Enemies and Conflicts 4 - Conflicts of the Church ...

Thursday, Oct 29, 2009. Today we need to talk about conflicts which arise within the church and between churches. Church history has been rich in conflicts between believers and between church members. In fact, a good part of the New Testament was written to deal with such early conflicts. The letters of the apostle Paul are full of thoughts how to deal with conflicting ideas and goals, with traditions which were difficult to fit together.

The first conflict within the Christian church arose when people who were not Jewish came to faith in Jesus Christ. Recall: Jesus was a Jew and he claimed to be sent to the Jewish people. His mission and message was an integral part of Jewish traditions. He was the Messiah, the “son of men” who was announced by the prophets. He was the son of David, the savior and king, who was said to come and lead the people of God for all times. But Jesus also sent his people to “all the nations of the earth”, to call and lead all people to faith. So soon there were many non-Jewish people entering the church. They had their own background, a Roman or Greek tradition. Should they become Jews first to then come to faith in Christ? Did they need to take over the Jewish traditions? The clear answer was given at the first council of the apostles in Jerusalem, it was a “no”. People who were not Jews are not needed to take over Jewish traditions to become Christians. By God's grace in Jesus they are all accepted into the family of God without following the law, without circumcision and without Jewish customs.

We had a first conflict between churches right there in Jerusalem, in the time where the New Testament is written. Jewish people are our brothers and sisters, since they have been shaped by God's word and God's power over many centuries. They have been given the Old Testament and all the great prophets have been Jewish people. As Christians we sometimes have difficulties to fully appreciate this role. The Jewish people are God's people, still today, and as such they are our brothers and sisters in a far reaching sense.

There are countless church conflicts which arose over time. The orthodox churches split from the Roman-catholic church (or vice versa, depending on your view point) around 1100 BC. There were questions of authority which led to this split. Then, the goals to reform a church which had lost much of its purpose around 1500 BC led to the split between the Roman-catholic church and the churches of the reformation. Today there are many evangelical churches throughout the world, Lutheran and Presbyterian, Baptist and Methodist, Pentecostal and Charismatic. Of course it is part of such conflicts that you will find conflicting interpretations, why a church arose and why it was necessary to follow a new path (or the old path from which one or the other institution departed). Often, after some years with new people in each of the churches these conflicts have changed, but the different traditions and decisions then shaped churches of different appearance.

There are many remaining conflicts today in and between our Christian churches. On the other hand there is a growing sense of unity. We all belong to each other by faith in Jesus, the Christ. I do not want to equalize or neglect the deep questions of theology, which are under discussion between the churches. Also, in church practice there are different ways which will be difficult to put together into one single style. Over the years a very rich set of worship styles and service structures have been developed and practiced in the different churches. But we all have one single Lord, which is Jesus. We all are drawn to him, to follow him, to learn from him and to live in his truth and love.

The conflicts between and in the churches today are a challenge to all of us. Let us approach this challenge with sincerity, love, patience and by talking to each other calmly. Solutions will be found when we start to understand each other, when we listen first and then talk. There are many issues of faith, where solutions will not be easy at all. The conflicts are real conflicts, deep conflicts which go right into the heart of Christianity. What exactly is true in faith? How to read the bible? What is fact and what is a tool of communication? We will need God's spirit to resolve the issues and to find answers to many questions asked by the people of our time. But God is there and he can and will guide us and help us. [R.W.E.P., jesusnetwork.eu]

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