Disagreements Within the Church

The Christian church today is separated by so many denominations, and it is important that the church seeks to grow in unity, apart from this separation. Thus, on the personal levels, local levels, and also the worldwide level, Christians should learn to strive to come closer together. Of course, theoretically, one way of doing this is for all Christians to agree on every single issue. Obviously, however, that will not happen any time soon, if ever. Therefore, we should strive to unite even with our theological differences. The question is, though, how.
Are non-denominational churches the answer? Should Christians simply just go to non-denominational churches and keep unity in that way. The answer is probably not so black and white. We should strive for unity, and sometimes non-denominational churches have good answers. They will often focus on your relationship with God, and how that flows into corporate fellowship with others.
But at the same time, these churches often tend to focus more on the personal side to things, as opposed to the corporate side of things. This is not really all that good. Corporate worship is not just about a "nice emotion" but rather Christians coming together in a covenant renewal service with God. Private prayer and family prayer is important, but church worship requires church prayer, and that, perhaps, can be the most precious, and effective form of prayer- when all God’s people are praying a common prayer to God on High.
Denominational churches may can help bring unity through the fact that most the people have common agreement on different theological issues, such as church worship. In this day of time, even though denominations seem to divide the church, having denominations may be the best long term answer, because it gives churches opportunity to make their conclusions, and the churches with best conclusions, and as churches grow with better conclusions, we may, in the long run, come to common agreement on the issues. However this is only done through certain measures.
The first, as strange as this may seem to you, is to find the line between church acceptance and church rejection. This sounds like it defeats the purpose of unity. If done wrongly, it probably does. If done rightly, it shows where common ground lies, and gives us a good starting point for the next step (see as you read below). Homosexuality, extreme liberal Christianity, and evolutionary ideas are all issues that should be addressed at some level, as to what is accepted and what is rejected. I personally do not feel as if homosexuality, for example, is favored, or even really tolerated by God. I believe it is a very bad sin. However, for the church to say that every homosexual is absolutely not a Christian, the church is making a strong statement, and the issues, even to a ‘conservative’ Christian as myself would no longer be so black and white. If a homosexual claimed that Jesus has saved him, do you use the ‘hate the sin love the sinner’ approach and try to help him with his sin? Do you accept him for what he is, and not delve into his personal life? Or do you totally reject him from the church altogether? If you do the latter, is this done by the local church or the church as a whole? I do not claim to have all the answers, but sometimes raising the right questions, not having all the right answers, is the best help. I hope that the church can find a way to find unity on answering these questions.
The second action we should take, at a personal level, and a local church level, and ultimately through the whole church, is kind of the coming out of the first action. It is to find common ground. Both of these really go together. What is something every Christian agrees on? That question is a good starting point, at least, to this issue. Christians believe in God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. A Christian believes that these are three persons of one God. A Christian believes that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh, and died on the cross to save us, mankind, who are all fallen sinners, who are, in and of ourselves, short of the glory of God. A Christian also believes that God in this day, reveals Himself to the world through His word, the Holy Bible. These are what I call the "Christian absolutes." They are absolutely true to all Christians.
Therefore as Christians, we should strive to remain catholic to these believes. I do not mean ‘catholic’ as in Roman Catholic, but as in universal. We should keep our unity, above all else and if nothing else, on these facts, as one Holy catholic and apostolic church. We are one, universal, and God-serving. From these common grounds, we can usually find some other common ground somewhere. Even two Christians who have many disagreements, probably have a lot that they agree on as well.
Another measure, and what I would consider next, is that different churches, both of the same and of different denominations, should have fellowship with each other. There is nothing greater than God’s people being together, whether for corporate worship in a sanctuary, or worshiping God through fellowship i.e. mercy ministries, feasting, or just being together as Christian friends. Going to different churches will not only allow Christians to have good time, not only give glory to God through Christian community, but also help ease burden of differences between churches, by not only finding common ground, but acting upon it in events of fellowship.
The fourth action I feel the church should take is to fund the church worldwide. Christians (at least in the general traditional order), should give 10% of their income to the work of the church, particularly their local church. However, most of the money, and not out of bad intentions and I don’t feel out of bad results, simply go to funding the Pastor, and funding the bills to pay on the church building and property. However, a portion of that money should go to funding local mercy ministries, as well as worldwide organizations and missionaries. Giving privately beyond the basic 10% to organizations and missionaries is also good. God Himself does not need money because He is all powerful. However, God does use human measures to support the work of His kingdom, such as money. It is our job to do our job, and God will take care of the rest. What better way to spend our money than on the strengthening and prospering of God’s kingdom?!
The next action to take, is to take part in friendly debate. I am not against debate if it is in good meaning and good action. The debate should be kept in the mindset of the above actions such as finding common ground. Good, fair, open, and above all, God-centered debate can be very good. Each side may wind up learning something from the other side.
Above all, the last but certainly not least action for the church to take, at a personal, local, especially universal level, is to worship. The gathering of multiple saints of God is such a glorious and Holy experience, probably far more so than a personal time which is very important in itself. We should find our common ground, and then worship. Glory to God, Holy Holy Holy, and Christ is risen, should be our theme. We should worship in spirit and in truth; in our service to God, and in expecting Him to make us whole, complete, forgiven, and joyful. The worship of the church, perhaps, is the best way to cure disagreements and any hard feelings within the universal, holy catholic and apostolic Christian church. Although I said toward the beginning of this post, that it may be best in this day to have different denominations in our differences, this should only happen under the ultimate goal that one day we will be united, not by an over ruling dictator to the whole church, infringing on personal life, but in unity in worship, doctrine, and fellowship.
Of course, worship like prayer is to be done in the right way. There are no absolute rules to worship or prayer, other than to worship. But what is corporate worship, and how do we obtain a full experience, with both emotional revivalism, and rationalistic doctrine? For a good blog on this, you may can look at the blog Rationalism and Revivalism by Jerry Hampton. Just click on the following link below: http://thehampster.blogspot.com/2007/02/rationalism-and-revivalism.html

Another good link to go to is the blog, Debating Doctrine by Cliff Prosser. Just go to the link below:
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=130099894&blogID=203363138&MyToken=1c058778-8d90-425c-82ba-5279afc49de8
I will also try to write on the issue soon, possibly very soon, and possibly still a while, depending on my time and so forth. Thank you, and God bless the work of the church.