Working With Other Denominations: Part One

In our city, we have been privileged to inherit a unity among the churches that is really amazing. Many folk from outside visit our place and end up asking a bunch of questions about how it has been achieved. I've also had leaders of national ministries come to me and tell me about the problems of running inter-denominational ministries, where some youth groups will only turn up if another youth group doesn't, or if a certain practice isn't exercised.

The reality that we have to face is that, the main problem we have with other denominations or movements is Doctrine. Doctrine defines our identity in Christ. There are churches that believe in speaking in tongues, and there are those who feel it is heretical. There are churches that believe in certain forms of baptism, that others have different interpretations of. There are so many different standpoints on giving and tithing across the church. So if we identify with certain practices that others despise or practice differently, we will tend to distance ourselves from those groups, after all they are not "in line" with our belief system.

The problem I see is, that as bible believing Christians, we read in John 17, as Christ is praying for the disciples and then goes on to pray for all believers, that He desires us to be united.
Verse 23 : "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."

We all know the verse, "Where there is Unity, God commands a blessing", and quite often we put it in the context of our local church. You know?, that the pastors and leaders work together in one vision and God will bless the vision and so on. But, here in verse 23, Jesus is praying to the Father about ALL believers being ONE.

You see the devil has done such an outstanding job of dividing the church over the centuries to the point that we are more at war with each other than with the principalities and powers. This is it, isn't it. Our doctrines are what divide us. The funny thing is, that any church that agrees "Jesus is Lord" are Christians and therefore part of the body of Christ. Jesus desires those people to be united.

This is the hard part though. We have established that it is Christ’s desire for the church to be united. We have also established that it is our doctrines that divide us. So the question is: How do we achieve unity?

To Be Continued…
Posted by Ben Hoyle