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THE LORD Jesus Christ preaches the Gospel of the Kingdom of heaven. It is one Kingdom. And He promises to build His Church. It is one Church which is found in every continent, nation, city, town, village and cottage.
Thus, Paul, the apostle, writes that “there is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (Ephesians 4:5-7).
You see, there is one body, the Church. It is one Church Jesus Christ declares to build (Matthew 16:18). The Lord never promises to build different churches with different traditions to create divisions leading to competitions, hatred, jealousy and selfishness. It is no wonder that Jesus prays for His disciples to be one (John 17: 11).
It must be emphasised that, here, Jesus is not praying for the creation of one world religion, but one Church with members united in mind and heart by the one Holy Spirit.
Christ teaches His disciples to see themselves as brothers and sisters in realisation that they are members of one family with a strong relationship in Him.
Unfortunately, however, over one thousand different Christian groups called denominations each with different names, doctrines, traditions, beliefs and practices that set them apart exist today.
Catholic, Adventist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Methodist, Pentecost and Assemblies of God are examples of these denominations.
Consequently, today, brotherhood and sisterhood in Christianity is truly defined in terms of denominations to which believers belong and not in terms of their common faith in Christ Jesus.
That is why one Christian says I am a proud member of the Catholic Church, while another says I belong to the Methodist Church. This is something that never existed in the early Church.
Denominationalism is a very dangerous thing as it creates divisions in the Church against the will of Christ. When Paul noticed that a form of denominationalism was setting in the Corinthian Church, he quickly stepped in to stop it (1 Corinthians 3:4-9).
In March, 2023, I sent Brother Michael Florida Asante, my son in the Lord, to distribute flyers to local churches in Kumasi for a leadership conference. He was given a cold reception when the leaders of the churches he visited realised that he was not part of their denominations.
In fact, an Assemblies of God pastor first asked him if he were a member of the Assemblies of God. And when he answered in the negative, the pastor began to pay less attention to him, and he left.
Again, In 2016, when I went to the Ramsyer Presbyterian Church at Adum, Kumasi, to discuss the possibility of launching my book at their Conference Hall, I was first asked if I were a Presbyterian minister.
Special attention, warm reception and preferential treatment is always given to members of the same denomination. In other words, denominationalism influences churches to be partial, discriminatory and nepotistic.
Moreover, denominationalism suppresses the freedom of individual ministers to express their views on erroneous doctrines, traditions, beliefs, and practices. Those who dare to speak are ex-communicated or denied certain benefits. Thus, denominationalism compels ministers to tolerate wrongdoing.
It also makes churches to be proud, selfish, self-centred, inward-looking, unloving and above all divisive. How possible it is for a Pentecostal minister to be invited to minister in the Catholic Church and vice-versa? And how easy it is for one local church from a denomination to hold a programme in another local church of another denomination?
Denominations ask their ministers to propagate, protect and defend their visions, missions, traditions, beliefs locally and internationally instead of Christ Jesus. This is why many pastors do nothing to defend the Gospel but do everything humanly possible to defend their traditions.
This is not what Christ Jesus wants. The Lord desires to build one Church with many branches everywhere filled with love and faith as well as bound by the same doctrines, beliefs and practices. That is why He prayed for His followers to be one.
By James Quansah
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James Quansah is the Executive Director of Christ-Conscious Leadership Centre (CLC) and lead Pastor of End-Time Christ’s Commissioners (ECC), Kumasi, Ghana. James is also a journalist by profession. He is married with four children.
