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Joe Winters: Church Unity
My topic for senior thesis is Church unity, that God can only "be" one thing, and so if one person believes one thing, and another person believes a different thing, then by necessity, at least one of them is wrong. My working thesis is this: While personal convictions in a relationship with Christ are at the heart of the Christian faith, realistically, the church is not unified in the eyes of people who see its endless categories, denominations and aggravating disputes and divisions, including those made over personal preference (the worship was too loud, the preaching wasn't done well), and seeing as small theological issues (the foundations for most of these divisions and disputes) are on a "your guess is as good as mine" basis, the primary concern of modern Christians should be to present a unified front for the unsaved world. I'm most "excited" about my source The Blue Parakeet by Scot McKnight, which focuses on how people defend their misinterpretations (guesses) about the Bible.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Nathan Winters on -
Joe,
You say "the primary concern of modern Christians should be to present a unified front for the unsaved world." Okay. Does this mean the chief task of our unity is outreach/evangelism? If so, where does transformation of the Believer fall? And where does representation of the character of God fall (i.e. the "unity" of God)? I'm really looking forward to your findings on this superb thesis!
Nate Winters
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Permalink Reply by Robyn Burlew on -
Joe, your topic is of great importance, particularly as American Christianity has such individualistic/consumeristic tendencies. Will you deal with this only in the context of American culture or will you also explore how the Church has dealt with differences of belief throughout the ages and in other areas of the world? In other words, how much leeway has the historical church given its members and how does the American church compare in that regard? Do you plan to deal with how the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers can be miscontrued? I will look forward to following your work on this!
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Permalink Reply by Jesse Hake on -
Joe, this is about the most challenging topic you could come up with in my opinion, and I agree heartily that "the primary concern of modern Christians should be to present a unified front for the unsaved world." I'm excited that your are interested in this painful state of affairs in the church today, and I look forward to hearing more. My own hunch is that the careful definition of some very old-fashioned words like creed, confession, orthodoxy, heresy and apostasy would go a long way in the project of understanding (or advancing) church unity. When talking/thinking about the church, it's also helpful to note that assessing groups of God's people (like congregations, denominations or broad traditions) is different from assessing individual Christians.
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Permalink Reply by Rebecca James on -
Joe,
Great subject! Did you go to the 1 BC event that theConnectionMinistries put on at the Civil War Museum? Your thesis has the underpinnings of why theConnection Ministries formed. Let of know if we can be a resource to you.
Mrs. James
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Permalink Reply by Grant Durrell on -
Joe,
I've thought a lot about this issue over the years. It's an ideal that seems so simple in theory, yet it has proved impossible to achieve. The Catholic church ridiculed Luther, saying that his "Sola Scriptura" ideology would lead to endless divisions of the church. Luther did not disagree. Rather, he said, "So be it." Better that, than no gospel at all. The Catholic church has managed to remain relatively unified through the centuries, yet this unity has come at a very high price (most people tend to conform pretty quickly when the other option involves being tied to a stake and torched to death). Though the issues you mention seem to be geared towards minor theological issues within the church, it has proved impossible to reach a consensus as to what constitutes a major theological issue or a minor one. With no centralized authority to decide, it's every man (with a Bible) for himself. What's more, it's hard enough to keep a church together whose members agree on the "basics." Church splits occur regularly over what we might consider "non-theological" issues (though some would argue that every issue at root is a theological issue). I'm interested to see how you progress as you delve into your source material.
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