IS CHURCH DIVISION ALWAYS SINFUL?

            IS CHURCH DIVISION ALWAYS SINFUL?

Yes, but sometimes it may be the right thing to do.

Jesus prayed to the Father  that his disciples would have such “complete unity” that “the world would know that you sent me” (John 15:23).   Christians’ love for each other is to be so visible that “everyone will know that you are my disciples” (John 13:34-35).

To say that  invisible unity in an “invisible church” satisfies Jesus’ prayer is simply nonsense.   The world cannot see “invisible” love and unity!  Jesus’ prayer calls for a visible unity of all Christians.

So why has the church over two millenia broken into so many divisions?  Because of our sin and finitude.  If Christians were perfectly sanctified and all-knowing, there would never be church splits.  But all Christians are finite --and still far from being fully sanctified.

But  does the fact that church divisions break God’s heart mean that they are never justified? No. Some disagreements are so serious that it is right to separate from Christians who endorse serious theological error and/or major ethical disobedience.

 A few  years ago, the head of the United Church of Canada said he did not believe in the resurrection or the deity of Christ. Recently the pastor of one of their congregations in Toronto said she was an atheist. What was the United Church of Canada’s official response?  All that is acceptable “diversity”!

I believe  it is tragically sad but theologically necessary to separate visibly from people in the church that deny basic theological doctrines like the resurrection and deity of Christ.

But how do we know when differences are that serious? So often, Christian churches have split over things that now we see were very minor and unimportant. And church history shows that frequently even the best Christian leaders were terribly mistaken.

I am a Mennonite. In the 16thcentury, Lutherans Calvinists,  Anglicans and Catholics all killed us “Anabaptists” by the thousands as heretics. And they used a law that St. Augustine (in the 5thcentury) had  promoted that required the state to  execute Christians who “re-baptized” Christians.  (That is what the word “Anabaptist” means.) 

 What were the issues? The Anabaptists wanted a  “believer’s Church” separate from the state and they rejected all killing by Christians.   Those were the  two big areas of disagreement.  Virtually all Christians today embrace  the separation of church and state. And many Christians (including official Catholic teaching) accept pacifism as at least one faithful Christian stance.

How could truly great Christians like Augustine, Luther and Calvin get it so wrong? And should we simply decided never to divide churches in order to avoid their mistakes?

No. Some theological and ethical errors require separation from those who endorse them. It was right for Methodisst and Baptists to leave and thus  divide over the defense of slavery in the 19thcentury. It is right to leave denominations today that say that the deity and resurrection of Christ are not necessary for Christian faith.

I think the debate between Calvinists who embrace double predestination and Arminians who reject that view merit separate denominations. The same is true of Christians who endorse the just war doctrine and Christians who believe Jesus taught his followers never to kill. Both sets of denominations should clearly recognize the other as Christian and  work together in interdenominational  church structures. But the issues are important enough and  basic enough to warrant separate denominations.

But that still leaves us with the incredibly hard question of what other  specific issues today are important enough to warrant church division. My own Mennonite tradition has again and again and again split over very small differences that should have been seen as nowhere nearly important enough to warrant church division.

So what should we do? We must  search the Scriptures together, pray together, listen to the whole church (both in history and around the world today) and beg the Holy Spirit to guide us  before we take the huge step of another church split.

But the hard cases remain. 

Does the painful current disagreement over whether homosexual practice  (even in a  life-long, monogamous homosexual marriage)  is  wrong and unbiblical or fine and acceptable merit a church split? Should our denominations decide that both views are acceptable for biblical Christians and therefore we need not, should not, divide over this issue?  Or is the difference so important that division is necessary? Is this issue more like separating from Christians who endorsed slavery and deny the deity of Christ? Or is it more like disagreements over  “plain clothes”, dancing and playing cards that (wrongly!)  were used to justify earlier church splits?

Frankly, I struggle with this question without clarity on the answer. If you can help me, send me an email at rsider@eastern.edu. 

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