I recently found this video which is beginning to go viral. Despite being filmed in 2007 the video contains music and synthesizers from the early 90’s and a dance routine from the decade earlier. But the dance solo from 2:00 onwards is probably the highlight.
A little digging online and I discovered that the producers of this clip ‘The Way International‘ is a cult. Further digging on their website and Wikipedia confirmed this. But then I asked myself, ‘What’s the basic difference between a ‘Cult’ and a ‘Denomination’?’
Tim Challies has a helpful look, but to summarise here are his four points of a cult: Add, Subtract, Divide, Multiply.
Add – Cults add to the Bible. And what they add is seen as authoritative. So while a Denomination like the Presbyterians holds firmly to the Westminster Confession of Faith and Anglicans have their Common Book of Prayer these are not given the same authority as Scripture. However, groups like the Jehovah’s Witnesses and their ‘Watchtower Organisation’ and the Mormon’s ‘The book of Mormon’ are both seen as just as authoritative or more authoritative than the Bible.
Subtract – Cults take away from Jesus. It’s always something – for JW’s Jesus is not the Son of God, but Michael the Archangel. For Mormon’s Jesus is not the pre-existent Son of God, but a created being. For Oneness Pentecostals Jesus is just a ‘mode’ of God. Whatever the case, the Jesus of Scripture is diminished.
Divide – Cults divide the loyalty of believers. Each cult believes it has exclusive revelation and understanding of the truth and ensures that its followers are just as exclusive. No-one outside of their cult will be saved. Denominations will disagree on important (but secondary) matters – such as the mode of baptism – but denominations will never argue that the believers in their church are the only ones who are saved.
Multiply – this is the most pernicious mark of a cult: they multiply the requirements of salvation. Salvation in a cult is never ‘by faith alone’ – but always in addition to some human effort. Thus every cult rejects the heart of the gospel.
A cult doesn’t need all of these marks to be ticked in order to be classified as a cult – though most major cults usually have all marks. And by these definitions one could logically argue that Catholicism is also a cult since the Church includes ‘Tradition’ and the ‘Pope’ as authorities alongside the Bible and multiplies the requirements of salvation (to include good works). I have good friends who believe so and I find it hard to argue against – suffice to say that the usual term ‘cult’ is a lot more restrictive and specific in common usage so as to not include Catholicism.
So what about denominations? Well, having been at a Presbyterian Bible College now for the past year and a bit I’ve now become a lot more educated as to the inner workings of the Presbyterian denomination. I’m no expert, nor do I intend to take any Presbyterian specific classes in the course of my degree, but I know I have a much better insight than I did prior to beginning my studies. So here’s a short list of things I think each denomination differs on:
Church Governance – each denomination has a slightly different methods of governing their church. Some have a strong hierarchical, ‘top-down’, system of governance where power lies in one main person. The Anglicans follow this system and it works well if the person at the top is a strong biblical leader (like the Sydney Anglicans) and is a disaster when the persona at the top is theologically liberal (like the Brisbane Anglicans).
The Presbyterian model of church governance vests its power in a Board of Elders which means there is greater theological accountability within the church. The only downside (as far as I can tell with my limited knowledge) is that things tend to move very slowly in this system and if Elders on the Board are not as theologically literate as others it can cause problems.
The final model of church governance is usually termed ‘congregational’ – where the power of decision making is vested in the congregation. Most independent churches and Baptist churches follow this form of church governance. The positives are that this system appears to be the most democratic, but the major negative of this form of governance is that not only is decision making painfully slow, but Pastors are often under the authority of the congregation. This has led some Pastors in some congregational circles to move towards a more ‘theologically light’/prosperity laden gospel in order to seek approval of members.
No system of governance is perfect nor is one more biblical over the other. Each have positives and negatives.
Baptism – each denomination has generally one of two views: believer baptism as a Sacrament of Faith, or infant baptism as a Sacrament of Grace.
For Baptist, Methodist and most Independent churches baptism has been viewed as a Sacrament of Faith – an act performed by those mature enough to understand the Gospel and profess Jesus as Lord and Saviour.
For Anglican, Presbyterian and Lutheran churches baptism has been viewed as Sacrament of Grace – an act performed on infants as a symbol of the free gift of grace each Christian receives (for the infant has done nothing to deserve this Grace). Evangelical churches which practice infant baptism stress that this Sacrament of Grace is not a means of salvation and must be coupled with the proclamation of the Gospel and an affirmation from the believer at some point.
Catholic infant baptism is different on its own. In Catholicism baptism washes the stain of sin from the infant – and if that infant should grow, perform good works/penance/confession and attend Mass regularly then they will have done enough to receive (or earn) salvation.
In conclusion, these differences play an important part in church life. But while these differences mean apparent separation and distinctiveness, we should be careful to note that at the end of the day each denomination (not counting Catholicism as I think Catholicism is a different animal altogether) is divided over ‘secondary issues’, that is to say that no core issue of the centrality of the Gospel is being fought over. Secondary matters of baptism, church governance and other non-essential issues of interpretation have given rise to various denominations globally. But the unity of the church remains.
Check out ‘The Gospel Coalition‘ and ‘Together for the Gospel‘ for two organisations/conferences built upon this idea of unity within diversity.
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