Multi-Denominational Church Unity: We Need This Now

By Reverend Gregory J. Schiller 11-16-2011 http://www.facebook.com/groups/unitethebody/ Multi denominational church unity is not a new concept but it is something that has been avoided by most church organizations. Some denominations even have laws written into their denominational bylaws which not only make it illegal for the denomination to work with other denominations but these laws also prohibit them from working with other churches within the same denomination. They call this encroachment. This practice needs to stop now! In this writing we will explore many aspects of the multi-denominational church unity subject but, even though I will point out where certain organizations are in error & back it up with scripture, I will not mention any denomination or organization by name in this regard. It is not my intention to belittle, bash or chastise any church organization. Rather, I hope to enlighten church leaders & all Christians with the end result being a better understanding of what God wants for all of us. I will mention denominations or organizations by name for statistical purposes or as positive examples only & most of the examples I use will be recounts of my own personal experiences. In late 2009 I was given a vision in which I was shown the body of Christ, fragmented & scattered. Then I was shown what it would be like if the body were united & all of the possibilities that come with a unified body. We as Christians, the believers as we are called, are all part of the body of Christ but as things stand right now, the body is split into so many pieces, it is barely functional. In our not so distant past this practice was acceptable because the world was very different. Here in America we were by & large living as Christians. The churches were full & thriving. Jesus was alive & well in America but something has happened to cause a mass exodus from the church. Every year 2.7 million church members, nation wide, fall into inactivity. From 1990 to 2000 the combined membership of all Protestant denominations in the US declined by almost 5 million (9.5 percent) while the population of the US increased by 24 million (11 percent). At the turn of the century in 1900 there was a ratio of 27 churches per 10,000 people as apposed to the turn of this century in 2000 where we have 11 churches per 10,000 people. Every year since 2000, more than 4000 churches close their doors & only just over 1000 new churches are started. The United States now ranks third in the world (following only China & India) in the number of people who are not professing to be Christians. Translation The USA has become the third largest unreached group of people in the world. This is in direct contrast to the national motto of the United States which is IN GOD WE TRUST. While doing my research for this paper I came across many startling statistics. Many were not a surprise. Some caused me to raise an eyebrow but this next statistic caused me to simply shake my head in disbelief. Barna Research reported recently that perhaps 50 percent of all people who are in church on Sunday morning are not even Christians. A certain number of people only go for show. After this sunk in, I recalled at one time when I lived in a heavily Mormonized area, I was self employed & running a struggling

computer service business. A neighbor (who was not Mormon) suggested that I join the Mormon church. When I asked why, he replied, BECAUSE THEY HAVE MONEY! IF YOU CAN GET IN WITH THEM YOULL BE SET! I of course refused to stoop to such a level. I could never join a religious organization solely for financial gain but, I did wonder if half the people seated in the churches every week are following a similar philosophy, attempting to further their own financial or social agendas by appearing to be Christians and being part of Christian organizations. It would seem that here in the 21st century, Gods church has become culturally irrelevant & even distant from its prime purpose of making disciples & growing through Gods word. Salvation has become nothing but a word & it is a word that most are unfamiliar with these days. The greatest trick the devil ever pulled on the world was convincing the world that he didnt exist, there by negating the existence of God. Look around you. Do you see a society that behaves as if it fears the judgment of the Lord? Do you see a culture that is rooted in the bible? No! What we see is a society behaving as though there is no judgment & a culture that has been so perverted by the enemy that it frightens me. I was standing out side my house a few weeks ago & there was a neighbor woman across the street talking to a man in a pickup truck. I could not hear what the man was saying but the woman began laughing loudly & said OH THAT IS AWEFUL! YOU ARE GOING TO HELL! THE GOOD THING IS ILL BE RIGHT THERE WITH YOU! After hearing this I walked back into my house shaking my head. The concept of Hell has become nothing more than a joke to this culture today. The enemy has surely taken over. The Francis A. Schaeffer Institute of Church Leadership released a statistic that states that only 18 percent of all Americans frequently attended church in 2002 as opposed to 22 percent in 1992. A 4 percent drop nation wide in just 10 years. This statistic includes all denominations falling under the Christian Faith. Surveys have shown that the top reasons people leave the church have to do with not feeling connected & conflicts with church members or clergy. Another one of the top reasons listed was churches that are overly money oriented. There is a definite erosion of biblical values in this country. This should be obvious to any one who walks in truth & lives in Gods word. If your eyes are open, you cant fail to see it. According to the Barna Group, the un-churched population in the US is nearing 100 Million! This includes Adults, teens & children. According to the US Census bureau, as of 2009 the population of the United States is 307 million. I believe that the Barna Groups assessment of one third the population being un-churched is conservative at best & I base this on my own experiences in several different churches across the US. When I served in New Mexico in San Juan County, the statistic for the county was 93 percent of the county was un-churched & state wide the statistic was 92 percent. I have, in the past ten years, visited several churches in seven different states & I have seen very few that were filled on Sunday morning. Regardless of denomination or the seating capacity, just about all of the churches I have visited were one quarter to one third filled on any given Sunday excluding Easter & Christmas.

Now, since the church memberships are dwindling and the over all attitudes in the US towards Christianity are indifferent at best, here is a statistic that is in direct correlation to the above mentioned statistics According to the FBI, in 2009 there were over 24,445 crimes attributed to what the FBI calls LOCATION CODE 4. This is the code the FBI uses to classify churches, synagogues & temples. At one time in this country, committing a crime in a church or on church property was unthinkable to the criminal element. Even they had a line they would not cross regarding the sanctity of the church. I wanted to further emphasize all these findings so I picked a target city in the USA to focus on. I chose Dallas, Texas. Dallas is the third largest city in Texas & the ninth largest city in the US. It lies on the Bible belt. A poll was conducted by the Barna Group in the Dallas area. They made over 10,000 random calls to numbers in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. They only found 560 individuals from all around the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex who would even participate in the survey. Of those 560 individuals who participated in the survey, 202 were classified un-churched. I think you have the picture. Depending on who we talk to, the numbers do change but, there are two things that are in agreement across the board regardless whose numbers we use and they are The churches in America are in trouble & so is America. The erosion of biblical values in this country can be directly correlated with the crime rates, life styles & attitudes of today in this country. In communities where the churches thrive, those communities see less crime, less addiction, less abuse but in communities where the churches are struggling, we see the opposite. For instance, the population of San Juan County, New Mexico is 150,000. As I stated earlier, the statistic is that 93 percent of the county is un-churched. As of 2009 there were over 20,000 hardcore methamphetamine addicts in the county court system. Mind you these are only the ones who have been busted. There are probably another 10,000 to 20,000 more waiting to be caught by law enforcement. The San Juan County Sheriffs office investigates over 120 abuse cases per month & half of them are referred to CYFD (Children, Youth & Family Division) who has only 6 to 8 case workers at any given time. The San Juan County Adult Detention Center houses a maximum of 1044 inmates. It is always full. Because of this, the county initiated an extensive house arrest program for non violent offenders. In short, there is more crime & criminals in San Juan County, New Mexico than the county jail can hold. This seems to be the standard across the country. The Cook County Adult Detention Center in Chicago, Illinois, Stays at capacity all the time. It houses about 5000 inmates & processes about 2000 inmates in & out of the facility every day. Hopefully I have made my point on the worldly side. Now lets move over to the spiritual side shall we. There are several verses in the Bible that speak of unity. Especially in the New Testament which are directed solely at Christians. In Luke 11:17 it is written But he knowing there thoughts, said unto them, every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house divided against a house falleth. Very clearly stated. All Christians make up the Body of Christ. If the body is divided, it cannot function. In 1 Corinthians chapter 1, Paul is dealing with divisions in the church there in Corinth. We can look at the churches today in any given town & see the same issues that Paul was dealing with in his letter to the church there in Corinth. In verse 10 Paul writes I
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appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. Paul is attempting to explain here how we as Christians are supposed to be with one another & he states it very plainly. He continues in verses 11 & 12 11 My brothers and sisters, some from Chloes household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. 12 What I mean is this: One of you says, I follow Paul; another, I follow Apollos; another, I follow Cephas]; still another, I follow Christ. This sounds very familiar to me. When looking at all the church denominations today we can see the similarities between the church as it exists today & as it existed almost 2000 years ago. There are divisions among us, some so huge that it keeps the body fragmented. Now in verse 13 Paul asks the BIG question 13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul? This is a profound question. Now in verses 14 through 17 Paul tells them the truth about the way the have been behaving I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 so no one can say that you were baptized in my name. 16 (Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I dont remember if I baptized anyone else.) 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospelnot with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. This too is very profound in that he spells out the effect of church divisions. The cross is rendered powerless, impotent or to put it bluntly, the ability for the gospel to reach the masses is rendered ineffective. When a body is intact, all of its parts functioning in unison, that body is healthy. It works & is able to do many things. If we start removing parts of a body it ceases to function & if we remove the wrong parts it dies. This is what is happening to the church today. The church is dying. Look at all the empty seats on Sunday morning. Look at the general attitude of the public towards Christians & Christianity. Look at how the government is making Christianity illegal. We cant pray in public places lest we might offend someone. Our children can not speak of Godly things in school because if they do they will be punished for it. When we preach the gospel on the street we are ridiculed & sometimes even attacked. Our government is taking great strides to remove all icons of Christianity from federal, state & county buildings. All of this is because of the erosion of biblical values in this country. Now, whose job is it to hold up those values? That responsibility falls on us, the believers, The Body of Christ. In John chapter 17, Jesus prays for the 12 then he prays for all who will come to know him by their preaching 20 My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that 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. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one 23 I in them and you in meso that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. 24 Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. 25 Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26 I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them. Jesus prays that we, the believers, his body, would be one in complete unity. Let me say that again, COMPLETE UNITY! This was

the plan from the beginning but, Satan wants us divided. Satan wants us to be rendered ineffective in the world. Satan wants Gods house to fall. We cannot allow this. My sister in Christ, Angel Hyde is a woman who I have served with during several unified multi-denominational events & this is what she wrote on the subject The work of unity was finished at the cross but will we lay down our pride? At the heart of true oneness in His body we find humility, authentic unity requires that we learn what it truly means to prefer our brothers & sisters over ourselves. She touches on a very important fact here. She asks, WILL WE LAY DOWN OUR PRIDE? Pride is one of Satans favorite traps. He uses it a lot. We have all fallen into this trap but we are warned about it in Proverbs 16:18 where we are told Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. Unfortunately, this is an easy trap to fall into. Are the churches today divided because of PRIDE? I think in part, the answer would have to be yes. Most of the different denominations feel that they are the one true faith. One says that they have it right & all the others say no you dont. I believe that they are all wrong & at the same time I believe that they are all right. I know, you are saying how can they be wrong & right at the same time? Its simple, DOGMATIC LAW. Matthew 18:18 Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. This was a promise from Jesus to the church. In effect it says that what ever we hold true here will continue to be held true in Heaven. Now apply that to all of the different church denominations & their respective doctrines. This is how we can all not quite have it one hundred percent right but still not be wrong & this is the basis for multi-denominational church unity. If Jesus can respect your doctrine, so can I, This is the essence of multiple denominations working together side by side, hand in hand, bringing the gospel to the community at large. You see, as long as the core message does not change & that message is that Christ is the son of God who died on the cross to save us from our sins, was buried in a tomb & on the third day rose again & was ascended into heaven. That message stays the same across the denominations. The individual doctrines never have to come into play if we can (as Angel said) LAY DOWN OUR PRIDE! Consider this, we as Christians are tasked with going out & making disciples of all nations. We know from experience that anything & everything can be used as a ministry tool. How much more effective (with all of the tools at our disposal) would we be if we could lay down our pride & work together regardless of church affiliation or doctrine? Back in early 2010 I was invited (after being asked to share my vision of unity with a Baptist pastor) to address the San Juan County Baptist Association Community Ministries Team & share this vision of multi-denominational unity with them. I was seated in a room with pastors, missionaries & staff from several different churches. I began by asking the secretary of the association how many Baptist churches were in San Juan County to which she replied thirty three. I then asked when was the last time any two of them had done a project together in the community? Her reply (not surprisingly) was NEVER. I then went on to explain the possibilities involved in working with the church community on a whole & partnering with other churches in the community regardless of denomination & I quoted the scriptural basis for unity in the body. I read 1 Corinthians 1:10 through 17 but when I got to verse 13 where Paul asks, IS CHRIST

DIVIDED?, I looked up from my Bible as if to ask the question to the pastors & missionaries seated with me in the room. They answered the question out loud together YES! From there we began talking about things they could do with other churches that would benefit the community & give all of them the opportunity to share the gospel in ways that would never have been possible if they remained isolated with each church unto it self. When the meeting was over, the secretary for the SJCBA called a vote & the association unanimously adopted the vision as their new direction. This resulted in multi church prayer walks, feeding the homeless events & All church worship services and it shaped a coalition of churches that is still working to this day. The last project I did with the multi-denominational coalition before leaving New Mexico was a huge festival in a large park in Farmington, New Mexico. We had live music, food, bounce castles for the kids, local secular agencies who also served in the community like the Family Crisis Center, set up booths. We said prayers, sang songs, ate & spread the gospel all day long. Baptists, Pentecostals, Christ reformed & non denominational Christians all working together in harmony. This is the way Jesus prayed it would be. Psalm 133 verse 1 says, How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity! Good & pleasant indeed. When churches can band together, the resources available become greater. It means more money, more goods & more volunteers. This equates to larger projects in the community that can bring the gospel out there on a much greater scale. Such as with the unity festival, there were many people all who had different responsibilities during the event who did their part with humility & a servants heart & it was a huge success. Nothing on this scale had ever been done in the area before & never would have been possible with out church unity. Our nation is caught in Satans grip. We are fighting a spiritual war and we have been given all the weapons we will ever need to fight these battles. We have Gods word in the form of the Holy Bible & we have each other. Jesus says in John 13:35 By this shall all men know ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. The scriptures are very clear. We are not to be divided for if we are, we cannot accomplish the task we have been given. The instances in the US of violent crime continue to escalate. Murder, rape, child & spousal abuse, drug & alcohol addiction, divorce, all these things are happening at a much greater frequency than ever before. The government can not stop it. No matter what laws they put on the books or what programs they initiate, they can not fix this problem but, the churches can fix this problem. We live in a lost society. The only way to fix a lost society is through salvation. The only way we are going to do that especially with the dwindling numbers in our respective churches is through unity. There is strength in numbers & it is the way it is supposed to be. Ephesians chapter 4 verses 11 through 13 says 11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. There is that word UNITY again. 1 Corinthians 12:12 says Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. This message appears in many ways throughout the New Testament and Old Testament. The message should be clear to any & all who read it. We are to be as one in the body of Christ. No divisions, no contentions, of like mind & judgment. Here is my take on denominational

doctrine Ritual, music, clothing worn, it is all OF THIS WORLD. All things made by men to attract men & get us through the church door. It is no different than our choice of food or type of car we drive or any other THING that appeals to us. It is OF THIS WORLD. God cares about what is in our hearts not what church we attend and he wants all the different churches working together, united to perform the great task that was given to us by Jesus him self. Colossians 3:14 says And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Back in 2007 a county in Kentucky was suffering. It was over run with violent crime, drugs, gangs, etc. They did not know what do. Businesses were closing, people were leaving. The county could not afford the police force it needed to combat the anarchy that was taking place. A pastor had a vision of the churches unifying & taking back the community. They went out & instead of fighting the criminals, they evangelized them. They held festivals in the parks. They marched in parades through the towns. They went door to door bringing with them the message of salvation & over a period of two years they were able to take back the community & give it back to God. I recall seeing an interview in January 2010 with the two pastors who initially got together & started the coalition. They were a Southern Baptist & a Pentecostal & when in the past they might barely have ever spoken to one another because of their doctrinal differences, here they were sitting side by side carrying on like long time best friends. These two men had real love for one another & they had respect for one another as well. They realized that we are all one body & they went out & sold the idea to every church in the area & reclaimed the community. 2 Chronicles 7:14 says if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. We serve a God who keeps his word. The biggest problem I have had when trying to bring churches of multiple denominations together is, the reluctance of the pastors. Weather it be pride or fear, getting my fellow theologians & ministers to budge & step outside their comfort zones is difficult. I was having lunch with a fellow pastor whose church was burned down by arson. I had arranged some benefit concerts in a few different churches with whom I was affiliated, to help generate some funds to keep the church going & offset the cost of rebuilding. I was discussing with him the church coalition I was helping to get started in the area. This man of God looked up at me & said IT CANT BE DONE, ITS IMPOSSIBLE. I could not believe these words coming from my brother pastor but I just looked back at him & asked him if he believed all things were possible with God? He kind of choked & said WELL OF COURSE I DO. My reply was, THEN WHY DO YOU SAY THIS WHICH IS CLEARLY OF GOD IS IMPOSSIBLE? All God wants us to do is believe that he will do it. Trust him & have faith in him. I have been letting the spirit lead me for quite some time now & things just work out. Faith I think is a hard thing for all of us especially those of us who have been burned in the past but we are taught to keep the faith no matter what. Besides Jesus never told us the job would be easy. In fact he told us that we would be persecuted & killed for his name (John 16:2). If we can accept that, then why cant we just let him work through us? In Matthew 18 verses 1 through 5 Jesus deals with the issue of faith & he teaches us a lesson using a little child1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? 2 He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. 3 And he said: Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like

little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. I once did a sermon on this passage. I used this analogy A child trusts his good & loving parents implicitly. He knows nothing else. All he knows is that love & safety surround him. When a father plays with his son & he throws the boy up into the air catching him & then doing it again over & over, does the boy cry out for someone to help him? Does he scream in fear? Is the boy afraid that his father will drop him? Does the boy worry that he will fall to the floor, & when the father stops & places his son gently back on the floor, does the boy run & hide from his father? Does he seek the comfort of his mother or anyone else in the room while crying because he is afraid? No, he does none of these things. While the father is tossing him in the air & catching him over & over, the boy is laughing & giggling unafraid. He does not even consider that his father may drop him to the floor. The boy knows with out a doubt in his mind that his father loves him. He knows with no doubt what so ever that his father will catch him every time. He knows that he is safe in his fathers arms & when the father is done playing & he sets his son back down on the floor, what does the boy do? Does he run away? No, he tries to climb back up into his fathers arms & says what to his father Do it again daddy. No fear, no doubt. He knows with total surety that his father will catch him every single time he is tossed into the air. He has complete & total faith with no doubts in his mind what so ever. He knows that he is totally & completely safe in his fathers arms. This is an example of the kind of faith that we need to have in our father in Heaven. I would like to go back now to 1 Corinthians chapter 12 & take a look at the entire passage speaking about the body. Lets look at verses 12 through 26 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one bodywhether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.
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Now if the foot should say, Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body, it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body, it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
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The eye cannot say to the hand, I dont need you! And the head cannot say to the feet, I dont need you! On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
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These verses spell out clearly the idea of one body unified. Unity in the church has been the intention from the beginning. In these times, the need for unity is a must. The body is dying, the churches are closing there doors because they can no longer afford to keep them open. This society today is fueled by greed, money & power. We hunt each other just for the thrill. America is living in sin so deeply that it rivals the cities God turned to dust for their inequities. Satan is sitting on his earthly throne laughing at what he has been able to do to Gods beautiful & Holy creation. Everything around us seems to be in a state of disorder. The time for holing up in the comfort of the four walls of our respective churches has come to an end. Individual churches can not do much on there own because of the lack of resources but, if we pull our resources & WORK TOGETHER we can reunite the body of Christ & go out into the community as a powerful evangelical force able to serve in any capacity, take on any project & further the Kingdom in the manor that was intended from the beginning. I ask that church leaders & laypersons alike, pray about this & seek Gods will for you in your life, in your church & in your community. May God bless & keep you always.

Ephesians 4:1-3 1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.