denominationalism Archives - Gospel Union - A blog about Christian faith and unity

Non-denominationalism

Wednesday, 10 August 2005 by Editor

I have, for all of my Christian life, considered myself non-denominational–maybe even un-denominational or anti-denominational. I still do, actually. I never believed (and I still don’t) that Jesus meant for his disciples to be divided up into this or that faction or “flavor” of Christianity. What has evolved is my understanding of the word “denominationalism.”

Published in Commentary

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Denominational echo chambers

Wednesday, 18 May 2005 by Editor

Some media elites have trouble relating to middle America. The only people they know come from a humanist, left-leaning worldview. They wine and dine only with people in that crowd, they seek to curry favor with them for career and social advancement, and they bestow awards only to them. To these people, the heartland of

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Published in Commentary

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The blame game

Tuesday, 05 April 2005 by Editor

One thing I’ve been thinking about is where the blame lies for the current state of factionalism in Christianity. As a parent, I don’t tolerate my children blaming someone else for their own unloving actions. “He started it,” I hear. When I follow up on the story, I usually find out a little more than

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Published in Commentary

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Are there Christians among the sects?

Thursday, 27 January 2005 by Editor

The following are excerpted quotes from Ketcherside, compiled by Lloyd A. Boyll in 1989 under the book title of A New Spirit. –KH CHRISTIANS AMONG THE SECTS by W. Carl Ketcherside “I am convinced that there are many Christians among the sectarian parties of our day.” “Mind you, I do not believe that there are

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Published in Alexander Campbell, Unity, W. Carl Ketcherside

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Saying it doesn’t make it so

Tuesday, 19 October 2004 by Editor

Calling a church a church, or declaring a church not to be a church doesn’t make it so. As form follows function, so the reality of what constitutes a body of the Lord’s people follows the key question of whether or not that body is made up of the Lord’s people, and if they meet

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Published in Church, Commentary, Unity

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The soul of the restoration movement

Friday, 01 October 2004 by Editor

If restorationist Christians should not have formed a non-sectarian sect in the attempt to fight denominationalism, then what is the relevance of the restoration movement? Would Campbell and others have started the movement if they had the view that Christians were not to separate from other Christians over differences of opinion? These are fair questions and

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Published in Alexander Campbell, Commentary

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Doctrinal partisanship

Saturday, 11 September 2004 by Editor

This election season reminds me of how partisan I am by nature. I want my side to win because I truly believe my side stands for much that is right about America. Does it always do what is right in every case? No. But I put aside minor, and even some major differences, and rally

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Published in Bible, Church, Commentary, Unity

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The name of the church

Saturday, 21 August 2004 by Editor

It is difficult for many raised in the restoration movement tradition to remove the emotional stake they may have in the name “The Church of Christ.” The name is generally identified with a number of beliefs, such as a cappella singing in the assembly, congregationalism, and the lack of affiliation with any human-derived institution. But

denominationalism Sectariansim unity

Published in Bible, Church, Commentary, Unity

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Barton Stone - "I blush for my fellows who hold up the Bible as the bond of union, yet make their opinions of it a test of fellowship; who plead for union of all Christians, yet refuse to fellowship with such as dissent from their notions. Vain men! Their zeal is not according to knowledge, nor is their spirit that of Christ. Such antisectarian-sectarians are doing more mischief to the cause and advancement of truth, the unity of Christians, and the salvation of the world, than all the skeptics in the world. In fact, they create skeptics."

Alexander Campbell - "We will not hearken to those questions which gender strife, nor discuss them at all. If a person says such is his private opinion, let him have it as his private opinion; but lay no stress upon it; and if it be a wrong private opinion, it will die a natural death much sooner than if you attempt to kill it."

Alexander Campbell - "But men cannot give up their opinions, and therefore, they can never unite, says one. We do not ask them to give up their opinions--we ask them only not to impose them upon others. Let them hold their opinions, but let them hold them as private property. The faith is public property; opinions are, and always have been private property. Men have foolishly attempted to make the deductions of some great minds the common measure of all Christians. Hence the deductions of a Luther, and a Calvin, and a Wesley, have been the rule and measure of all who coalesce under the names of these leaders. It is cruel to excommunicate a man because of the imbecility of his intellect."

Alexander Campbell - "Dear sir, this plan of making our own nest, and fluttering over our own brood; of building our own tent, and of confining all goodness and grace to our noble selves and the "elect few" who are like us, is the quintessence of sublimated pharisaism. The old Pharisees were but babes in comparison to the modern: and the longer I live, and the more I reflect upon God and man--heaven and earth--the Bible and the world--the Redeemer and his church--the more I am assured that all sectarianism is the offspring of hell; and that all differences about words, and names, and opinions, hatched in Egypt, or Rome, or Edinburgh, are like the frolics of drunken men; and that where there is a new creature, or a society of them, with all their imperfections and frailties, and errors in sentiment, in views, and opinions, they ought to receive one another, and the strong to support the weak, and not to please themselves. To lock ourselves up in the bandbox of our own little circle; to associate with a few units, tens, or hundreds, as the pure church, as the elect, is real Protestant monkery, it is evangelical pharisaism."

Alexander Campbell - "I have tried the pharisaic plan, and the monastic. I was once so straight, that, like the Indian's tree, I leaned a little the other way. And however much I may be slandered now as seeking "popularity" or a popular course, I have to rejoice that to my own satisfaction, as well as to others, I proved that truth, and not popularity, was my object; for I was once so strict a Separatist that I would neither pray nor sing praises with any one who was not as perfect as I supposed myself. In this most unpopular course I persisted until I discovered the mistake, and saw that on the principle embraced in my conduct, there never could be a congregation or church upon the earth."

Alexander Campbell - "I have no idea of adding to the catalogue of new sects. I labor to see sectarianism abolished and all Christians of every name united upon the one foundation upon which the apostolic church was founded."