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| Surprise! Christians Agree on the Church |
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 This is perhaps my most dangerous post on this topic of unity, because a lot of churches believe that they are the only right one. I will attempt to harmonize those areas where the churches agree and leave the one-up-manship to others.
All Christian churches teach the word church comes from a Greek word ecclesia (έκκλησία) which meant originally a gathering of citizens called out from their homes into some public place. Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants teach that the Church is the Body of Christ, a family, a vine and branches, the pillar and ground of truth, a building, a living temple that grows, a holy temple in which God lives, a holy nation, a royal priesthood, living stones around a cornerstone, salt and light.
Christians generally agree that the Church is ruled by the kingdom of God and that the Church’s job is to witness about that kingdom. Christians also believe that some of the promises made to ancient Israel are fulfilled by the Church but there is still a place for physical Israel.
Christianity is unified in teaching the Church's purpose as to love and worship God, feed and pastor Christ's sheep teaching them to obey everything Christ commanded, to spread the Gospel and the social responsibility of loving neighbor.
No matter what form of government is in a church today, churches generally admit that today's church polity has changed from the early church due to cultural needs. However, some things remain constant between churches. A plurality of elders and the qualification for elders and deacons are pretty widely used.
What about Church ceremonies? Here, despite a wide variety of liturgies, there remains remarkable unity between Christians on the essentials. The most important rituals of the Christian Church center on water, bread and wine. These are elements of the two main ceremonies observed by almost all Christians. Although the details vary on some lesser issues, obligations such as confession of sins, making or confirming a decision for Christ, marriage, ordination of those who lead the Church, and anointing the sick are seen as important among almost all Christians.
Baptism is often a cause of division, but need not be. After all, most theologians of all branches today know that the Bible does not demand a particular mode (immersion, sprinkling, etc.) but certainly does strongly recommend the act of baptism. Although the Greek baptizo (βαπτίζω) means literally to immerse or dunk, it is also used in the Bible in a non-literal sense of washing and the Bible does not clearly demand only one mode as legitimate.
The bread and wine unite all Christians. I particularly enjoy remembering not only the literal Body of Christ sacrificed for us, but also the Body of Christ (the Church) for whom he lovingly died. All mainstream churches observe this rite. Even the names for this ceremony need not cause division, because they are all good. It is called communion (1 Corinthians 10:16), the Eucharist from the Greek word eucharisteo (εύχαριστέω) for giving thanks (Luke 22:19), the Lord's Supper (1 Corinthians 11:20), the Mass from the ancient practice of having the ceremony towards the end as a dis-miss-al or 'missal of a service, and it is called the breaking of bread (1 Corinthians 10:16).
God-given gifts are a cause of much controversy in the Christian church today, yet all agree that gifts are given at God’s discretion, are given for the common good, diversity of gifts is not an excuse for a lack of Christian unity and the gifts of God are useless unless they are used in genuine love (1 Corinthians 13).
Despite our silly one-up-manship and universal bigotries, all Christians are unified in so many areas of understanding about the Christian Church. |
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| To add a comment to "Surprise! Christians Agree on the Church" |
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| June 03, 2008 |
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Amen, Amen and AMEN!
And if you live in danger, Grant, I feel I have joined you in what I posted in my own blog recently.
The Church is One Body. Why is it so hard for people to understand that? |
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| June 03, 2008 |
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Your treading thin ice!! hehe
Amen brother! |
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| June 03, 2008 |
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Juan, there are certainly fringe elements in all three branches of Christianity. We often call them cults, because they do not agree with those teachings that the mainstream churches have in common.
Gene, I'll have to find your post and read it.
Cheryl. LOL. I love how you said that. |
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| June 03, 2008 |
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| Certainly Juan, you are right! Perhaps the word cult is not specific enough. Mainstream Christians believe that orthodoxy is described by things such as the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed (with or without filioqué) and things like the Creed of Chalcedon. If a church does not believe those basic summaries or declarations of faith, they are deemd a cult. There are certainly offshoots of the eastern church such as the Nestorians who are not considered to be orthodox. There are many Protestant cults which do not believe in the Trinity for instance. I will leave it there for starters, unless you want further elaboration. |
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