Are you a Protestant? Presbyterian? Baptist? Charismatic? Pentecostal? Catholic?

Does it matter?

There are six major ecclesiastico-cultural mega blocs of denominations that stem to no less than 33,000 smaller blocs of denominations in the Christian faith. That's a lot of different ideologies, doctrines and belief systems.

We think of how different we are as individuals and as denominations and view it as a problem. But is it really a problem that we're all different?

We can view differences as either a cause for disagreement or as a source of completeness in that we all serve different purposes.

Unity, Not Uniformity

1 Corinthians 12:12 can teach us a thing or two about being different: "For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ."

We are all different members and parts of the body of Christ and we all serve a function and belong to the body.

I like how verse 17 puts the whole idea of differences this way: "If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?"

What this basically means is that we need to be different from one another. Diversity is necessary to the body of Christ functioning in the way that God would have it.

What we need is not uniformity, but unity, and the way we achieve this is by being one in Christ even when we are not one in giftings. It doesn't matter if we're part of different denominations as long as we point to the sole and only way, which is Christ.

Giftings, Not Identity

I am not saying that all denominations are right and every single one is justified. Yes, there are doctrinal issues in many of the existing denominations, but there are also numerous denominations that have sound doctrine. And in one sense or another, don't we all get God wrong in one way or another?

But in our weaknesses and shortcomings, another member of the body can strengthen us. If you're an eye, you need ears. If you're the foot, you need hands. If you're a church called into the realm of worship, you need a church strong in discipleship. You may have problems with counselling, but you can offer help to other denominations that aren't strong in the area of your spiritual giftings.

The bottom line is that our giftings are there not to give us identity, but to support the one big identity we all carry: the identity given to us by Christ as sons and daughters and citizens of the kingdom of God. That's something we can all agree on. With Jesus as our banner, denominations can be united as one.