by Matthew Wireman

This article could be called simply, “I believe in one, holy, apostolic Church.” So much misinformation and fear has been stirred up among the uninformed as to what a Christian is and what he ought to affirm. When asked, “What must I do to be saved?” Paul and Silas responded, “Believe in the Lord Jesus!”

This was a Roman jailer. He did not know all the particulars of the Jewish faith. In fact, he probably had a lot of misconceptions of the one, true God. This is often overlooked because we put all our training and teaching into that phrase, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.” The call to be a Christian is simply submission to the lordship of Jesus. This is something that is declared but then learned.

I remember when I first start walking with God, I did not understand a good way to explain the Trinity. When I was leading a Bible study and was asked how to explain the Trinity, I gave a full-blown modalist answer! Did my desire to follow Jesus, my first declaration to believe become null and void because I did not understand the economies of the Persons of the One Being? I hope you would answer a resounding, “No.”

Is this not the essence of the life that Jesus called his disciples into? They left everything to follow this God-man—not knowing every single thing about his identity or ministry. They simply followed.

Now of course, it is not the declaration that brings the salvation. It is the belief. The submission to Jesus. To simply mouth the words does not a Christian make. It is from the overflow of the heart that the mouth speaks. So there can be no coerced conversion, nor can there be a fire insurance protocol without a desire to obey everything he has commanded. You just may not know everything he has commanded. As you learn, you obey. Such was I. After I gave my answer, I went and sought a better answer. And upon finding the historic declarations of the Trinity, my explanation changed.

So if this simple desire to follow Jesus is all that is required to be a Christian, this ought to inform our call to be in community with others with other outcroppings of that declaration.

The word “ecumenism” has got a bad rap over the last century or so. Pejoratives like “watered-down theology” or “lowest common denominator faith” have run amok. But as my oldest daughter sits in the next room working through her algebra of finding the least common denominator, I see there being a great wisdom and illustration for us.

First, we have to admit that we are fractured. Whatever denomination we are a part of, we do not have a corner on the market of truth. If we can’t start with that affirmation, then conversation is over because I will always be trying to win you over to my argument. A failure to distinguish the simplicity of faith in Jesus and the convictions and preferences that stem from that will result in an overcomplicating of the Gospel. An overcomplicating of the Gospel will result in a lack of trust in what the Gospel actually offers. That is, if you need to affirm A-Z in order to be saved, but then you find out about A.1.2, are you not truly saved because you cannot explain the particulars of how the human heart is converted?

Second, upon confessing that faith in Jesus is the converting moment (and not ascension to higher theological truths), then we can begin to see the beauty of the Body of Christ. When I was a missionary in Argentina and was trying to rally Christians to reach university students, I did not ask their denomination. I simply asked what their dream for reaching university students was. I asked them how they would like to do that. I asked how we could do that together. And we saw many come into a saving relationship with Jesus…and they didn’t end up at my church. This immaculate event happened because I first asked. I did not start with a prescribed method and theology that had to be adhered to. Instead, I started with the problem: Students made in the image of God need to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Third, I believe now more than ever in the United States (and the world) needs a reckoning. A “come-to-Jesus moment” as we say in the Southeast. For too long we have had the comfort of raising up our own seminaries for the many denominations in existence. This has been the fruit of a relatively comfortable and amenable relationship with the world at-large. But as trust has waned for the Church, each of our denominations need to feel the pain of Jesus’s Church being maligned and bruised and battered.

I believe there are tremors of a new and vibrant love for Jesus and his Church. I have heard the exasperation trans-denominationally. I have witnessed the desire for Christians to work together and ask the details later. The call to see men and women and children know the love and hope found in Jesus is too great to get caught up in our wheels of distinctions.

Allow me to offer a suggestion, at the risk the overly simplistic (but, hey, what’s good for the Paul and Silas is good for the neophyte): proclaim Christ and him crucified. Hold your convictions tightly and close. Don’t lead off with your views of the eschaton or the atonement theory you treasure or the particulars of how the New Covenant is actually new. By all means, have these. In fact, you ought to have them! Don’t settle for a simplistic, “Hey man, I just love Jesus, I don’t get caught up in all that theological stuff.” My friend, you don’t have to get caught up in it. But you at least need to have some fiber to your diet. If you don’t, then you’ll be starved and end up eating anything that is put in front of you.

Instead, ask. Ask the simple question: How can we tell more people the truth of the Gospel of salvation by grace alone through faith alone to the glory of Christ alone?

And how might you do this? Look up churches in your area and give them a call. Or better, walk down the street. Knock on the door of the church of that other denomination and ask if the pastor would like to go to coffee.