This is not all. Many churches are divided according to time. Different churches have been established at different times. Consider what happened in China: The Nestorians first established their churches in the Tang Dynasty during their evangelization of China. The Nestorians were Christians who came to China to preach the gospel during the Tang Dynasty. During the Ming Dynasty the Roman Catholic Church came from the West to set up churches also. The churches set up in the Tang Dynasty could not be united with the churches set up in the Ming Dynasty because they were established at different times. When the Protestants came to China during the Ching Dynasty, they established more churches. Now we have the churches of the Tang Dynasty, the churches of the Ming Dynasty, and the churches of the Ching Dynasty. The Brethren came after the formation of the Republic. Now we have another big group—the Brethren, in addition to the Nestorians, the Roman Catholics, and the Protestants. The Brethren are another group of people; they established another church. Many of these churches came into existence because of the difference in time. Here we see that the church is divided not just according to locality. Even when all the Christians come from the same place, the fact that they are established at different times can also become a factor of division.
This is not all. Throughout church history there have also been divisions based on persons. The church set up by John Wesley became the Wesleyan Church. The church set up by Martin Luther became the Lutheran Church. The church became divided through different persons. There is the Wesleyan denomination and the Lutheran denomination. All of these are divided according to people.
Some divisions are based on a different emphasis of the truth. Those who emphasize justification by faith are called the “Justification by Faith” Church (i.e., the Lutheran Church). Those who emphasize holiness have become the Holiness Church. Those who emphasize the Holy Spirit are called the Pentecostal Church. Those who emphasize apostolic miracles are called the Apostolic Faith Church. Those who emphasize independence of local congregations are called the Congregational Church. Those who emphasize presbyterian administration and believe in the succession of apostolic authority through the elders are called the Presbyterian Church. Those who believe in the succession of apostolic authority through the bishops are called the Bishop’s Church. They have one bishop for one church. Those who emphasize water immersion have become the Baptist Church. Those who came from Bath are called the Bath Congregation. There are such congregations in Canton. Even among those who believe in justification by faith, those who came from Germany are called the Lutherans, while those who came from Holland are called the Dutch Reformed Church. We can see that all kinds of differences exist among the churches throughout the whole world. Every church has its own history and doctrine. In the midst of such confusion, which way should you take? It is difficult to find a church in a your locality to join.
Is there a way out for us? Yes! The Bible is very simple and clear concerning the truth of the church; it is not confusing at all. We can see this in a few verses. The opening words of many Epistles, such as the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles and Revelation, show us such expressions as the church in Rome, the church in Jerusalem, the church in Corinth, the church in Philippi, the church in Ephesus, the church in Colossae, and so on. There were many different churches. In Acts there is the church in Antioch, and in Revelation there are seven churches. There is no doubt that there are distinctions between churches in the Bible, but there is one, and only one, kind of distinction. What is this distinction? You can answer this question yourselves because it is very clear.
Some doctrines in the Bible have two sides. It may not be easy deciding which side should be taken. But if there is only one side to a truth and you make a mistake about it, it means that you are very foolish and blind. Some passages in the Bible say that justification is by faith, while other passages say that justification is by works. We have the book of Romans, and we also have the Epistle of James. One can excuse himself for confusion over such a doctrine. But concerning the church, there is only one way. It is inexcusable for anyone to be unclear about it. Corinth is a locality; so are Ephesus, Colossae, Rome, and Philippi. All of these are localities. In other words, the church can be divided only according to locality, nothing else. Is this clear to you? Corinth, Ephesus, and Colossae are cities. Therefore, the boundary of the church is the boundary of the city or the locality.