Christian-oneness.org, declaring the unity of the Church

Mission Statement

The mission of Christian-oneness.org is to:

1. Promote reconciliation and oneness in the Body of Christ;

2. Emphasize areas of agreement in the Church;

3. Promote careful study of the Scriptures, the source and declaration of our unity;

4. Encourage careful thought and rational discussion concerning those issues of doctrine and practice that have created or division in the Body or have been used to justify the continuation of division;

5. Encourage unified prayer;

6. Encourage unified action in loving service and in presentation of the Gospel to the world.

Introduction: Unity in the Body

All Christians -- all who are truly in Christ -- are one body, and are already united, regardless of denominational labels and historic rivalries within the visible church. This site declares this fundamental Christian unity and seeks to encourage believers to act in conformity with the oneness they already possess.

Christ is not divided, and it is only in the unity of his Body and the love of its members for each other that those outside Him can truly see that God loves them and sent Jesus for them. John 17:20-24; I Corinthians 1:10-13. Like everything else Jesus has done for us,the unity of His body is already complete - we have already been reconciled in one Body to God through the cross. Ephesians 2:16; John 19:30. Jesus is already the head of a single Body just as surely as he is the firstborn from the dead. Colossians 1:18. Therefore, there is no need for any of us to make Church unity happen; rather, we only need to permit the Holy Spirit to make visible through us that harmony which already exists. Moreover, while the great power of the Church during the First Century of the current era is often explained merely by observing that the Apostles were present at that time, it should not be overlooked that this era of real power was also marked by a visible oneness which has not been seen in later times. See, e.g., Acts 1:14, 2:1, 2:42-47, 4:32-33, 11:18, 13:1-3. Indeed, the disappearance of miraculous events from the Church correlates at least as well with the appearance of visible division within it as it does with the disappearance of the Apostles.

The body of Christ at present is marked by many divisions - denominational, national, cultural. Yet there can be no doubt that most of the people on Earth who name the name of Christ as their Savior name the same Jesus I do and are my brothers, regardless of the denominational labels they wear.

Nevertheless, even the names by which we collectively identify ourselves bear the marks of the unnecessary wars -- both theological and military -- of past centuries. For example, throughout my life I have been associated with churches which are not a part of the organization which calls itself "Catholic." Instead, I am and have been a member of organizations which are descended from groups that protested certain Catholic practices 500 years ago, protests which led to more than a century of wars in Europe. Therefore, by traditional terminology my church organizations and I are called Protestants. Yet I myself do not "protest" anything about my Roman Catholic brethren and I welcome them. However, the last 500 years of history, and the separate development of sectarian doctrines and the blood foolishly shed during those years have pulled our organizations violently apart. For this reason the practices of the church organizations in which I have spent my life differ from Catholic practices to such an extent that I might not be entirely comfortable in Catholic services, and vice versa. However, Jesus still prayed for our oneness, His blood still unifies us and the same Holy Spirit works in all believers, regardless of whether we acknowledge it.

The late Pope John Paul II, in the 1995 encyclical Ut unum sint ("That they may be one"), took the very large and commendable step of recognizing that some outside the Catholic fellowship are true Christians and have manifested the Holy Spirit at times in ways Catholics have not. The late Pope's emphases on recognizing that Christ has one Body in spite of the doctrinal and historical divisions we have placed in it, and upon the practical recognition of our Christian unity through joining together in prayer with those in other fellowships, also appear to me to be exactly correct. I understand that the current Pope, Benedict XVI, has declared his agreement with his predecessor in this area, and plans to actively pursue reconciliation. Clearly, the "Protestant" (I hate that term) community as a whole should reciprocate by recognizing the Spirit at work within the Catholic fellowship and also among "protestants" in groups other than our own. We should also reciprocate by joining our brethren from other denominational organizations in prayer. It's time to end the wars of the Reformation.

It is also clear that many of the theological disputes which have for centuries moved Jesus' brethren to distrust, hate and kill each other are primarily semantic. That is, many disagreements concern whether this sect's term or that sect's semantic formulation for a truth is correct. Usually, in fact, both of the sects in an argument are at least close to the real underlying truth, though possibly arriving there from opposite directions, but neither sect can understand this because each is too securely wed to its own terminology.

Moreover, far too many of the disputes which have shed blood in the Body of Christ have involved minor points of doctrine, matters of ceremony, matters of church government or, still worse, matters of worldly politics or loyalty to worldly governments. However, while such matters may have great impact on the way the individual believer lives and relates to the organized church, they have little relevance to the real content of the Gospel.

Nevertheless, theology texts generally, with only a very few exceptions, emphasize denominational "distinctives," the doctrines which set the author's denomination apart from other sects. These points of division also tend to be the focus of lay teaching materials and preaching. However, these sectarian markers usually involve only minor points and semantic distinctions. To a large degree, it is these minor and contrived disputes which have been the historic battlegrounds between God's people.

Moreover, those disputes which involve something more than minor points would resolve into much less hate-provoking controversies if denominational language designed to emphasize controversy were eliminated from the statement of them. Discussion could then proceed from the points of agreement rather than the points of contention.

Christian-oneness.org

Mission Statement

Introduction: Unity in the Body

Christian-oneness.org Site Index

Systematic Theology by Ian Johnson, a work in progress

Comparison of Modern Evangelism to the New Testament Models

Christian Links.

Site disclosures.

Pursuing Oneness in Christ, by Lauston Stephens

Seeking Joint Authors for Three Books about Christian unity.

The Christian-oneness.org Family of Sites

Common Divisive Fallacies, reasoning errors that lead to division.

A conciliatory approach to tongues.

The Radical Rejection of Politics as a means of promoting the Gospel.

A call to Worship.

Prophecies for America.

Call to prayer for Christians in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Kansas State Board of Education and Evolution, letters regarding pantheism and the rights of dissenters.

Unified Topeka Evangelism.

Our addresses