Is a Liberal Super Denomination Coming?

In the prayer for Church unity, we petition : "O gracious Father, we humbly beseech thee for thy holy Catholic church; that thou wouldst be pleased to fill it with all truth, in all peace. Where it is corrupt, purify it; where it is in error, direct it; where in anything it is amiss, reform it. Where it is right, establish it; where it is in want, provide for it; where it is divided, reunite it; for the sake of him who died and rose again, and ever liveth to make intercession for us, Jesus Christ, thy Son, our Lord. Amen." and many of us feel that the unity of the Church would be a great accomplishment, but this seems to allude us. The whys and how's of missing the mark as numerous and for the most part "straw splitting", but many cling to them and make them a condition of any such unity.

There may be an exception to some form of unity and many of you may not like to hear this, but here it comes - The liberal revisionists are better suited and capable of unity into a super denomination than any traditional/orthodox Christian adherents are. Now, many of you may have noticed that I speak very little of what happens in other denominations or communions or church bodies and with good reason, C.S. Lewis advised that we should be kind to those who have "chosen other doors" or "remain in the hall" as long as they "follow the rules common to the whole house" well, I feel that these liberal revisionists are exiting the house and heading for the tree lawn.

This Summer we have read, heard and seen the news of some denominations accepting heterodox practices and doctrines always justifying the changes using ominous words like "inclusive" or "justice". It is this switch in priorities that may give them the common ground and vision to unite, under a banner of social justice, forgetting that social justice has always been a part of Christianity, though subordinate to the Churches primary functions of preaching the Gospel of Christ and the administration of the Sacraments.

Imagine if you will that two or three of these bodies that have embraced heterodoxy, find that since they no longer have roots in Scripture or Creeds or even confessional documents, they can unite under the idolatry of Humanism or Secularism or "Justice" and drag a Cross, some clerical vestments and even a (sometimes defective) line of apostolic succession with them, it would have all of the trappings of a liturgical Christian communion without all that messy stuff like sin and repentance. Now add to that lowering attendance, emptying coffers and the cost of maintaining property and the prospects of merger become more enticing.

This could happen right here in the USA and in the near future, The Episcopal Church, The Evangelical Lutheran Church, The United Church of Christ, The United Methodist Church and the Presbyterian Church USA, most of which have some form of intercommunion, could find themselves aligned in a confederation. These denominations would share resources and clergy and may in time become one body with one polity. It is not likely that whole denominations may join this cluster, certainly many of the most liberal congregations or clergy would, which in turn could lead some denominations back to orthodoxy or cause them to fragment even more.

What if this super denomination where to grow and spread, even drawing the liberal fringe members of the Roman or Orthodox communions? This could cause further damage to the Body of Christ and usher in more heresies and further polarize it into a rival religion, drawing in the Unitarian-Universalists and the moral relevance crowd, further destroying any Christian identity that the member "Churches" had.

In a small twist this scenario could benefit many orthodox denominations or jurisdictions in that it may drive faithful people from the revisionist dominated bodies their way and bolster those Churches, but I am afraid that the trend to drift away from Christianity or I should say organized Christianity, is more likely the result. If orthodox Christians could drop their posturing and pretense and would work together to rescue those cast adrift or who do not want to be part of a political action committee disguised as a Church, than it is all to the good.

Let us pray that those who find themselves in such a predicament will not be lead further astray by false teachers (2 Peter 2:1) and they be no longer children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine made to deceive (Ephesians 4:14); and these faithful will find themselves in the arms of orthodox congregations ready continue in the faith which was once delivered unto the saints (Jude 1:3). Amen.

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