The names some churches bear hint at a story. That’s especially the case for those that have the word “New” in their name, such as New Hope, New Beginnings, New Covenant, New Life, New Blessing, New Horizons. While “new” seems to imply something bright and shiny, it often means that in reality, something older has been left behind. As one person put it, “Whenever you see a church named New Hope, there’s an old hope out there somewhere.”1 In other words, some of those congregations, as well as many others not so obviously named, started from a split or disagreement in another congregation. Someone looking at some church ads that listed the strengths and advantages various congregations offered suggested that the real message was “Leave your church and come to ours!”2 It is also a fact that most denominations started as a break-off from another Christian group.
These congregational and denominational splits highlight the seemingly impossible nature of Jesus’ prayer request right before his betrayal and arrest. Jesus prays to the Father that not only his immediate disciples, but also all who would come to believe in him, “may all be one.” In fact, not just one in a sort of “we’re all in this together” way, but one in the way Jesus and the Father are one. And the purpose of this oneness is not for camaraderie, but that the rest of the world may know that Jesus was sent by God and may come to believe as well.
From what we know of the subsequent history of the original apostles, aside from Judas, they all spent the rest of their lives spreading the Gospel, and it is likely that they came as close to oneness as any Christians since.
Given the multiplicity of denominations and disunited congregations the church has broken into since then, however, it is pretty clear that what Jesus prayed for the night before he was crucified has not come to pass across the body of Christian believers.
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