How To Be A Cult.

Sometimes I worry about the tendency of some christians to be so rigid about the perceived failings of other churches that they feel afraid or dismissive of any other group than the one they belong to.

This takes a variety of forms. For example, one pastor I know refuses to have any fellowship with pastors from other denominations because they don't "pray right". Another pastor worries about who would choose a speaker for a combined outreach because he might not like someone that somebody else invites (implication being I'm the only one I can trust to know who is suitable). At theological college some of my fellow students used to decry a group called "Sydney Anglicans" while all the time imitating the behaviours they scorned.

At the extreme end of this we find those pastors who discourage any contact with other churches because they "have a spirit over them." Personal tragedies have been ascribed to people attending playgroups run by other churches- what a great way to impose guilt and dependency on vulnerable people!

And of course at the other extreme are the cult-watchers who claim that they are trying to prevent people from falling under the sway of such controlling, manipulative people, but who in fact use their own forms of control to keep people in fear of being led astray. One cult watching web-site has an online questionnaire to help people determine if their church is in fact a cult. I was quite amused to find that I was in danger of leading myself astray and needed to be very careful!

We need to remember that there is just one church, one Body of Christ. Any one congregation or denomination does not have the monopoly on God's truth. We all need each other.

I can see tendencies in other churches which I might think are not helpful in bringing people to maturity in their faith. I can also see limitations in my own ministry and congregation.  On the other hand those churches have great strengths that I admire.

You can take a single sermon from any preacher and interpret it in such a way as to appear heretical.

But these are people and groups of people for whom Jesus died. They, like me, are less than perfect, but that does not mean I should protect myself from their influence.

Yes, I can ensure that I know the Bible well enough to measure a particular doctrine or practice against it. But I don't need to cut myself off from all fellowship with all believers who fall outside a narrow belief paradigm.

To do that would turn me into a cult!

Let's live together in harmony and fellowship with one another, accepting that there is a great diversity of belief and practice that can be called biblical.

Let's learn to bless one another not to curse and judge.

Let's learn to approach others with the same graciousness that Christ has shown to us.

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