Why Churches should become one Again(The long resherched one)

 

           When a newborn Christian knows Christ, the first thing he likely will do is want to find a church (The Way). Good for him. However, there are 43,000 different denominations. So that means the newborn Christian is faced with a big decision. Which one of those denominations is he going to choose? With this problem at hand, I believe that all Christians should come together and eliminate the different denominations, so we can have the one original Christian Church, like in the book of Acts. And why should we do that? Why should this even matter? Why should you listen to me? Because as Christians, we should be resolving problems, coming together, and not leaving the new believer out in the wandering desert. Otherwise it would show him that Christians, are hypocrites! So don’t leave him out there with the pressures of church choosing. For example, all churches will be accepting to some people who have a bad past life, especially when it shows on their outward appearance, such as tattoos and smoking. It doesn’t matter what we look like on the outside, or what we did that was terrible. Because if God loves us when we turn to him, then why can’t we Christians do the same? No one has the right to judge except God alone, so why are we Christians judging? Aren’t we Christians called to serve as Christ did? The answer is yes! Not only us, but the churches in Acts were called to do the same. And why does this apply to my reasoning? They are the original church, and because they were unified. Yes they had their problems, but we should be like the original church, the one in Acts. Paul, a writer and preacher from the New Testament, sent letters to brand new churches that had just started having problems. Those churches are, The Church of Rome, Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, Philippi, and Colossae. To each one of those churches, he started the letters off the same way (NIV), the Roman’s message goes like this. Romans 1:1-7

              “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God- the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake. And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ. To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.”  And then he addresses their problems.  Each church has its own unique set of problems, but some share the same. For example, most of the early churches were all falling into dark sins like sexual sins. Not only that, but some of them would want to worship God in a way that was not pleasing at all. Or just plain not answer to Jesus. To show you some of their personal problems, allow me to talk about the Church of Corinth. In the church, the first problem Paul discusses is how their leaders are falling down. The leaders are disagreeing with each other, as well as the people who attend. The church finally gets up and running, and they’re thinking about dividing already. Paul goes on to say in 1 Corinthians 1:10 through 13 (NIV), “‘ I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.  My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you.  What I mean is this: 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 he’s saying here is. ‘’Why are you following men? Why don’t you just follow Christ, the one who made this church possible?’’ Later in years, people start dividing churches, because they’re following men, or their own beliefs. Paul later talks about how God and Jesus made us, and how we are meant to follow Him, and the power He gives us to go and make more, and more disciples in Him. He also gives them a gift, Timothy. Paul tells the church of Corinth, that Timothy will be there to help them in their spiritual growth. Then he gives them a scolding about the problems with sex, and what to do about that. He tells them that they should not be lusting after other people no matter what gender they are. He also then later tells the church that, when being married, if you are a good Christian, then you will stay with your spouse no matter what. Afterwards he gives thanks, gives a blessing, and a peace to them all. And the church was doing so well, that Paul sent them a big letter of thanks. For their repentance. He had also told them this in 2 Corinthians 2:13-15 (NIV),

“It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken. “Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself.  All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.’’

For the church of Galatia, they were worshiping a different gospel, and so Paul wrote them a letter to tell them to focus on the true gospel instead. For the church of Ephesus, he simply wrote to them, to tell them good fortune and follow God more closely as if in he was a good father (which he is). For the church of Philippi, Paul wrote to them when he was in prison. He said to them in Philippians 1:12-14 (NIV),                 

     “Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel.  As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear.” Finally for the church of Colossae, he tells them to live alive in Christ. As these churches grew, so did arguments, and fights among the churches later in many years. Due to these circumstances, a part of the church was split. If in the Bible it says that the Church is Christ’s bride, then imagine if your wife, (or husband) is split apart! That’s a big bloody mess! Yes, I’m talking about the spouse literally being ripped from the flesh, and blood spilled on the ground. That’s the image I want you to see. Just close your eyes and see that. Not a pretty sight is it? That’s how Christ saw, and sees his church. Blood spilled. As the years passed, more splitting happened (Martin). One of the most recognizable men in church history famous for The Reformation, Martin Luther. Before Martin Luther put up his ninety-five theses on his church door, he had respect for his Catholic church. Although before he went to the church, he had a strong education. He went to the University of Erfurt when he was nineteen, and learned all that he could about God. Later in his life, he was on his way back to the university from a trip. He was riding on a horse during a thunderstorm and a lightning bolt hit very close to him. During the storm he called out to Saint Anne. In his belief, Saint Anne, (who is Mary the Virgin mother of Jesus) was a holy figure who could help in trouble. Afterwards, the lightning storm ended. Then he devoted himself to becoming a monk, because of being saved. He then went to a monastery somewhere in Erfurt. He then became a monk there, and loved serving the Lord. Later in his life, after he was trained well, he joined All Saints’ Church of Wittenberg. However, he did not like the way the church was serving the community. He did not like the fact that the leader of the church, Albert of Brandenburg, was taking more money from the people of the community. When the people had problems, the other monks, and Albert would say that the Lord will help you if you give us money. Martin did not like this, and I can agree with that. Martin wanted to express his feelings on his frustration with these absurd regulations. (Thesis) So he nailed 95 theses on the door of the church, on October 31 1517, and left them there. Then later the next year, in January, some friends of Luther took the theses and went to have them printed. The language that the theses were originally written in was Latin. But because the printing press was in Germany, and a German product, it was then written in German. Not only was it written in German, but also some of the more local languages like French, English and Italian. His Ninety-Five theses became very popular, very quickly. It turned from a thesis, into a book. Not only did other countries start to like and both understand what he was talking about, so did the locals of his own Catholic church. When most of the monks read his statements, they now wanted to follow Martin Luther. He did not expect his theses to want to split his church, he himself did not have intentions on splitting it. Thus the Lutheran church was born. Paul wanted the church to stay together, and Martin did not want his church to split. These men just wanted to show God’s word, and nothing more. And then many years later, we come to over 40,000 different denominations. They’re so spread out, it hurts.

 (Graph)

Looking like this, seems to be very interesting, especially when some people intended to split.

Many churches want to be left alone, and many want to be brought together. I know of one project known as “Project Jericho”, which is a local, Yuba City meet where youth groups from many of the churches here in Yuba City meet at one of the churches every month. They always meet at different churches, so that one church isn’t dominating over another. I attended it once, and it was a little fun, it just depended on the church who was hosting. Continuing on, my church, Adventure Church of Yuba City, is a Church without a denomination. We do baptism, and believe in God. We have coffee and Christian rock music, and the “Master Chief Sinner” Pastor Greg, is our pastor of the church. As a matter of fact, I had an interview with him. The kind of interview I had with the three pastors were phone interviews. So I called Pastor Greg up, and I asked him three questions. The first one was; how did you feel about bringing all of the denominations back together as one? I wanted to know how having one denomination would make the person feel. The second one ties in a little with the first question, and it was; Do think having different denominations is a good thing? I added this so I could understand if diversity really is a good thing. My final question was; if the community were able to have all churches be almost under one roof; do you believe that the attendees should lead, or should the original leaders lead? The reason I added this question, was because there are some very corrupt pastors, or leaders in a church. Sometimes those who attend will know what’s better for the church itself. Pastor Greg Mansur’s response to my first question was that he feels that the churches would be too competitive, and that they would try to “size themselves” up. However, he does believe that it is good to have relations with other churches, but not to be competitive. His response to my second question was a yes, and no. He believes that since the Bible constantly talks about diverse, that we should be diverse. Of course we are not perfect. He also says that having different denominations provides that special feel to the new Christian who wants to find a church that feels with them. That’s why there should be more than one, because it provides that one person’s needs. He also says, “Let’s Celebrate Diversity, and fight division!” We should always love other churches, but  never have them under one roof. Because that would cause severe problems. His response to my final question was that churches should have both attendees and the original leaders lead, having a mixture of both. Though he is pastor he understands that some leaders can be corruptive and not want to follow God’s laws. He says, “Jesus is the Shepherd, I am the sub-shepherd” (referring to himself) Meaning that, pastors have a role in trying to help God’s followers. It would not be wise for all the original leaders to step down, while new leaders step up, they need a little guidance and wisdom to learn the new ways. I thanked Pastor Greg for his time, and told him that I really appreciated it. The second pastor I interviewed is the pastor of First Reformed Church of Yuba City, his name is Sam Powell. His responses to my questions were helpful. His response to my first question was; he says, “That they might be one as they are one.”(Referring to having all churches as one) He says he would love to see all of the denominations being one, but it just wouldn’t happen. He says that unity is a thing to strive for, and that it is good. But only if it isn’t in the denomination unity, because having unity with other churches during a service is never good. He does however say that it is good to have friends outside of your own church. His response to my second question was that it is most necessary for there to be different denominations. It also sets a sense of accountability towards the people in your own church, and denomination. Because then if you know all the rules to that one denomination, you can tell when someone is out of line. Ultimately he can’t wait for Heaven, then everything will be perfect, as well as the people. For my final question, he does believe that the original leaders should lead if the churches would be one. He believes this because God appointed qualified leaders to be in charge of the churches. That being said, if leaders happen to step out of line, the must come down from the pulpit. Now they can sin and be forgiven, but as a religious leader, he must step down. He believes that a leader must have a God like reputation to even stay standing when he preaches, and he must always be speaking the truth. Without that, he is not qualified to be a leader. I thanked Pastor Powell for his time, and said that the interview was very important. The final pastor I interviewed is actually learning how to become a Catholic pastor, his name his Steve Macias. He currently goes to an Anglican Church, but he did not say where. He grew up in a Catholic home, so I asked him to answer my questions in a Catholic point of view. So for my first question he said; we need to feel the need to pray, and listen to God. He says that God calls us to be an original church, the Catholic Church. He also says that he would be excited and delighted. For my second question he says; it is a great theology one denominations, and that having more than one denomination is bad. Because it’s a whole lot of people who want to be right, and be heard. Or they just want to bring upon their own “sinful ways” to their own church, and to their own benefit. For the third question he says; that having new leaders would be a great idea, because it would bring a brand new fresh start. Having those who were in the church, would understand the issues and that they would work on unity. After that I thanked Steve Macias for his time, and told him that he was helpful.  After interviewing these official religious leaders, I wanted to get a little feel from some other people, who weren’t all religious leaders, but my teachers.  So the first person I interviewed was my Bible teacher, Mr. Herrera. He speaks Spanish, and sometimes translates for Mexican pastors. He is also one himself, and he attends Calvary Chapel of Yuba City.  The responses that he gave to my questions went like this;

For the first question, he feels that churches should come together in spirit, but stay the same denomination they are. Meaning, people of different denominations should come together, but never under the same roof. He quotes, “Bringing them together in a mystical sense.” For the second question, he believes that the good thing about different denominations is that the people in one church agree with each other. The bad thing is that other churches won’t connect. And for the third question, he believes that if the people lead, they would be in chaos. However if the leaders lead, some of their beliefs would stay firm. Meaning that the leaders viewpoints won’t change or see reason. If it would work, then the leaders should lead. I thanked Mr. Herrera for his time, and for his answers. Even though I believe in the opposite opinion, it was still helpful to know that he believes that others, and perhaps himself, may not believe in a new change.  I also interviewed my Civics/Economics teacher, Mr. Bicknell. He attends Hope Point Nazarene Church of Yuba City, and regularly teaches bible studies. And so his answer for my first question is;

He believes that by having churches come back together would be like having the Tower of Babel. What he means by that is that, if all men were working together, then there wouldn’t be any praising God. Everyone would just want to build higher on themselves, and the reasoning for splitting people up was so that there would be praise towards God. His answer to my second question was that he agrees that different denominations are good, and why he believes this is because God split nations. What that means is that God intended for there to be separation among the world, and that there really shouldn’t be any combining. He also says that if there is one denomination, that the people would bring glory to themselves.

For my last question, he believes that leaders should be the ones who lead. Why he believes this is because God intended for religious leaders to lead among the people. So if the churches were able to be all one, then the leaders should lead. I appreciated Mr. Bicknell’s time, and thanked him. He said that he didn’t know if this would be helpful, but it most definitely was. I then later interviewed a teacher whom I do not have a class for, Mr. Daugherty. He attends and both preaches in River Valley Church of Yuba City, and his point of view for my questions may have changed my thinking. His response to my first question was;  

He says, “I would feel sad.” He tells me that if he saw all churches become one, that this would break his heart. The reason for that is because all churches are unique, and special. Having them all one would lose their creativity and the way they operate. His answer to my second question ties in with my first question, and he says that it would be better to have multiple denominations. Because those churches would have their variety, and they would feel a whole lot more comfortable. I admit, when I joined a few times of Project Jericho, I felt a little uncomfortable at times. But hey, God says that we will never be comfortable. But Mr. Daugherty’s explanation made sense. Finally his last response was, that if were able to work, he believes that the church leaders should lead. He thinks that the pastors are like shepherds, and the attendees are like sheep. He says that the sheep need to know where to go, and when to go. The pastors know how to do that. I thanked Mr. Daugherty for his time and said it was very helpful. The last teacher I interviewed was my English teacher, Mr. DeMeritt. He is a regular attendee at St. Isidore Catholic Church of Yuba City, and regularly serves there. His first response to my first question was; he was excited and that he wants everything to be “reconnected”. And that he was also sad and has fear, because then the precious way of church life would then fall and crumble. He thinks this because everyone is logistical sometimes, and won’t agree on things. He says that they would say, “I’m right, you’re wrong”. He does believe that we could be brought back together, but we wouldn’t always agree. He says, “We are past the point of no return.”, so we might never, ever come together. Although he still is hoping we do so. For my second question, he says; yes, and no. Having different denominations is good because we can have our own diversity, and we can all agree with each other. He says that it isn’t good because we are all away from each other, and that we must be as one. His final answer to my last question was; that it could be possible for new leaders to be chosen from the attendees. However, it would be chaos. He says there’s a saying, “The three places you can’t have democracy are in jails, mental hospitals, and schools.” He also says that he would add one to that list, and that would be churches. Because he also believes that it would not be possible for leaders to come from those who attend, because of God appointing spiritual leaders. I then thanked Mr. DeMeritt for his time, and told him it was very helpful.

   So then after all this research, after all of these interviews. What is my standpoint? And what is my belief? I can honestly say, I have changed my way of thinking. I no longer think that, “we must have one church now, because God made it that way!” But now I can understand that some people need to find what makes them comfortable, and not all denominations are going to provide that. That being said, I believe that some of these Godly men I interviewed (not mentioning names) are a little bit on the stubborn side. Some of these men do believe that denominations are meant to be split, and that there is no point of trying. But this is the sign of men who don’t even want to try, or think that the world doesn’t need to change. Why must there be those who won’t move? God likes change. I think that could mean that God likes to see people change in a very godly way. But what is the first step for us? What are we to do next? Since my views have changed, I believe that all the denominations that exist should stay the same. Yes, I started this thinking, “I can change the World!” but that is a dream. No, I am not giving up. We can combine denominations, just the ones that are similar. For example, Catholic and Orthodox could combine services, and the Mainline Protestant services could also combine. If denominations combine because they are similar, then this could make a huge impact in the world, or community. Then the dream I had, would be reality. Because in reality, this would make sense. Then the last and final question. How will we get everybody on board? As I said earlier, those who are stubborn will not want to combine. But those who aren’t, will want to combine. I ask you to go and talk to your local pastor, (or if you are the pastor) and ask, “Are you on fire? Are you willing to combine?” If they are willing, ask them if they know other pastors who are on fire. And ask them to ask their contacts, “Let’s do it!” So the first thing you should do… is ask.