A church historian acquaintance of mine, Dr. Len Sweet, does
not like the term “denominations.” He is
on a mission to replace it with the word “tribes.” “Denomination” is a term that has become
divisive and has ironically often evoked exclusionism and unhealthy pride among
those whose calling it is to follow and to proclaim the One who humbled Himself
and sought “whoever will believe” to come and follow Him (Jesus Christ).
Dr. Sweet is not against denominations. Neither am I.
In fact, I am a minister in an established denomination (the Church of
the Nazarene), which shares theological roots with many other groups, including
Methodists, Anglicans, and even ancient Orthodox churches. Although my “tribe” is relatively new in
terms of Christian history (the Church of the Nazarene was started in the late
19th Century), the creeds we hold dear, the Scriptures we read (the
Bible), and even our dearest practices (baptism and Communion, for instance)
date back to the very beginnings of the Christian faith. The problem that some of the older tribes
have with newer tribes like ours often has to do with age: they are older than
we are and therefore tend to see their age as making all other denominations
(or tribes) irrelevant.
Now, as a native
Texan myself, I was taught to respect my elders. And, as both a pastor and a trained
historical theologian, I can honestly say that I deeply respect and hold in
high regard those traditions whose practices date back to the early days of
Christianity. However, the dynamic
nature of Christianity, which in the time of the New Testament was simply a
“movement”, means that Christianity will continue to “move.” That means we hold on to those ancient
foundations that make us who we are, but we are not afraid of embracing the
kind of exponential growth that Christ promised when the movement first
began. In short, that means that other
tribes – ones who hold to the same core beliefs and the common creeds of the
Church – should not be a threat to us.
So, why are there so many tribes? There are at least three
reasons. The first reason is often
simple geography. The ancient Orthodox
churches and the ancient Catholic churches were simply in different places and
developed slightly different emphases and leadership structures. Even today there are church tribes – new ones
as well as older ones – whose theologies are similar to one another but who
form out of geographic necessity.
Secondly, there is the issue of reform.
Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant groups are part of the tribal system
of Christianity in the world today.
Protestant groups, many of whom broke away from their older tribal
systems (i.e., Catholicism or Orthodox Church) around the 16th
Century, did so largely because of real corruption in certain regions of their
parent churches. Some of the first
reformers, like Martin Luther, were indeed Catholic and considered themselves
such for a time even after they separated into another tribe.
Within the last half century, the older
tribes have even acknowledged many of their 16th Century errors and
have sought to find ways of re-establishing dialogue and fellowship
together! Several Roman Catholic popes,
for instance, have issued statements of apology for those Reformation Era abuses
and have attempted reconciliation.
Finally, tribes can launch because of what they perceive to
be needed emphases. If a particular
older tribe is not paying enough attention to the poor, for example, a group of
like-minded folks who love God and who follow the Christian faith may form a
group to minister to the poor more specifically. For various reasons – or no big reasons at
all – these groups may eventually form new denominations (“tribes”).
In John 17, Jesus prays that His disciples will be “one”:
united together. Like Dr. Len Sweet, I
believe that the way this prayer will be answered is not by going around
declaring that my particular Christian denomination is the only “true” one. I also do not agree that every single group
that calls itself Christian is indeed a Christian group. However, the groups that hold onto the
essential tenets of the Christian faith expressed in Scripture and in the early
Creeds of the first several centuries of Christian history, and who also seek
to genuinely worship and serve Jesus Christ, are a genuine Christian tribe. And that tribe is part of a bigger
Kingdom. And that Kingdom belongs to
God.
