I saw this link on Terry Laudette"s blog, A Disciple's Thoughts about a theological survey that selects which church you would fit into the best. (To take the survey for yourself go to SelectSmart.com it only takes about 5 minutes.) My results were somewhat unanticipated. While I expected for it to place Church of Christ near the top the surprising part to me was the percentage results. These represent the degree to which your thoughts agree with the general views of each particular church.
Here are my results:
(100%) 1: Church of Christ
(77%) 2: Methodist/Wesleyan/Nazarene
(75%) 3: Congregational/United Church of Christ
(64%) 4: Lutheran
(62%) 5: Anabaptist (Mennonite/Quaker etc.)
(62%) 6: Baptist (Reformed/Particular/Calvinistic)
(57%) 7: Eastern Orthodox
(57%) 8: Anglican/Episcopal/Church of England
(54%) 9: Presbyterian/Reformed
(53%) 10: Pentecostal/Charismatic/Assemblies of God
(48%) 11: Baptist (non-Calvinistic)/Plymouth Brethren/Fundamentalist
(46%) 12: Roman Catholic
(40%) 13: Seventh-Day Adventist
If you notice, with all except three, I agree over half the time and with two of those (48% and 46%) it's very close. The only church listed with which I have serious differences was Seventh-Day Adventist at 40%.
You could interpret these results in several ways I guess but my immediate reaction was surprise at the high degree of compatibility. Many people would say that the things we don't agree on with these other churches are non-negotiable items (i.e. baptism) and therefore the gulf of disagreement is wider than it would first appear. While I am fully aware of the major tenants of belief within these various groups I still stand amazed at the level of agreement.
Too often when making comparisons we stress differences instead of items of compatibility. This tactic is only useful for trying to "win" people over to your certain group, that is why we see this tactic used so often in politics. In matters of religion the discussion often goes down in similar manner to this, "We believe this about baptism and Church B believes something different, therefore there can be no unity between the two." We need to remember that we aren't called to win people to a church, we are called to win people to Christ.
When did we abandon the idea of unity? When did we decide that Jesus' prayer for unity in John 17:20-21 was unattainable? Jesus prays, "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 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 sot hat the world may believe that you have sent me."
Unity, according to Jesus, is attainable and until he tells us to abandon his desire in this, we should work toward this unity. No one claims that it can be done overnight but the more we work toward unity the better we are. True followers of Christ have nothing to fear from the process of unity because truth will be revealed. We merely need to open our bible and open our hearts in a genuine desire to know God's will. Will change in certain areas take place? Certainly, but only as directed by the will of God through the bible.
All Christians should be willing to abandon tradition, and openly work toward unity.
church of Christ
Posts
