Working With Other Denominations: Part Two

The easiest answer is to do away with doctrines and just get on with it, but it’s not realistic. After all, doctrine is what gives us our identity as a Pentecostal, Anglican, Catholic, Brethren, and so on.

I have spoken with people, who genuinely believe that this is the right way to achieve unity. That we throw our doctrine and identity out the window and just become “disciples of Christ” together. I don’t know if you’ve heard this theory yourselves, but I really don’t think that will ever work. Because every believer receives different revelations on the word of God, and in reality not every opinion is wrong. There can be different perspectives on different practices. So naturally we begin to gather with others who share our convictions or perspectives. This is an important key to unity.

You see, I believe that unity starts with you identifying with one church and denomination, becoming planted in its house, vision and mandate. Once you have a home and you have established what your belief system is, you know who you are in Christ. I meet at an A/G church because I agree with the belief system of the movement, otherwise if I didn’t I’d go to another denomination where I felt I could identify with the belief system and go on to fulfil the call of God on my life. You see doctrine and belief systems are very important. They define us in Christ. We know who we are, and when we hear something that opposes or challenges that, we won’t be fazed by it.

So how do we establish relationship & unity with others who don’t share our belief system? The answer, in my experience, is Education. There is a big difference from accepting another person’s beliefs and understanding them. In the last part, I stated that most churches automatically put up divisions with churches that they don’t agree with. You can tell these sorts of walls are in place when you here statements like “we’ll come only if that youth group isn’t going to be there.” They are worried that the belief systems of the other group’s young people will begin to be accepted and then practiced by their very own youth. And this can happen.

If I have a heart for unity with the body of Christ, and one of my young people comes to me and says, “I visited one of my friends churches the other night and I witnessed something I’ve never seen before and honestly I don’t think its right.” I should find out exactly what it is and check to see if it is a doctrinal belief of that church. If it is and in most cases it will (sometimes not and that’s a whole other lesson), it’s my job to educate that young person on that doctrine so that the following is established:

1. A realisation that not every church is like ours.
2. An understanding of where their church stands on that belief (this may require research on your behalf. Talk with someone you know at that church if you feel you can)
3. An understanding of where our church stands on that belief (it may not be practised at all or practised differently and that should be explained – scriptures are the best evidence)

In this process, I feel it is important to not “put down” the other church, remembering that they are part of the body. Avoid statements like “That church are ignorant” or “They are wrong”, instead use statement style answers “They believe this because they have interpreted it this way”. Not negative or positive reinforced statements.

Remember your goal is to educate not judge. The person you are sharing with should leave feeling as though they could go into that environment again and not feel worried, because they understand what is going on, but also because their own belief system is not challenged. They are certain in what they believe.

I deal with youth workers in our city every week. Some of the guys (that means gals too) belong to churches that I have a completely different standpoint over doctrine. But, because I know who I am in Christ, that my belief system is stable, I can enter into relationship with them and build unity with them. I love the body of Christ. It’s so awesome meeting with people from different walks of life, and knowing that they are living for Christ also.

I hope what I’ve shared has got you thinking. If you want to call me about anything that I’ve stated on unity, feel free to call me. I have really only scraped the surface of this and there are other situations that arise in working with other denominations. I just pray that you desire to love the body of Christ even if you don’t agree on how your faith is lived to the stop.

Posted by Ben Hoyle