The United Church of Africa- A Church beyond Denominations

The House of Prayer for all Nations;

Jesus makes reference to two passages of scripture in the bible. The first is Isaiah 56:7. I will bring them to my holy mountain of Jerusalem and will fill them with joy in my house of prayer. I will accept their burnt offerings and sacrifices, because my House/Temple shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.

The second is Mark 11:17, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’?”

God’s house is the house of prayer for all nations and God is the God of all Nations. Revelation 7:9  “After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.”

Today is the time for religious leaders in Africa through their councils to start advocating for a united church in Africa? Isn’t it time to say no to denominations, to say no to divisions among the people of the same God?

The measure of any church, whether inside or out of a denomination, is not how it is organized nor what name it is called, but rather how faithfully it adheres to the teachings of the Word of God. No church is inerrant, because churches are made of people who are capable of error. Even the apostles, with all the gifts God gave them, were not without error. Paul records in Galatians 2:11 that “when Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong.” Peter, the first to give the gospel to a Gentile, gave in to pressure by the Judaizers to separate himself from Gentile believers. Paul’s ability to confront Peter was not based on his position as an apostle, but on the revealed truth of God’s Word. Paul complimented the believers in Berea (Acts 17:11) for checking his own teaching against the Bible to find out if he was telling them straight doctrine.

With an increasing number of interracial and intercultural marriages, frequently between two people of differing religious beliefs, the diversity that can be found within a no-denominational church can be very attractive to those who don’t feel comfortable in the old, conventional religious divisions.

There is truth in a sense that the Christian church was always meant to be non-denominational. There are no such divisions within the Bible itself, certainly; a passage from Paul’s letters to the Romans in the New Testament claims that the Bible offers salvation to everyone who believes in it. It is also true that the church was always supposed to be united under God, rather than divided into different sects. It is clearly seen that each denomination’s traditions and beliefs serve to distract people from the messages and moral principles espoused by Christianity, and thus do more harm than good. Many of the tenets of these denominations have no roots in the Bible at all, but rather in tradition and decrees by their governing bodies, or principles held by their founders.

With this in mind, it can hardly be surprising that Christians today can read the Bible and follow the same logic that Martin Luther himself did; it is possible to be a true Christian without wanting to participate in denomination rituals and politics. While it is true that many denominations were founded in good faith and with the best of intentions for following the word of God, most of their foundations are in nature not of Christianity and the Bible itself.

The biggest mistake by religions in Africa- Dividing a people that God already united through his son Jesus Christ

Why denominational divisions among believers of the same God, followers of the same savior Jesus Christ (save for Muslims), seekers of the same Kingdom. How many Heavenly kingdoms are wee seeking? If we believe that we are all seeking for the same Kingdom of God, then why divide ourselves? Is there any logic for taking different directions while going to the same destination? Or shall we find in heaven Catholics in their own kingdom, Anglicans in their own kingdom, the Pentecostals, Orthodox and SDAs alike?

Look at the way Christians take the sacrament of Holy Communion; and other sacraments alike. A catholic cant share in the Holy Communion administered by an Anglican priest, and an Anglican can’t share in the Holy Communion administered by a Catholic Priest, and none of the mainstream denominations will accept a Pentecostal to share in the same Holy Communion. What is Holy Communion? Holy Communion is simply sharing of the body and blood of Jesus Christ; the same Jesus Christ who died for us all. A catholic Priest cannot baptize an Anglican child, and if it happened the Anglican Church will re-baptize this person in order to accept this person in the church. Is it necessary? Is it important?

But, how did it begin? How is this divisionism on denomination lines growing and affecting people who are meant to be one? I did not study history, but I am an interested follower of history. History tells us that in Africa there were no denominations from the beginning until the coming of European religious missionaries. However, this didn’t mean that there were no religion in Africa; religion was there and Africans knew that there was God and they all glorified this one God. As it is written in the bible that ‘‘a fool says in his heart that there is no God’’, in African tradition there were no such a fool. In my Kinyankole culture everyone knew that there was God, they called him Ruhanga Kazooba Nyamuhanga; Kazooba (the one above the sun), Nyamuhanga (the creator of all things). And each culture glorified God the creator in their customs and traditions. Until the Religious missionaries from Europe came with different denominations and Africans were given a challenge to choose which religion to follow based on incentives such as education, health services and political power; these divisions continued to grow into what we see today.

Is it necessary to continue with these religious divisions in Africa even today? I don’t go to Europe and probably I would not want to; but a question for our religious leaders who have moved to Europe and who have seen religion in Europe, is it necessary for us as Africans to continue being divided along the religious divisions which we got from Europe? They came, they divided us, they achieved their missions and it ended. Do we then have to continue dividing ourselves as African Christians along those religious lines?

Here we ask; who are the promoters of these divisions in Africa today? The Europeans introduced these divisions and left, who are the promoters of the same divisions today? The reality is that it’s not the believers in our churches at the centre of these divisions, but our leaders are. Several times I see for example Pentecostal pastors invited into Anglican families to conduct prayers. I see many Anglicans and Catholics from up country going to the capital city to have prayers with powerful Pentecostal pastors. I see Anglicans, Pentecostals and Muslims going to Bukarango (a catholic prayer mountain). Certainly, believers do that because they don’t see these divisions as important; they see Jesus at work in all the prayer places. But, do the believers do all this with the consent of their leaders? Can an Anglican Bishop or Priest go for prayers at Bukarango? Haven’t believers been rebuked by their leaders for going into Pentecostal churches to meet prophets and other prayer warriors?

Do we remember John: 17? So, do we still have authority to claim that we are one? Isn’t this deception? How do we become one when we can’t serve each other, when we can’t share sacraments such as Holy Communion? Do we then believe that by holding communal National prayers and through councils makes us one, when an Anglican leader thinks it’s a mistake for Anglicans to attend prayers at Bukarango? What would happen for example if there is a Catholic priest who takes his daily morning prayers from the Anglican Church? Or an Anglican priest who goes to the nearest Pentecostal church for morning prayers every day?

I have been moving a lot within this country, and wherever I find a church and depending on the faith of the people am with I feel comfortable attending a mass from any Christian church. All the time I feel the togetherness, I feel loved, I learn new things and bring glory to the Lord. But there come time for Holy Communion in a Catholic Church; it’s time to realize that I am not one of them; probably that Jesus whose body and blood they are sharing is not the same Jesus who died for me. ‘‘How I pray that they may be one’’. See how they introduce visitors in the Anglican Church, ‘‘Visitors from other faiths’’. How many faiths, is it not one faith in Jesus Christ our savior?

How do these religious divisions affect our society today? It has led denominations to stick to their own things and refusing to be part of those things that belong to other denominations such as educational institutions, financial institutions and other developments. For instance, at the beginning of this year I met my friend who was struggling to get a place for his son at St Josephs Secondary School, a Catholic founded school and a good school in the region. Unless a child has a Catholic name or a rosary in the neck or introduced with a recommendation from a Catholic leader it will be difficult to be admitted in this school.

See in our communities how Anglican parents can’t put their children in a nearby good Catholic primary school and their children must walk the distance to an Anglican school even if it is not so a good school. Is that how we become one under the same God as followers of the same Jesus Christ?

Recently I was invited to attend a meeting of Old Students of my Secondary School. During our time 1993-1998 the school had grown to over 1000 students. It was the best performing school in the entire district both at O and A levels. During that time we knew it was an Anglican founded school because we used to see Rev Canons from Anglican Church were then the leaders of the school governing body, they used to come there to conduct masses and to give us Holy Communion. Now the school is Catholic founded after very hard struggles which have left the school in a dire mess. The school now has an enrolment of less than 500, no more first grade at both O level and A level. It is hard to blame these struggles at the followers of the Anglican and Catholic denominations, but the very leaders of these denominations are to blame.  Leaders serving the same God, following the same Jesus, seeking the same Kingdom dividing a community that was originally united under one God.

‘‘How I pray that they may be one’’; by continuing in these divisions are we not ignoring God’s call on oneness? How does Jesus feel about these divisions among Christians? He must be feeling the same way you would feel as a parent if you had in your house children who do not believe in your instructions and each one is taking their own instructions which are not in line with the values of the family.

Recently, I found a group of our staffs at work place in a conversation about denominations. One of them asked, what is the difference between Catholic Church and Anglican Church? The other replied that the difference is that Catholics do not consider beer or alcohol as a sin where as Anglicans consider the taking of beer as one of the major sins in the life of a believer. A third person asked ‘‘what is the percentage of members who take and those who don’t take beer in the Anglican Church’’? They all agreed that it’s about 10% for those who don’t take beer and 90% for those who take beer among the Anglicans. Then one concluded that if taking beer is sin, the Anglican Church is built by sinners on the basis that the Church is highly built by the 90% than the 10%.  It was a very tough argument, the rest part of it I can’t go into now. But, look at this, beer being a cause for division among the Anglican and Catholic Christian believers.

What is the meaning of the word denomination any way?

The most literal analysis of the word “denomination” shows that it is the very definition of division. In fact, this is how Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary defines the word. It can easily be reasoned that, by their very nature, denominations promote division among a religion that is supposed to be united, as one, under the same God. Even as far back in history as the sixteenth century, there were people like Martin Luther, the theological scholar and founder of the Protestant reformation, who believed that the existence of denominationalism went against biblical purposes. 

Conclusion:

We cannot continue to have our churches (houses of God) serving just a section of people who believe in that particular denomination and neglecting others who don’t belong to the same denomination. We can follow John: 17 and become one. Jesus makes reference to two passages of scripture in the bible. The first is Isaiah 56:7, ‘‘I will bring them to my holy mountain of Jerusalem and will fill them with joy in my house of prayer. I will accept their burnt offerings and sacrifices, because my House/Temple shall be called a house of prayer for all nations’’. The second is Mark 11:17, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’?” How then, shall it be a house of all nations if it continues to divide nations along denominational differences? God’s house is the house of prayer for all nations and God is the God of all Nations. Revelation 7:9  “After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb”.