A swath of commonality

When you look at the church landscape in the US and around the world, it's a mosaic of multiple languages, cultures, ethnicities, lirtugical leanings, architectural styles, and ministry emphases. There are denominations, associations, independent churches. Some have a local congregational government, others are ruled by bishops, others are regulated by representative judicatories. There are churches spaced all along the political and ideological spectrum. A tremendous array of distinctiveness is presented to the person desiring to "choose a church." In North America, for instance, you can share in the small and intimate fellowship of a house church, or participate with throngs of others in a megachurch, or find a place in a church somewhere in between. And it isn't too much to say that each and every one of these Christian congregations has its own unique personality, its own approach to ministry, its own niche in the Body of Christ.

Yet with all this particularity there is also an amazing commonality. The Bible puts it this way: there are many parts, but one body. And all the parts are essential, none is of greater or lesser significance. For while churches are different, we affirm the scriptural perspective that there is 'one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all.' The huge swath of commonality that binds us all together is our faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and our commitment to the gospel of Christ.

So hooray for difference and distinctiveness and particularity! Far from the weakness some perceive this be, I see it as evidence of divine creativity and the limitless opportunities to respond to God's call. But we rejoice even more in the unity that Christ alone brings!

There are those who see the variety of church expressions and doctrinal diversity as hindrances to evangelism. Maybe, to some degree. But I personally believe, in this postmodern era, that unique responses to the grace of God are the clearest testimony that Christian faith fits no cookie-cutter mold and is based, ultimately, on the personal relationship with Jesus Christ.