We tend to congregate as one body part in order to do and be and believe what feels comfortable – heads act all heady, hearts all hearty, hands all handy, feet all footy, arms all army, legs all leggy. And this division is recognised and bemoaned in many ways, but where there is theological division, it is considered justified.
I’d like to suggest that the church suffers through “justified” division and that churches – more than that, Christians – with diverse theological understandings need each other desperately.
How to achieve this?
The concept of a City Church appeals to me, and I think this concept has biblical and historical support. Biblically churches have always been referred to by their location, not their theological/ecclesiological/practical differences. Letters within the NT testify to competing gropus within churches, but never is there a suggestion that anyone leave to form “another” church. Historically, every branch of the church in the world operates with a city church model (though the model usually extends wider than the city to the world!). Catholic, Coptic, Orthodox and so on, though they themselves split from each other, all of them maintained a “big tent” view of Church, allowing incredible diversity in their congregations even while calling them to a standard. The exception is Protestent Christianity.
In Protestantism we see the most tragic division of Christ’s body. Almost anything is reason enough to begin another church. And there is benefit in this. Instead of doing the agonising work of unity among diverse voices and belief, creating a new church achieves instant unity, frees people to concentrate on evangelism and other areas of church life, and to specialise. I think it right to say, also, that there have been more revivals in Protestant Christianity than in other wings of the Church, but I also believe it has been in spite of the sin of factionalism. One of the things Protestants do right is take doctrine and ecclesiology seriously enough to follow their convictions.
However, drawbacks are also evident. In general, conservatives preserve biblical truth, but often fail to be and hear prophetic voices in society or to be effectively self-critical. Liberals put their finger on necessary issues, but often fail to hold onto truth.
What is needed is engagement and big tent church to expose blind spots and breed humility for the building up of the church and the establishment of true kingdom principals in the world. Let us have specialisations in City Churches, not among different churches.
This is easier said than done. The main question Protestants would ask is: Where is the line for necessary division? It’s true that sometimes true, though mistaken, Christians are separated from the Church for the health of the Church. So are those who prove not to be Christians at all. But where is the line? A denial of Christ, yes, but explicit or implicit? And still we must listen to voices outside the church. Are there other issues? Not as many as we think (1 Cor, Rev 2-3).