SOME CHURCH ARITHMETIC
Church Arithmetic Problem # 1: Can one person anywhere in the world today hear, believe, and obey the gospel, and become just a Christian without joining any denomination? If one person can do that, can two people do that? Can ten? Can 100? Can 100 people in a given geographical area who have become Christians only without joining any denomination organize themselves into a congregation and begin reading and studying the Scriptures on their own, committing themselves to following the Scriptures in all things to the best of their ability, worshiping as the Scriptures instruct, governing themselves as the New Testament instructs, committing themselves to living and serving others as the Bible instructs, and disciplining themselves and correcting themselves wherein they fall short in anyway either personally or as a congregation?
If there could be one such congregation, could there be two? Could there be ten such congregations? 100? Could there be an indefinite number of such congregations, made up entirely of people who had only heard, believed, and obeyed the gospel, becoming Christians only without ever joining any denomination? What is your answer to this "church arithmetic problem"?
Church Arithmetic Problem # 2: According to sources such as the Center for the Study of Global Christianity, the World Christian Database, and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, there are an estimated 45,000 professing Christian denominations around the globe. The Protestant Reformation in the 16thcentury led to the establishment of many different denominations who challenged the authority of the Catholic Church. Professing Christian denominations in different parts of the world have adapted their beliefs and practices to the social and cultural context in which they exist, leading to further divisions. For example, there are twenty-four denominations within the Catholic Church.
The Lutheran Church was the first protestant denomination and was founded by the followers of Martin Luther in c. 1530. Think about that for a moment. Christianity had been in the world for 1500 years before the first protestant denomination was ever established! How did the world get along for so long without a single one of the protestant denominations that we have today? Today, there are over forty different Lutheran denominations in the United States alone.
The World Methodist Council represents eighty Methodist-related denominations, but there are additional Methodist denominations that are not a part of this Council. There are dozens of different kinds of Presbyterian Churches, especially in the United States. There are more than fifty different kinds of Baptist denominations. There are hundreds of Pentecostal denominations. Many of them are part of the World Pentecostal Fellowship. On and on we could go, talking about the many denominations that exist in the world today. (The above information is available online from the sources named in the first paragraph of this section).
Now, here is my question: What if we started with the last denomination that was established and removed it from the thousands of denominations in existence? Would we destroy Christianity by taking away that denomination? Remember, we had Christianity before that last denomination was ever established. Now, let us proceed back to the next one, then the next, then the next—all the way back to the first one. Would we destroy Christianity by doing away with all the protestant denominations? Again, remember that we had Christianity hundreds of years before we ever had even the first protestant church.
What if we then went about dismantling the Catholic Church with all its elaborate hierarchy, topped off by the pope? What if we removed every rite, ritual, doctrine, and practice in the Catholic Church that could not be substantiated by inspired scripture? What if we moved all the way back to the days of the New Testament and the church that existed then under the direction of the inspired apostles of Christ? What if we did only what people did in New Testament times to be Christians? What if we believed and taught only that for which we could find Bible authority?
What if the people who had been members of all the various protestant denominations and the two billion plus Catholics decided they would just be Christians only without denominational affiliation? Would we not then have "one body (not multiplied thousands), one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith (not hundreds of thousands), one baptism (not many), one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all"? (Ephesians 4:4-6). Does not this passage affirm that there is but one body (which is the church, Ephesians 1:22-23), one faith, and one baptism, just as it affirms that there is one but Lord, one Spirit, one hope, and one God? Based on this passage, would it not make just as much sense to ask which God do you believe in, which Lord do you serve, which Holy Spirit dwells in you, which hope do you have as to ask which church are you a member of, of what faith are you, or of which "mode" were you baptized? Biblically, is there not just one of each of these? Why can we not all be one in Christ just as He prayed in John 17:20-21? Why can we not just be the church of which we read in the New Testament? What is your answer to this "church arithmetic problem"?
Note: I am not so naive as to think that all denominational churches [Catholic or Protestant] will ever go out of existence. What is possible, however, is for those who are members of such man-originated churches to leave them and determine to be Christians only without denominational affiliation and without the doctrines, traditions, beliefs, and ceremonies not sanctioned by the Bible.
Church Arithmetic Problem # 3: Suppose an evangelist comes to a town somewhere in America and preaches only the gospel of Christ and what it requires of one to be saved from sin and become a Christian. Suppose that 400 people respond to the gospel, doing exactly what people did in the Book of Acts to be saved and made Christians. At the end of the meeting/revival, 100 join denomination A, 100 join denomination B, and 100 hundred join denomination C. However, the remaining 100 join no denomination, but resolve to meet together on the Lord's Day (Sunday) to study the Scriptures and to follow them in all things pertaining to Christian living, the worship of God, and the structure to which they should adhere as a congregation devoted to Christ and His will. Can that be done in today's world? What is your answer to this "church arithmetic problem"? Note: The last group, the ones who joined no denomination but chose to remain an autonomous congregation of Christians only, is a microcosm of what all faithful churches of Christ are today. We have no denominational hierarchy or headquarters. We have no human creed or catechism. We wear no denominational name. Our worship is in accordance with the way Christians worshiped in New Testament times. We seek to live as Christ has taught us to live. To the casual and uninformed observer, conditioned by a denominational mindset, this last group, on the surface, may look very much like those in Denominations A, B, and C. But to those acquainted with the Scriptures, it would be known that these people were not a denomination but just simply Christians, members of the one spiritual body of Christ, the church of which we read in the New Testament.
