{"id":4675,"date":"2021-12-23T11:45:01","date_gmt":"2021-12-23T16:45:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/?p=4675"},"modified":"2021-12-23T18:23:24","modified_gmt":"2021-12-23T23:23:24","slug":"are-there-good-reasons-to-divide-a-local-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/are-there-good-reasons-to-divide-a-local-church\/","title":{"rendered":"Are There Good Reasons to Divide A Local Church?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Aren\u2019t there legitimate secondary or tertiary reasons to divide<\/a> from a local church? That is essentially the first question I get asked whenever I talk about church divisions or that the Bible never calls Christians to divide<\/a>. The only time it calls for division is when you\u2019re dividing from the false teachers because the good news message<\/a> of Jesus Christ crucified and risen from the grave is on the line. That said, Google tells me we have around 200 Christian denominations in the United States and 45,000 worldwide\u2014surely, they can\u2019t all be wrong?<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Plus, I usually know why people are asking. They have left a church and are looking for grounds to further support the decision. Listen, I\u2019ve dealt with this in the past but, to summarize that post<\/a>, gathering with like-minded believers over a secondary matter of conviction is not necessarily<\/em> a division. Read that again, real slow this time. In that earlier post, I didn\u2019t mention what could be such conscience-sensitive cause for remaining dividing, but, in this post, I’m going to explore that a bit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Denominational Distinctions Do Not Equal Division<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s say that you had two groups of Christians that believed the same things except for one topic: the purpose of baptism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Group A<\/strong> firmly believes that baptism is a symbol that publicly professes belief and identification in Christ. Group B<\/strong> firmly believes that baptism is the current symbol of identification into God\u2019s visible community on earth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Group A Believers<\/th>Group B Believers<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Same Message <\/td>Same Message<\/td><\/tr>
Same Skill<\/td>Same Skill<\/td><\/tr>
Believer’s Baptism<\/strong><\/td>Covenant Baptism<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
God knows true believers<\/td>God knows true believers<\/td><\/tr>
True invisible universal church<\/td>True invisible universal church<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Both groups believe that true Christians are only known by God, both groups believe in the invisible universal church. Group A knows for a fact that there have been cases in the past where people who have been baptized didn\u2019t really believe. Group B also knows that there are people who have been baptized as part of God\u2019s visible community that haven\u2019t grown up to become believers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think that ideally these groups can be part of one local assembly<\/a>. As Mike Russell said in the original post linked to in this thread,<\/a> the division over these lines winds up being comfortable within denominational walls.  I also know the reality that this one topic can become a point of constant re-clarification, some confusion, and even unnecessary combat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now let\u2019s say that Group A and Group B were one local assembly. Yes, they had the constant re-clarification, some confusion, and even at some points, unnecessary combat. Does the Bible ever encourage a division here? Well, no. Either both groups are wrong, or one group is wrong, but in all cases, there is no encouragement to divide.<\/strong> The gospel isn\u2019t at stake. The church might have to figure out how to navigate these two perspectives but there is no real justification for the one church becoming two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Integrity Demands Unity with Signed Denominational Confession<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Though, let\u2019s say a break happened anyway. Let\u2019s say the break was so strange that they formed a second exact building right next door. Group A Believer Baptizing Church and Group B Covenant Baptizing Church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you are coming in from the outside and deciding which group to gather with, I believe you have the freedom to choose according to your beliefs. But, absent a signed statement of faith, if you\u2019re within one of the two gatherings I think dividing over the topic leaves you back in the position of the original church split: you must go back to Scripture only to rediscover that there is no mandate for dividing for this reason. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You might be able to contrive a bunch of pragmatic reasons (example: teaching your children, best for your spiritual growth, encourages a community that practices all the\u2014to your conviction\u2014right beliefs) but none of those will properly justify the division.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, imagine that Group A and Group B formed a confession of faith. That confession of faith listed all the beliefs including the belief in baptism. To be a member of either group required signing that confession of faith. In that case, because a change of belief now takes the form of not adhering to your professed confession, I believe it is necessary to retract said confession and then switch to the place that has the adhered confession.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reason has nothing to do with the division, but everything to do with integrity in light of the statement of faith. Proverbs 11:3 says that the integrity of the upright guides them, but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says that people shouldn\u2019t make oaths rather their integrity is so sure that they\u2019re spoken yes<\/em> and no<\/em> matches exactly what they intend to do\u2014anything else comes straight from the evil one. That Statement of Faith that a person signs to belong to Group A or Group B is their \u201cYes, I agree\u201d and a change in belief should now be reflected in the agreement so that the individual should go elsewhere.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No Signed Confession Means No Reason For Division<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Absent a required agreement with a statement of faith, if the churches are biblically faithful, especially if both churches leave the topic of baptism as a non-essentially held<\/a> doctrine in either position, there is no Biblical reason to divide<\/strong>. One might have to learn to love. One might have to learn to share their opinion without fighting. One might even have to learn to be convicted without trying to dissuade others. All of these have good Biblical grounding: be it welcoming those who we think are weak in faith (Romans 14:1), not judging fellow believers (Romans 14:10-13), careful in listening (James 1:9), even keeping the matter as a conviction before God (Romans 14:22-23), while striving for peace (Hebrews 12:14).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Okay forget the hypothetical now. We know plenty of gatherings that have unwritten rules (like suits must be worn on Sundays, or dark dresses by the ladies), but are they confessions of faith? In some cases, those things might be the elements of personal freedom that are sacrificed out of love for others (1 Corinthians 9).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, none of this is to be taken as a stance against having a confessional statement of faith. I think it\u2019s wise for a Christian assembly to look back to the ancient confessions to find the outlines of the non-negotiables (Check out the Apostle\u2019s Creed <\/a>or the Nicaean Creed as affirmed in Constantinople<\/a>). Reading those creeds, Christians will find that outside of the non-negotiables, there is a ton of freedom. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With that ton of freedom comes very little room to just up and leave where you are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wise Questions to Ask Before Dividing From a Local Church<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Usually, at this point, someone will say \u201cokay, fine, there is no legitimate Biblical reason to go to another church, but in light of everything you just said, are there wise reasons to leave a church?\u201d Absolutely there are wise reasons. I don\u2019t think people will like my answers, though.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In today\u2019s world, there is no Group-A and Group-B church which are identical in all ways except for one doctrine. There are gradations of concerns and topics that need to be considered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is a slew of questions. These are all questions of wisdom and not doctrine. These questions are much more important than questions people usually ask (do they have a music style I like, is the preaching short and exciting, and so on). Some of these questions are never asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n