Why So Many Different Churches?

There are new denominations popping up all the time – so this message is meant to show in a general way what God intended for His CHURCH, how man has distorted that intention, and what we are doing to try to restore God’s intention.

Let’s first take one minute to clarify what we are speaking of today. We are talking about Christianity and not other religions. A Religion is a recognized system of beliefs usually with it’s own deity and scriptures like Buddism with Budda and the Tripitaka, or Islam with Mohammed and the Koran, or Judaism with Jehovah and the Torah.

Second we are not talking about cults which are groups within a religion centered around a peculiar doctrine, usually gathered around a specific person, and having an additional revelation. Such as the Mormons “ Church of Latter Day Saints ” believing in polygamy, having Joseph Smith as the center as well as the Book of Mormon. Or the Jehovah Witnesses “Kingdom Hall” believing in Christ as a creation & no hell, with Pastor Russell as the center and having the New World Translation. 7^th Day Adventist and Christian Scientist also fit into the category of cults.

I. Scripture Shows the Beginning of One Church

Matthew 16:18 ^“And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”

John 17:20-21 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, ²¹that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

1 Cor. 1:10-13 “¹⁰I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. ¹¹My brothers, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. ¹²What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas“; still another, “I follow Christ.” ¹³Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into^£ the name of Paul?”

Acts 11:26 “The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch .” Not some denominational name – CHRISTIAN!

67 different times “The church” is mentioned. In Romans 16:16 called “Churches of Christ”. 7 other times called “ Church of God ”. No other names mentioned.

II. Reasons For So Many Different Churches

Different Interpretations of Scripture concerning baptism – mode (sprinkling, pouring, immersing) – purpose (for forgiveness, sign of change, entrance to the church) – participant (adult or infant) – adminstrator (preacher, any believer), divinity of Christ, Jesus death as a substitute for our sins, frequency of communion, participants in communion, fermented or unfermented wine, leavened or unleavened bread, footwashing, speaking in tongues, healing, government of the church, women’s role in the church, instruments, preservation of the saints or “once saved always saved”, national missionary societies, worship of Mary, apostolic succession, original sin or total depravity, irrestible grace, progressive revelation or inner light, church houses or house churches, padded pews, hymnals, and we could literally go on for an hour probably. In all I think we can sum up the reasons why with the following short list:

Pride Manmade Creeds False Prophets Opinionism Liberalism Legalism and Traditionalism

Church Government or Power Convenience Different Interpretations of Scripture

There are so many different denominations it is hard to keep account. For example there are over 27 different Baptists denominations, 23 different Methodists, 15 different Presbyterians not counting the offshoot of the reformed church.

So what about us? Are we part of just another denomination? Perhaps you have heard and know that we consider ourselves not a denomination, but an independent church that calls itself Church of Christ because it is a Bible name. So where did we get our roots? Let’s see:

III. What the Restoration Movement has Sought

Isaac Errett stated over 100 years ago, “The greatest fear I have for our movement is that we may raise up a generation of preachers who will not understand what we are trying to accomplish.” Today I hope that Mr. Errett will rest easy with what I am about to share with you.

Human systems, whether of philosophy or of religion, are proper subjects of reformation; but Christianity cannot be reformed. Every attempt to reform Christianity is like an attempt to create a new sun, or to change the revolutions of the heavenly bodies – unprofitable and vain. In a word we have had reformations enough. Martin Luther in 1517 sought to reform the roman catholic church. Many reformers worked diligently to reform the church – John Calvin, John Knox, John Wesley, Charles Wesley, and John Huss to name a few.

But the movement of which we are a part was not a movement begun to reform – but to restore. To restore the ancient order of things from the Bible – from the first church.

This Restoration sought and seeks unity THROUGH restoration of New Testament teachings, as Jesus prays in John 17:20-21. The Plea: that they all be one. The Plan: one, in us. The Purpose: that the world may believe.

Now understand that our movement was not founded by any one man, although some sought to call us “Campbellites” after Alexander Campbell. We will speak of him in a moment.

The Restoration movement began with a great number of people growing dissatisfied with the denominational world and doctrines not founded in scripture. These people independent of each other in many cases came to the same conclusions.

The roots of the Church of Christ/Christian Churches go back to what was called the “second great awakening” or the “great western revival” which began around 1792 while George Washington was President.

Two groups embodied some of the basic principles of the Restoration Movement although very few of their number ended up in the movement. One group was led by James O’Kelly who helped introduce Methodism to NC, VA, and Maryland . But his departure from some of what the Methodists believed ended in 30 ministers withdrawing from the conference. 3 of their beliefs are held by our movement today: They adopted the new name, “Christian Church” and declared that the Bible be their only creed, and that their government would be congregational. The government of Methodist churches was and is Episcopal in nature. That is: a bishop or someone is invested with power to appoint officers and call councils. The other major form of government is Presbyterian – which is group of bodies with power – a session, a presbytery, a synod, and a general assembly. O’Kelly however didn’t go far enough – he believed in most of Methodist doctrine and still believed in sprinkling.

The other group called the New England Christians led by Abner Jones broke with the Baptist church over Calvinistic teaching and organized a independent church and refused to give it any denominational name so he simply called it, “Christian Church.” Baptism by immersion was practiced - Another one of our basic beliefs founded in scripture. Yet Jones had some Unitarian views of the trinity – Jesus not divine – God the only member of the Godhead.

Four other men in the years following 1800 did more to “restore the ancient order of things than any others.”

Barton Warren Stone along with 14 other churches seceded or split from the Presbyterians with the basic difference being that they claimed the right to interpret the Bible regardless of the creed. The Presbyterian Church had said it was the one to decide what doctrines were in the bible, formulated them into a creed and enforced them upon members and ministers. This group believed also in adult baptism by immersion. One of the preachers in this group led by Stone was David Purviance from NC. He is said to be the first preacher to publicly repudiate infant baptism and insist that immersion of adult believers was the only baptism taught in the New Testament. We believe this today based on Scriptures such as Acts 2:38 which calls on a person to repent and be baptized in order to be saved. Babies can’t repent. Galatians 3:22 speaks of faith and belief being a something that we must have - babies have neither.

Thomas Campbell was concerned over all the splits in the Presbyterian church of England so when he came to America in 1807 he found the same problem. When a Presbyterian from one branch would visit another Presbyterian church of a different split – he would not even be allowed to take communion. Thomas broke with the church by first serving communion to anyone who wanted it. He got in big trouble – was tried – and not given another appointment to a church. He resigned and began speaking in homes, halls, and out doors. By 1811 a church was established and Thomas Campbell spoke the famous words that have become one of our slogans: “Where the Scriptures Speak, we Speak; and where the Scriptures are silent, we are silent.” 3 things were emphasized as a reason for beginning this church. 1) Each man’s right of private judgment in the interpretation of scripture. 2) Peaceable unity that will come from this right. 3) The exact conformity of the church to the express letter of the law as laid down in the new testament.

Alexander Campbell, Thomas’s son did much to verbalize and put into writing what this new restoration movement was all about. Alexander was a scholar and great debater.

He taught that baptism had to be immersion because of the word “Burial” in Romans 6:4 and Acts 8:38 also speaks of Phillip going down into the water. Our word “baptize” is “baptidzo” in the greek and its root word means to “cover wholly in a fluid.” Alexander called for in his second debate: “A Restoration of the Ancient order of things.” Alexander also published his own translation of the bible called the Living Oracles. In the preface of the translation he has 2 basic arguments for why he had to offer another translation.

1) The living language is constantly changing, words become obsolete and even have contrary meanings.

2) The tenets of the KJV translators, whether deliberately or undesignedly, did, on many occasions, give a

wrong turn to words and sentences bearing upon their favorite dogmas.” He also mentions new

materials available from which KJV translators didn’t have.

Later on another man in our movement, Lewis Foster professor at Cinncinnatti Bible College , came to the same conclusion and translated the books of Acts and Luke for the NIV translation that is used by so many.

Walter Scott was the fourth man who did much to restore the church. His 5 finger exercise is still used today with some variations. Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Remission of sins, Holy Spirit.

The Restoration came to embody the beliefs of weekly open communion to all Christians, adult immersion for the remission of sins, independent congregational government, emphasis on the divinity of Christ, stressing the Bible as being the only authority. The movement sought the first century churches unity and simplicity. The name Church of Christ or Christian Church – the believer is called simply a Christian or a Disciple. Church government was priesthood of all believers with elders and deacons as taught by Paul for the churches in the New Testatment.

The movement caught on like wildfire. In 1865 there were approximately 200,000 members. In 1875 400,000. In fact the only preacher ever elected as president was from the restoration movement – James Garfield 1880. By 1900 the movement had grown to 1,120,000.

Unity was a key issue. And the lack of it has stalled the movement. After 1900, two splits, which continue today, attacked the movement. The issues were instrumental music and open membership – the accepting of non-immersed believers into the congregation. From these roots we have today: the Church of Christ/Non-Instrumental which number about 3 million throughout the world. Their missionary efforts are awesome with actually more Christians outside the US than in the US . We have the Disciples of Christ which vary in beliefs from a very literal belief in the word of God to a very liberal belief – they run a little over a million in number. And then we have us – the Church of Christ/Christian Church who number around 1,500,000.

One of the ringing slogans that continues today from this movement is: “In essentials unity, in opinions liberty, in all things love.” Let us remember this slogan and practice it – so many splits and denominations would be avoided if it was practiced.

I believe that we all are learning. When you think that you have nothing else to learn – you disqualify yourself from being a teacher in my book. This Bible continues to be our guide. It is for our study to help us. “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. “ Ps. 119:11

We all are a priesthood of believers called to carefully interpret God’s Word and apply it to our lives. We are called to know it so that our church can remain faithful to God. As has been said – we are only one generation from extinction. So lets take the words to heart:

Duet. 6:4-9 “⁴Hear, O Israel : The LORD our God, the LORD is one. ⁵Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ⁶These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. ⁷Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. ⁹Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”

Why so many churches? I think you got a glimpse today of what man do to mess up what God intended. We can often get in the way and then others can pave the way. Which will it be for us? Will we study the word so that we can do as 1 Peter 3:15 calls us to: “¹⁵But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,”

Will we search the Scriptures so that false prophets won’t deceive us? So that we will know why we do what we do. So that we can strengthen our faith and others. So we can stand before God and say we did our homework and believed according to our study. - We didn’t just take someone else’s word for it.

Some are preaching and teaching an attractive, non-committal, easy-going, health and wealth gospel. Listen to what Paul had to say in 2 Timothy 4:3-4 “³For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. ⁴They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.”

We had better be good students of the Word and know that Jesus says that He is the only way. And He tells us that the road to Hell is broad and many will be on it. The road to Heaven is narrow and few will find it. Let us be careful. Let us be diligent in our study. Let us be discerning in who listen to and take to be the truth. Let us seek common ground with other believers and seek to enlighten others who believe differently. As Bob Russell said at the NACC 2 years ago “one does not have to be my twin to be my brother.”

Let us seek to be people who embrace the statement: “In essentials unity, in opinions liberty, in all things love.”