If you've been a Christian for a while now, someone might have already asked you what denomination you belong.
I've been often asked by people from other ministries or different faiths that question many times. Every single time, I can't find the right answer. I can't say I'm Baptist because I don't believe in local church membership through baptism, and I can't say that I'm Pentecostal because my view of spiritual gifts is not that "up there."
To be honest, the idea of denominations bothers me at a personal level. While it celebrates unique beliefs that make up our theological strengths and varying callings, it can sometimes set a boundary line that makes us feel separate and disconnect from one another.
Ephesians 4:4-6 tells us, "There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all."
Paul underscored the idea of different churches from different ethnicities and different cultures being one. Why? Because he got it: God calls us to be one no matter what the cost.
The biggest cause of disunity is our differences. It's not rocket science really. We wrongly think that because we have different understandings of the Bible, different missions, and different values, we cannot be one. But that is far from what the Bible teaches.
1 Corinthians 12:12-13 says, "The body is a unit, though it is comprised of many parts. And although its parts are many, they all form one body. So it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptised into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit."
Sure we have our differences. But in those differences we can be one. There is no need to be uniform to be united. In fact, our differences can be a cause of celebration because our strengths can be the weakness of others.
Churches called to worship can help others called to spiritual gifts while those called to discipleship can help those counselling.
We all have something to offer to the body. There is no such thing as a spare part in the body of Christ. We all play a role.
At the end of the day, we are drawn to one another by one faith and ultimately one hope. The cross draws us to each other where personalities set us apart. Christ is the ultimate goal of all believers, and that draws us together.
Christianity was not meant to be compartmentalised to the point of discord. It was meant to be categorised for the purpose that we all run the race together hoisting up each other's strengths and depending on one another to be strong where we are deficient.
