely popular among the Middle Eastern countries. Coptic is a form of Catholicism, therefore Copts follow closely to the same practices as the Roman Catholic Church. The spread of Copts was slow, but eventually found its way into some of the European countries around the 2nd century.
The next denomination to look at is Roman Catholicism. Founded around in 2nd century, it is the oldest denomination in existence. The unity of this denomination lasted until what became known as the Great Schism of 1054. This dispute began due to theological differences between Latin west and Greek east churches. This resulted in an Eastern Orthodox Church, and Roman Catholic Church.
The next denomination to observe is Lutheran. In 1517, a German monk by the name of Martin Luther had ninety-five questions regarding the practices of the Roman Catholic Church. He hung those questions on the door of the All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg, Germany. Those questions were then printed and distributed to the common man, which began the Reformation. This resulted in a split in the Roman Catholic Church, and the newly founded Lutheran Church as well as creating what we know as Protestantism.(次)
What do the rest of the denominations have in common regarding their history? Although the creation of these denominations brought like minded believers together at different times in history, it also represents the division as Christians as a whole. Some of these groups would also experience further splintering within their own denominations. For example, in the United States during the mid 1800’s, Baptist, Methodist and Presbyterians would break apart further for social, economic, and political reasons. This would be a long historical example of what we often do today.(次)
How can Christians work beyond their denominational differences as believers?(次)
In a recent survey, I asked the following churches this question: “When was the last your church did something with or for another church, and what was that church?”(次)
Out of these ten different denominations surveyed, the following results are shown: (slide) You will notice that ten out of ten churches did something with or for another church, and six out of ten did something with or for another denomination. Now mind you these are only ten churches interviewed. If a larger majority of congregations were part of this statistic, I can only assume that a similar result would be the same. So we see, out of these percentages, churches are looking promising, but there is more than we can do.(次)
I discovered that we untie the most as believers in the following situations: Days of Prayer, tragedies such as 9/11, hurricanes, and community events.(次)
What can we do to continue uniting as believers in order to impact the world around us? I believe that it starts with an individual choice. We must get back to the foundation of remembering what binds us as believers, which is Jesus. So join local groups. If you know someone that meets with others that are from different denominations, then join them. When we make this individual change, we can then change lives as a unified denomination. We have then now become unified believers.(次)
In conclusion we can appreciate our denominational differences, and work together to unite us as one body of believers in Christ.(次)
Any questions? 
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