“Now at this time while the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint arose on the part of the Hellenistic Jews against the native Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food” (Acts 6:1, New American Standard Bible).
The apostle Paul warned the church to strive for unity. “Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment” (1 Corinthians 10:1, New American Standard Bible).
One of the most historical conflicts resulted in a split known as the East-West Schism. On July 16, 1054, Patriarch of Constantinople Michael Cerularius was excommunicated from the Christian church based in Rome, Italy. This ex-communication severed the largest faction of Christianity, called Chalcedonian Christianity. The split is known as the Great Schism (Caryl, 2020).
Contemporary church splits are not uncommon; however, most people hear about them in a broader context. For example, in 2018, Hillsong, the global brand of contemporary Christianity, split. Blair (2018) reported, citing the growing global nature of the church, Brian Houston, global senior pastor of the popular Hillsong Church, has announced a split
from Australia’s largest Pentecostal denomination to become a denomination of its own.
Blair (2018) quotes Brian Houston as saying, “As Hillsong Church has continued to grow, we no longer see ourselves as an Australian Church with a global footprint, but rather a Global church with an Australian base—our global office now resides in the USA. Two-thirds of the people attending Hillsong Church each weekend live in countries beyond Australia. We have pastoral staff in twenty-four nations around the world, representing 123 campuses and locations, with 263 different church services on any given weekend. We consider it to be ‘One House, with many rooms.’ So, with that growing footprint in mind—it has become clear to us that we need to be able to credential our own pastors and restructure our church in a way that enables us to give due diligence to governance, risk, church health, safe church, and many other policies that are crucial to the future progress of Hillsong, globally.”
As stated above, the split of Hillsong did not occur as a result of a fractious group, an immoral act, or disagreement concerning doctrine, as many times can be the case.
A more recent split that made news in 2020 involves the United Methodist Church
(UMC). The UMC has proposed to split in order to resolve an impasse between two factions within the church that have not been able to agree on gay marriage and clergy (McNamara, 2020).
With over 45,000 different Christian denominations in America, it’s unreasonable to expect complete harmony (International Bulletin of Missionary Research, 2015).
According to Christianity Today (2012), churches don’t split suddenly and without warning. There are usually signs of impending disaster. The challenge is to recognize these warning signs,
or storm conditions, early and then act with godly wisdom before a storm hits with devastating force.
