And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. Colossians 3:15 KJV
With the myriads of churches of like faith in one community, we can hardly say we are one Body. If the doctrine is the same in ten churches within a few miles of each other nine are redundant and are a waste of resources and manpower. Disunity is of the devil. Yes, we must separate from doctrinal error/heresy, but from what I have experienced and been told about that is not why many, if not most, were started.
Whether Asbury was a real revival or not remains to be seen. Revivals bring a change is God's people and people get saved in the neighborhood, not just at the meeting. Community life gets disrupted and churches get filled. Doctrinal error is corrected and often the most ardent atheist and even practitioners of the occult are saved. Interestingly, one of the ten recorded things that happen during a revival is Christians change how they dress.
Indeed, a real revival will bring people into unity so that they can worship in one building with no need to have many buildings or starting another. The constant planting of churches in the same town is the machinations of men or the pride of men. They become a corral for wandering sheep more than a nursery for newborn babes in Christ.
If the peace of God is actually ruling there will be peace in the Church as well.
Psalm 133:1 A Song of degrees of David. Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!
2 It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments;
3 As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.
With all of the division. it is no wonder we lack power to change the neighborhood, let alone the world. Jesus prayed that we would be one as He and the Father of one thus each time we split over carnal things we rebuke that prayer and miss the mark of our calling.
Ephesians 4:1 I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,
2 With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;
3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;
5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
Unnecessary division is not peace and it is not the work of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit unites the Body with truth, not music preferences or rituals.
Ephesians 4:12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
Leaders are supposed to be training the congregation to do the work of the ministry and not pew warmers or armchair quarterbacks. Indeed, we have created a voyeuristic Christianity where the majority come to watch the minority do most of the ministry and are often verse fourteen Christians.
They are also to bring us into the unity of the faith. If we are united in faith and walking in the Spirit we will all be speaking the same thing and have no need for division.
1 Corinthians 1:10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
11 For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.
If we are in the same mind we will leave division behind and there will be church mergers and not splits. Like Paul, church planters will look for places where there are no churches not become a "brand" competing with an already established and vibrant work.
If you read further in the chapter, you will see little has changed. You just need to replace the names.
1 Corinthians 1:12 Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.
13 Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?
I am of Calvin. I am of Arminius. I am of Victory Peace Chapel. I am of 1st Baptist, etc. etc. Note that Victory Peace Chapel may be a Baptist church in hiding. It may be Charismatic or not and maybe even a cult. Names mean very little these days.
I was an Assistant Pastor at an urban cowboy church called Country Church. Non-denominational name but it was a Southern Baptist Church. You did not know that until the fourth week of the new member class. Scratch the surface of many churches with vanilla names and you will find that they are like that one either by affiliation or doctrine. There really is no such thing as a non-denominational church.
There may be seven Baptist or "non-"denom" churches within ten miles of each other. Most are small and any new members are from one of the other churches where they got disgruntled over something trivial, but there is little to no evangelistic outreach. If the building closed tomorrow the town would not notice.
We are not in an age where we can afford to have our little country club churches or only one Book club. It is not about us and our petty preferences. It is His kingdom we are to build, not ours. We must unite, not fight, but we unite in truth so we can stand in and for the truth. Maranatha!!
