First, let me begin with a disclaimer. I am not anti-denomination or, for that matter, anti-church. I love the rich frameworks and traditions of faith that have been passed down to us through the ages, and the way that new denominations are continually popping up all over the world, seeking greater understandings of God and exploring fresh avenues for worship and connection with him and with each other.
There is something of a unity in the body of Christ, despite the differences that define the particular denomination or tradition to which we personally subscribe. Whether we are Catholic, Pentecostal, or Methodist, Jesus binds us together as brothers and sisters in faith.
There is a lot we can learn from each other as we share our differing …show more content…
When our faith traditions take their statements of faith and hold them up as the be all and end all of who Jesus is. When our particular teachings are held up as superior to those of other denominations, writing them off as misguided at best or heretical at worst. It seems to be the nature of the human condition, to keep God in the box of our understanding, not allowing him outside of the confines of what we know.
Differences in understanding can be good. They can add richness to our theology, to our practice, to our lives, if we choose to engage the differences with a desire to learn from them. We can use our engagement with difference to reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of our own perspectives. But too often, the default is to fear what we do not know, and we write things off on a very surface level, never daring to venture any deeper into beliefs and traditions that challenge our own.
And so churches and denominations can become very closed-in areas of belief. They require their congregations to hold to their own particular statement of beliefs, which is great for defining their community and giving people something tangible to connect with. But they also serve to create barriers between our brothers and sisters in Christ from other