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What Denomination Are We? The other day, Regena, the children, and I were working outside the church building. A man and his son were walking by when he asked "What denomination are you guys?" I told him that we are not a denomination but a group of Christians. To this he replied that he was planning on coming to services the next day. I noticed that neither he nor his son were in attendance that Sunday. The fact is most of our neighbors have no idea of what we mean when we say we are not a denomination. The commonly held view is that every church is a part of some denomination. This is because they view the body of Christ as being made up of various denominations. Since each denomination is a part of Christ's body, they are all equal. Therefore, it does not matter if one is a member of the local fellowship Church, or a member of the neighborhood Church down the street. Since each denomination is a part of Christ and each teaches a different doctrine, the doctrine does not really matter. You and I can shop around for the doctrine we like the best. The fallacy is that Christ's body is composed of denominations. The fact is Christ did not establish but one church, Matthew 16.18. Notice that the church is also called the body of Christ. "And He is the head of the body, the church" (Colossians 1.18). Think of it this way. How many heads did Jesus have? Answer is obviously, one. How many bodies did Jesus have? Again the answer is one! Since the church is His body there can be only one true church. That church was established on the Day of Pentecost as people obeyed the Gospel, Acts 2.47. That church had only one doctrine and only one head. We are not a denomination because we have no other doctrine except that delivered by the Holy Spirit to the Apostles, John 16.13. We are baptized for the remission of sins into the body of Christ, Acts 2.38, Galatians 3.26-27. We go by no other name except that mentioned in the Bible, Acts 11.26. Until we get our neighbors to understand that denominationalism is contrary to New Testament teaching we will not be successful in converting them. -- Dennis Tucker
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