My late father never understood why there were so many denominations — read “churches”— if we all profess to worship the same God. Today, many have been alarmed by the continued establishment of new churches, which some critics opt to call “popcorn” ministries. REPORT BY PHILLIP CHIDAVAENZI SENIOR FEATURES REPORTER
Admittedly, some new ministries may have been built on shaky ground if there were born out of power struggles within the leadership, financial mismanagement and “all-powerful” personality cults in their mother churches. But there is need for us to draw the line between bona fide new ministries and the so-called “popcorn” ministries.
The proliferation of churches, which has become the inescapable reality of our day, is — quite strikingly — not a new thing. The Bible says: “It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so in love, knowing that I am put here (in prison) for the defence of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached.” (Philippians 1:15-18).
Almost all Christian denominations agree on the fundamental principle of Christianity: that Jesus died on the cross for the remission of sin and rose from the dead on the third day, ascended into heaven and will return to judge the world. This is the basic message of the Gospel which every new denomination must preach: “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than the one we have preached to you, let him be accursed.” (Galatians 1:8, NKJV).
Paul stresses in his letters that his overriding passion was to preach Christ crucified. But you will notice in he also taught on many different doctrines and spiritual matters. But he appreciated that the centre was what Christ did on the cross. So in as much as different denominations may have different approaches to certain issues in life, what is essential is that Christ be magnified.
Church history shows that after the ascension of Christ, there were multiple forms of Christianity that took root, including Gnostic, Jewish and Pauline. But after the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD, the Jewish Christian movement was scattered. Pauline and Gnostic Christianity was left as the dominant doctrine. The Roman Empire legally recognised Pauline Christianity as a valid religion in 313 AD. Later in that century — in 380 AD — Roman Catholicism became the official religion of the Roman Empire. During the following 1 000 years, Catholics were the only people recognised as Christians. In 1054 AD, a formal split occurred between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. The next major division occurred in the 16th century with the Protestant Reformation.
It was from such foundations that many denominations started getting birthed across the world and that formed the roots of the different church systems we have even in Zimbabwe today, including the Methodists, the Salvation Army, the Anglican Church and the later-day Pentecostal churches. No single denomination can claim authenticity over the other. We are all products of breakaways after all! The analogy of the human body used by Paul in his first letter to the Church at Corinth helps to contextualise this discussion: “For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.” (I Corinthians 12:12).
Here, there is unity in diversity. Each denomination — as just one member of the body of Christ that is the church—may be called to play a particular role for the good of that one body.
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Christ, central focus of all denominations
REGARDLESS of the manner in which a new ministry is born, Christ must be the central focus because the revelation in Christianity is that Jesus Christ is the Son of God (Matthew 16:18)
Christ is the head of this spiritual body we call the Church. The Bible stresses the headship of Christ over the Church, his corporate body (Colossians 1:18, Ephesians 1:22-23). Those who question the increasing number of denominations may do well to understand that although Christ built one unified organisation, it can — under certain circumstances—consist of several sub-organisations.
