Common "Denominator"

What denomination are you?  I was posed this question recently.  It is a question that makes me cringe.  I do not cringe because I am ashamed of my denomination, I cringe because of what the word denomination has done to the church of Christ over the years.  Our church, Belleview Community Church is a part of The Evangelical Church headquartered in Minneapolis, MN.  We are first and foremost Christians whose headquarters is Heaven.  I have been a part of a few different denominations in my lifetime.  For almost 30 years I was a Free Will Baptist, I have worked with youth in Nazarene churches and Free Methodist churches as well.  For some of these denominations, I have gotten a gist of how the denominations work.  The dangerous enemy of the body of Christ is not worldliness, the dangerous enemy of the body of Christ is its people.  Please understand that I am not against denominations, I am against what it has done.  It has deeply divided the body of Christ and has damaged the testimony of so many churches. I can’t tell you how often I have attended meetings or listened to other pastors spend so much energy in fighting with other leaders and pastors within the denomination over trivial issues or fight with other denominations because they simply don’t agree with their interpretations.  Our focus is to edify the Christ and his saving grace.  “Angry” sermons are being preached when people genuinely need to see the love of God instead of us venting our frustrations about denominations, ours or theirs..  People deal with enough fighting in the week they do not need to deal with it when they come into the house of God.  They want to see Christ.  Just recently I read a pastor’s share his sermon which was obviously done in an eisegesis method instead of the more proper exegetical message.  To understand the difference between the two is to understand that the eisegesis approach is when the speaker or preacher interjects his own ideas into the text.  The Bible does not need your ideas interjected, to do so will only diminish its authority, value, and truth. The people do not need to hear what we think we have to say, the people need to hear what the Bible has to say.  Yes denominations are different.  Yes, people within denominations will do things that we may not like or agree with.  Our goal is to exalt the love of Christ and evangelize those who need evangelization into the Kingdom of God.  There are a few denominational leaders in other denominations that have gone so far overboard to say that anyone else not in their camp are “hell bound”.  A few years back, after the publication of my book, I was looking to set up a table to advertise my book at a “denominational” conference.  I was told that they do not deal with outsiders. I recently read this passage of Scripture from Galatians:

For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:27, New American Standard)

We are all one in Christ.  Whether we are Baptists, Methodists, Evangelicals, Pentecostals, or Nazarenes, the most important element of any person is a saving faith in Christ. It is not about denominational beliefs, it is about relationship with Christ.  Let us add to that number instead of trying to take away numbers from other denominations.  Focus on the cause of Christ instead of cursing other churches.  You build God’s kingdom by evangelizing the lost not shuffling sheep.