The Divided Church

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(This rather long page is a very brief overview of the history of division in the Church. It is by no means complete and may have to be, itself, divided to make it more accessible.]

Jesus brought to birth only one Church. The record of the earliest days of that Church are to be found in the Acts of the Apostles. There is no indication in the Bible that Jesus ever envisaged more than one Church. Of course, since that Church was to be taken to all nations, they could not all meet together in one place but they were intended to be united. Paul writes to the Church at Ephesus or the saints at Corinth but never to the Church of Ephesus or the Church of Corinth. He had no concept of denominations. ("We are all one in Christ Jesus" Gal 3:28). The Church of England  or the Roman  Catholic Church or the Moravian Brethren were, surely, never part of the vision of the early Church.

It is true, of course, that even in those early days there were disagreements about exactly what the Church should be like and about exactly what Christians should believe about God and his relationship to Jesus and where the Holy Spirit came in. Most of the time these differences were resolved. There were also differences about who could become a Christian. There were even arguments about favouritism between Jews and Gentiles. But to most of these problems Godly solutions were found.

Sometimes ideas arose which were not acceptable to the leaders of the Church. Some people believed that all Christians had to observe all the Jewish laws including those of circumcision and the dietry laws. This particular problem was solved at the Council in Jerusalem (Acts 15). However, some Jewish believers were evidently unable to accept the findings of that Council and formed break-away groups like the Nazarenes and the Ebionites. Other semi-Christian religions, like Gnosticism, also developed and were often mistaken for true Christianity

Nevertheless, the Church was virtually united during the early centuries. When heresies arose the mainstream of the Church was able to agree upon what was orthodox belief and what was not. When heresy became a danger to the Church's unity of belief the Creeds were devised as basic statements of what constituted orthodox or catholic belief. At the same time they were able to agree as to which writings were to be accepted in the Canon of Scripture that we now call the Bible.

From the fourth century the Church became an accepted institution within the Roman Empire. The Empire was divided into two main areas. The western empire was centred on Rome and Latin gradually became its main language. The eastern empire was centred on Constantinople and used Greek as its Lingua Franca. Gradually differences of style arose between the Church in the eastern empire, which was also centred at Constantinople, and the western Church based in Rome. Eventually, in 1054, the two parts of the Church excommunicated each other. This is known as the Great Schism. Eventually the Eastern Church claimed for itself the title "Orthodox" while the Western Church called itself "Catholic".

It would be wrong to suggest that all the Churches in the West had always been ruled from Rome. The Celtic Church in the British Isles had been founded in the second or third century. Although it remained in contact with the Church in Rome it developed its own styles and customs. After the Saxon invasions, the Celtic Church had to survive against a pagan background until the missionary endeavours brought Roman Christianity to the English. After the Synod of Whitby in 664, the Celtic Church gradually conformed to Roman customs and styles.

Corruption had entered the Church. By the early 16th Century corruption was rife. Many priests were unhappy about the situation but it was difficult to do anything about it because Rome, and the Pope, were so powerful. One of the corrupt practices of the time was the sale of "Indulgences". Indulgences were a kind of certificate which brought remission of the penalties of sin. Crudely this meant that people were able to buy forgiveness from the Church.

In 1517, Martin Luther, a German priest who had become convinced that forgiveness from sin can only come by faith, protested against indulgences and other Roman practices by nailing a document of protest to the door of Wittenberg's Church, the Schlosskirche. This contained 95 short articles and became known as the "95 Theses". This action, and the Church's reaction to it, sparked off the Protestant Reformation.

John Calvin, a French priest, broke away from the Roman Church in about 1533. His beliefs about Church reform were far more radical than those of Luther. Under Calvin the form of Church government changed from Episcopal (rule by Bishops) to Presbyterian (rule by Elders) and the liturgy of the Church became simpler.

At about this time, also, there were groups of Christians who insisted that Christians should be baptised as believers at an age when they could understand and decide for themselves. Because they re-baptised people who had already been baptised as children they were known as Anabaptists. This name was used to describe many different groups. A few of these groups were extremists which gave excuse to Catholics and Protestants alike to persecute all Anabaptists.

In England, Henry VIII had, at first, been against the reformation. He wrote a treatise condemning Luther and was awarded the title, "Defender of the Faith", by the Pope. Later, however, when he wished to divorce his first wife, Catherine of Arragon, the Pope refused to allow him a divorce (for political rather than theological reasons) and Henry allowed himself to be swayed into separation from Rome. He became, himself, head of the Church of England which remained largely Catholic. However, both Lutheran and Calvinist influences came to bear upon the Church. The 39 Articles of the Church of England and the Book of Common Prayer are both strongly Calvinist in outlook.

For many in England, and even more so in Scotland, the Church of England was not reformed enough. Many wished to follow the teachings of Calvin, not only in doctrine but also in practice and Church government. In Scotland, under John Knox, the reformation led to the establishment of a Prebyterian Church of Scotland and there were many Christians in England who desired to see the Church of England become Presbyterian also.

Even more radical in their desire to reform the Church were the "Separatists". They not only separated themselves from the Church of England, but they also believed that the Church and the state should be separated from each other. They rejected any idea of a National Church. They believed that each Church should be independently governed by its own congregation. They later became known as Congregationalists. It was from these independent congregations that most of the Pilgrim Fathers came. They embarked in the Mayflower in 1620, landing in Plymouth, New England, in the December of that year.

Some of the Independents came to agree with the Anabaptists about the need to baptise only adult believers. They were not, themselves, Anabaptist in other respects. Like the Congregationalists they were Calvinists in doctrine and congregationalist in Church government. One of the well known Baptists of that period was John Bunyan who suffered 12 years imprisonment and wrote, among many other works, The Pilgrim's Progress.

The Methodists, followers of John and Charles Wesley, found that their preaching of the Gospel landed them in trouble with the Church of England in which they were both ministers. They eventually, and reluctantly, left the Anglican Church and formed the Methodist Church. George Whitfield, also a Methodist, differed from the Wesleys in that he was a Calvinist whereas they were Arminianists.

William Booth was a Methodist Preacher who found that none of the Churches of his time were really reaching the poorest classes. He left the Methodist Church in 1861 and founded a revivalist mission simply called "The Christian Mission". He saw the mission in terms of a military campaign and it became known as the "Salvation Army".

The twentieth century has seen the birth of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements which will be chronicled elsewhere.