The head of the world’s largest group of Reformed churches says that the body of Christ is rendering its own peace message ineffective because of internal divisions and strife at a time when persistent threats to global peace and security make the quest for Christian unity more urgent than ever.
Setri Nyomi, General Secretary of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, made the comments on Tuesday in an address to more than 1,000 Christians at the "Civilization of Peace: Faiths and Cultures in Dialogue" conference in Nicosia, Cyprus.
“Does the church have a moral voice or credibility when our divisions are so visible?” he asked.
“How can churches and church bodies foster world peace, peace among nations and peace within nations, when there is no peace among themselves, or when injustices that are so much at the heart of conflicts in the world are also found among us?”
Nyomi said that the Church’s ability to speak credibly and prophetically on issues of peace and justice was at stake if it failed to reconcile its differences.
“If we are not united, we are breaking with the Lord of the church, and we are making it difficult for the world to believe,” he said, reminding delegates of Christ’s prayer that his followers would become one.
Nyomi noted that many churches and faith communities had taken action to express their concern amid conflicts.
“Peace and security within and between nations is under great threat. Christian churches and faith communities are very concerned about these situations and many of us have made statements and taken actions that show our concern and commitment to see peaceful resolutions in these conflicts,” he said.
“At the same time, we are saddened by the visible signs of division – including new divisions that have occurred – and how the church continues to be threatened by division, not so much on doctrinal lines but on ideological and ethical lines."
“When we spend our energy on what divides us, we are taken away from work on Christian unity and on our contributing to peace among nations," the reformed leader added.
Nyomi pointed to the successful role ecumenical organizations were playing as peace builders through their work in areas like economic injustice, poverty, disease and environmental care.
“Our ability to be credible in doing so will be greatly enhanced by our commitment to responding to our Lord’s calling to Christian unity,” he said.
Nyomi and the other religious leaders present concluded the conference by signing an appeal for peace that was later presented to Cypriot political leaders.
“We share a common global destiny: either we live together in peace or we perish. War is never inevitable and it piles up ruins even in the hearts of winners,” it stated.
RSS
dicipled_monarch, the Law isn't the reason for divisions in the church. There are a number of reasons. The Bible says sometimes separation is right (but not nearly as many reasons as the strict independent, fundamentalists think). Please do not be simplistic.
The division is caused by the different interpretations of the Law. But the law has no place in christianity and it was never ment to. Christianity is the study of the teachings of Jesus who we claim as the Christ. The Apostle Paul taught that the Law was inaffective untill Peter approached him on the subject saying "we have many Jewish converts who still cling to the Law and you preaching against the Law is causing division and asked if he would be cleansed with them for 5 days so he would be more accepted by the Jewish Christians. Now that same law is used to point fingers at each other. No one even at the most perfect minute of their life has ever been close to being good enough to pass judgement by the law. If the law was enough we would not need Christ. But Christ teaches us understanding that causes us to obay the law automatically by changing the way we think. We who understand accept all who seek the understanding of Christ as brothers and sisters in Christ not expecting perfection but allowing them to grow in understanding as we did.
United Body of Christ ***comming soon***
DelightntheLord
You have said....
"As Christians we were never intended to establish the Kingdom here on earth by uniting under a banner of a form of Christianity"
And Jesus said....
Mat 6:10 Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.
The Kingdom of God is not of this world, but preparation for the Kingdom is.
This is the witness we are to have before the rest of the world.
Our differences should help us to draw closer to God, not the world.
Second, he also mentioned the churchs role to speak prophetically on issues of peace and justice but I must ask; where do we read in Scripture that the Church will unite or convert the world/culture in these last days? Can someone share with me a biblical revelation on this? On the contrary the Scriptures do speak of an emergent global system that will oppose and usurp Gods authority and will also impose/legislate its false beliefs upon all of humanity (Revelation 13 & 17). So, again where do we read that the church will usher in global peace? Could this be the (strong delusion) spoken of in 2 Thessalonians 2:11; time will tell?
Oh, I almost forgot, when John chapter 17 is used to support church unity, let us not forget to read it in its context.
Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth (John 17:17).
And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth (John 17:19).
(Nyomi said that the Churchs ability to speak credibly and prophetically on issues of peace and justice was at stake if it failed to reconcile its differences)
There are a couple of assumptions made by Nyomi in this article; first he states that Christians cannot speak credibly unless they reconcile its differences (wait), has not our credible witness always been the gospel of Jesus Christ as taught through the Scriptures; salvation through his grace received by faith? Beloved, let us not be deceived, we need to ask, what kind of unity are we referring to? On what basis should we unite? For we are witnessing the emergence of a pluralistic gospel where love and unity is the central issue, this is not enough; we also need truth.
In this ecumenical movement; how do they define and instruct their followers to understand grace, faith, salvation, the scriptures, and authority? I guess time will reveal how this will all come together but look for compromise; unfortunately, at this point, liberal Protestants appear to be the only ones willing to accommodate.
Had alot of frog lately, huh?
ug, frog...again?
There will be unity of the church on this earth but not for Christ's sake...it will be a satanic miracle that will unite a worldly church without the True Christ.
As Christians we were never intended to establish the Kingdom here on earth by uniting under a banner of a form of Christianity.
We are told to share the Gospel...let God establish His Kingdom.
What's for dinnner?
Yeah, yum, frog.
"So how can there be unity?"
Well, first you take a frog.
Place in pot of lukewarm water.
Turn heat up slowly (caution: turning heat up too fast may cause frog to jump.)
Boil until frog becomes complacent.
Remove frog, allow to cool.
Season to taste.
The Church bave battles within as well as without.
The issues that divide are very Important.
How can there be unity with those who preach " Christ and " Or " Christ plus."
It is not Christ plus Mary. It is Christ period.
How can there be unity with those within who support Abortion,? The killing of unborn Babies.
How can there be unity with those within who support same sex unions.? When God says it is an Abomination.
Ther does need to be unity, But it must be unity centered around Christ and His Word.
You cannot seperate God and His Word.
And Doctrine is very Important. Without Doctrine you don't have any Word.
there can be unity when there is common ground and that ground is Christ and HIM crucified. anything docturnal should be weighed on that, besides when the world needs the church to shine why are we instead of dividing over that stuff, what's going to happen when Christ comes back and calls us to meet HIM in the air are some going to stay behind for doctrine sake??
According to the Council of Trent non Catholics are anathema. So how can there be unity?
john kennedy established the peace corp to help other nations help themselves ( the church will say that 'helping yourself' is unbiblical/humanistic ). the reason why there is strife & division within the church about world peace is bec. arrogance & self righteousness prevail in the church today. they mistaken arrogance & selfrighteousness as filled with the holy spirit bec. when they are rebuked, they are insulted so they do not know what humility is or when you disagree with those 'pharisees' in the church, they will label you names to incite guilt, shame, blame fear. humility starts with the person but in order to have that they should understand what humility is. but todays answer to world peace is to use murder, killing & perservation of self interest. they use position, power & money as a way to project their 'holiness.' then they distract the real issues of economic justice, poverty with abortion & gay marriages.
JESUS IS LORD. I believe you believe. If GOD gives us all wisdom and revelation then why are we arguing "docturnal issues" . Let us take a stand together against the kingdom of darkness and uphold the teachings of JESUS. What he said is plain and clear what's to be in disagreement about.
fg, I agree we need to be working together, but there are some doctrinal issues that we dare not compromise on and in those cases we need to be willing to agree to disagree and stay focused on those issues such as abortion that we can freely work together on putting an end to.
Praise God for this article! Satan knows that "a house divided against itself cannot stand," so he's doing everything he can to divide Christianity, any way possible.
All of us in Christianity are fallen but forgiven, broken but beautiful in God's eyes. God understands our struggles, yet we struggle to accept others in the body of Christ.
Catholics need Protestants, Protestants need Catholics and we all need Jesus.
"Let them be perfectly one so that the world may know that you sent Me." -John 17:21