Welcome to the "front porch."
I want us to begin a search throughout this year into the history of the church. You may find this to be a delicate subject, and we do not want to be narrow-minded in such a study. I want to stress that point, even though sometimes the Bible does demand that we be strict in a good number of things. But still, we – and that includes me – need to be open-minded, especially when it comes to understanding the Bible. We cannot close our minds to Bible truths just because we have always believed something. Perhaps we all have come to “such a time as this” to encourage us to take a good, long, hard look at ourselves and where we stand.
There is a question I think of often about the churches around us, and I’m sure you think of it, too: Why is it that we have so many denominations in the world? That, really, is a fair question, even though most, probably, never investigate it. But we need to address it.
To begin, we all understand that the Lord builds one church. Jesus comes to earth to build that church (Matthew 16:18), and she is such a precious institution that the apostle calls her the Lord’s lovely bride, one “without spot or wrinkle” (Ephesians 5:26). The Bible is filled with various metaphors that point to that one church – a temple, a body, etc. – but the most beautiful has to be the bride metaphor. Of course, in addition to the beauty of it, the metaphor reminds us of the singularity of the church. And, as is the case with any bride, it reminds us that Jesus’ bride should wear His name, and only His name.
We are glad that the church of the New Testament remains united as one throughout the first century. Oh, heresies arise from every side all through the early church, but the apostles keep the unity of the church of Christ intact. The church continues to follow the “apostles’ doctrine” (Acts 2:42) and remains one undivided body. Although men made many attempts, the church does not undergo divisions and divide into denominations as we see them today.
So, how did all the denominations we have today originate? When do they start, who started each of them, and what was their purpose in the first place? – The questions, you see, are almost endless.
Seeking the answers to the questions is not without risk. When we begin to search for those answers, we put the church of which we are a member to the test. But that's a good thing. The best way to be sure we are a member of the right church is to put our beliefs and practices to that test. The way we do that is simply to take the Bible in hand and, carefully and meticulously, study to see what we can read in God’s Word – and practice that, and only that. In that way, we would not have to filter through hundreds of denominations to determine which one is right.
--Attempts to return to the Bible around 1800
We can jump way ahead in history to near 1800 when a number of men arise and do that very thing. They take their Bibles in their hands and undergo a search for the church of the New Testament. From different parts of the country and Europe, they begin examining the churches of which they are members. What they find is that many of their practices do not fit with what they were reading in the Bible. They see that their denominations have man-made creeds, human councils by which to organize the church, as well as teaching, titles, and practices foreign to the Word of God.
So, slowly, they break away from them and begin the somewhat long path of trying to restore New Testament Christianity. We are interested in the actions of the men and women who were involved in such a movement for a number of reasons, but especially for this one: What happened between A.D. 33 to 1800 that necessitated denominations such as the ones these men were members to arise in the first place?
Stay tuned – buckle your seatbelts – to see where the search for that answer will take us.
Thanks for this week’s ‘front porch’ visit. God bless!
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