Why Denominationalism (Religious Division) Is Wrong

by Bryan Gibson

The religious world is divided. Thousands of different denominations exist today. Is that a good thing, or a bad thing? More importantly, is it God's will, or is it contrary to God's will? What we want to show in this article is that denominationalism is not a good thing; that it is contrary to God's will. Please consider carefully the following points: The way denominations are organized is foreign to the simple New Testament plan. A denomination is a group of congregations joined together under some governing body (conference, association, convention, in some cases, even an individual, etc.). By contrast, in the New Testament, local churches were never joined together to form anything larger. Each local church was independent from all others, each having its own elders (overseers, bishops, pastors). These elders were to oversee only the congregation of which they were members (Acts 20:17, 28; 1 Peter 5:1-2). The only authority to which these churches had to submit was the authority of Christ. 

Denominationalism is completely contrary to the message of the New Testament. It is contrary to the prayer of Jesus for unity among His followers (John 17:20-23). It is contrary to passages like 1 Corinthians 1:10-13; 3:1-4, where division among the people of God is clearly condemned. It is contrary to Jesus' purpose for dying on the cross, that being to break down the wall of division, to reconcile man to God in ONE body (Ephesians 2:14-16). 

Denominationalism is harmful to the cause of Christ. One of the reasons Jesus prayed that His followers might be united was so that "the world may also believe…" (John 17:21). We should not be surprised when unbelievers are slow to accept the gospel, when it comes from a divided religious world. In fact, atheists often use religious division as an excuse to not believe in God. Many people don't want to bother studying the Bible and learning God's will, because "so many different things are taught by so many different groups." Some turn to religions that do not believe in Jesus as the Son of God (like Islam, Judaism, etc.) because they see all the division among professed followers of Christ. We cannot escape the fact that denominationalism has brought a lot of harm to the cause of Christ. 

But is it even possible to serve the Lord without being a member of a denomination? It most certainly is. The Christians we read about in the New Testament served the Lord, many of them very faithfully, and they were not members of any denomination. In future articles, we want to talk about how that can still be done today.