As Christians, we seem to have become obsessed with pointing out the perceived faults, failures and heresies in churches other than their own. Too quickly we share our opinions on how Christians who do not agree with our own biblical, theological or social perspectives are misguided in their thinking and Christian practice. Such behavior has significantly hindered the work of the Church.
It has become clear to me, after 16 years of being involved in campus ministry, that Christians have often done more in teaching about what divides churches than teaching about how Christ unites us despite our differences. When young people leave their homes and churches to go away to college, they usually have to step out of their theological bubble and interact with other Christians (not to mention people of many other faiths).
Talk to any campus minister and they will share examples of how students will not participate in certain worship services for reasons such as, "communion is served every week," "they do not do music like my church," "it is too formal," "it is too contemporary," "there are too many fundamentalists," "there is a woman preacher," "there are too many mainliners," and the list could go on. I often joke that my role as a campus minister involves disappointing students on a regular basis due to our weekly services not being exactly like those of their home church.
I am trying to help students see first the beauty in churches other than their own. This can best happen when they have genuine friendships with those from other churches and choose to worship together with them. While we all may decide not to join a certain church for theological or other reasons, we still have much to learn from other Christians and churches.
Seeing the faults and failures in other churches is easy. It takes a spiritual maturity deeply rooted in our love for Christ and His Church for us to see and affirm the beauty in churches other than our own.
A humbling moment happened in my life recently when I realized that I, too, often fail in first seeing the beauty in other churches. My family and I had the opportunity to worship in a Pentecostal church. It was the first time my children (ages 14 and 10) experienced Pentecostal worship. The service was over two hours on a hot August day and the exuberance displayed in the worship of some in attendance was different than what my children were used to. On the ride home, all they were able to focus on was how long the service was and how the way some people were worshipping was a little strange to them.
In the past, I may have affirmed their points of view by saying, yes, we believe/worship differently and then discuss why. This time I asked, what were the great things about the service? There was a long pause, before my daughter eventually said, "they sang a Rend Collective song!"
That day I realized my primary responsibility was to teach my children about the beauty of the Pentecostal church. We talked about the beauty of Pentecostals trusting in the work of the Holy Spirit and explained how that was portrayed in their corporate worship. We talked about the beauty of them being deeply committed to prayer and how that specific congregation had been praying for the Chaplain search at Colgate University over several months, so in fact, they had been praying for our family!
Most recently we have had the opportunity to visit small country churches in central New York. Many say these churches are "dying," and in fact, some will soon be closed. But the Good News of Jesus Christ is being proclaimed and lived out in many of these small country churches. We believe it is important for our children to see the beautiful aspects of these churches and worship with the people who have called it their church home for decades.
Certainly we will have conversations when we explain why we choose to attend one church over others, but we can do so in way that does not put down or dismiss other churches. While there are some churches that proclaim a message that seems to be more rooted in hate than love, I do believe that most churches strive to faithfully proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ and call their people to live as Christ.
A prayer for my children and the students who call me their Chaplain is that they see all the beauty within the Body of Christ, which no one church or denomination can fully capture by itself.
Let us first see the beauty in Christ's Church and always remember, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" (Romans 10:15).