Of course, everyone has to admit that the situation of the division in the church today is absolutely wrong. But we need to ask, “Who is responsible for this division?” Among the many sects and denominations, who should bear the responsibility of division? Which one is wrong? Which one is right? How do we determine this?
I would use an illustration which perhaps will make this matter clearer. A school requires students to assemble at the gymnasium. The gymnasium is the place for them to meet and the right ground for their assembly. But when the time of assembly comes, a group of students gathers in the dormitory, another group gathers in a classroom, a third group gathers in the auditorium, and a fourth group gathers in the dining hall. Thus, they are separated and divided. The remaining students, perhaps only a small number, meet at the gymnasium according to the school’s regulation. Apparently, this small group of students is divided from all the other students. Originally, all of them should be together, but now they are divided: some are in the dormitory, some are in the classroom, some are in the auditorium, some are in the dining hall, and the remaining ones are in the gymnasium. They are definitely divided. But who should bear the responsibility for this division? Should the group of students assembling in the gymnasium bear the responsibility for this division? They should not bear this responsibility because the gymnasium is the place that the school set for the students to assemble; it is the right ground for the students’ assembly. Every proper student, every obedient student, every student who follows the rule, must assemble at the gymnasium. If all the students were obedient, if all of them followed the instructions and came to the gymnasium to assemble, then there would be no division. But now they are divided, and on the surface even those students at the gymnasium are divided from the others. But who should bear the responsibility for the division? The students assembled in the dormitory, in the classroom, in the auditorium, and in the dining hall must bear the responsibility for this division, but the students in the gymnasium are not responsible for this division.
Twenty years ago an elderly brother invited me to a dinner, and almost everyone at the dinner was a leader of various denominations. At that time I was already speaking for the Lord. On one hand, the elderly ones were happy that a young man was rising up to serve the Lord, and they could not say that it was not a good thing. But on the other hand, something concerning me annoyed them; that is, I was always divided from others and unwilling to be united with them. In their view, it seemed that I spoke concerning oneness, saying that the church should not be divided, but I was always divided from others instead of being united with them. They were quite unhappy with me. Therefore, they saw an opportunity that day and wanted to confront me with this issue.
Not long after we sat down to eat, one of them began to question me regarding this matter. I said, “Very well, today is a good opportunity for us to clear up this matter. Let us be clear concerning the responsibility for division.” They said, “This is very good.” I said, “I truly understand your thought. In your consideration, I say that the church should be one, yet I am not one with others; I say that the church should not be divided, yet I take the lead to be divided from others. Therefore, you do not approve of what I am doing.” When I said this, all of the elderly men nodded their heads and said, “Exactly.” Then I asked, “In the early days when some of the believers in Corinth said, ‘I am of Paul, I am of Apollos, I am of Cephas, and I am of Christ,’ they were condemned and reproved by the apostle. Is this not right?” They said, “Right.” Then I said, “Since this is the case, can you ask me to belong to the Presbyterian Church? Can you ask me to belong to the Baptist Church? Can you ask me to belong to the Chinese Christian Church?” They all said, “No, no.” Then I asked them, “Then where do I belong?” They said, “We do not want you to belong to any place.” Then I said, “But you need to put me somewhere. You cannot let me be a wandering Christian! Where are you going to put me?” They could not answer me. Then I continued, asking, “When the Lord grants me mercy and moves me by His grace, can I refrain from preaching the gospel?” They said, “Definitely, you must preach the gospel.” I said, “What do I do when people are saved through this gospel preaching? Should I send the people who are saved through my gospel preaching to this denomination or that denomination? Is it logical to send others to these places when I myself would not go there?” They said, “No, no; you cannot do this.” So I asked, “Then where should I send these people?” Again they could not answer me. I said, “Since I cannot send them to any place, should I refrain from meeting with them?” They said, “You should not refrain from meeting with them. You should definitely meet with them.” “But where should we meet?” I asked. Again they would not answer, and they could not answer. I was not arguing doctrine with those elderly men; I was clearing up this matter with them. I said, “Eventually, what will happen? We will need to rent a place and have meetings together. We will be like those students who assembled in the gymnasium, and we could say to others, ‘Brothers, do not go to the dormitory nor the auditorium nor any other place. Let us go to the gymnasium. Do not be the Baptist Church, do not be the Presbyterian Church, do not be the Chinese Christian Church, and do not remain in any denomination. We must forsake all the sects and denominations. Let us all come to the ground of the church.’ Even though you say that we are divided from the others, we must investigate: Who should really bear the responsibility of this division?”
Then I continued, “Today, as elderly ones, you are here. I ask that you consent to one thing. If you go back and eliminate all of the differences, all the sects—the Presbyterian Church, Baptist Church, and Chinese Christian Church—then I will go back and ask the brothers to close the doors of the place where we are meeting, and if the brothers do not agree to this, I will be the first to leave them.” The elderly men all said, “We cannot do this. We simply cannot do this.” At that moment, even as a young man, I became stern. I said to the elderly man who took the lead to challenge me, “Since you cannot do this, what else can you say? Since you cannot do this, you are accountable for this division, not me. The responsibility for division must be borne by you, not by me. You took a group of people and formed the Presbyterian Church, and some of you took another group of people and set up a Baptist Church, and still others took another group and formed the Chinese Christian Church. Since you took different groups of people and formed separate, unbreakable organizations, where should the young people go? If we go to the Baptist Church, we will be divided from the Presbyterian Church; if we go to the Presbyterian Church, we will be divided from the Baptist Church; and if we go to the Chinese Christian Church, we will be separated from both the Presbyterian Church and the Baptist Church. What should we do? You may say, ‘Even if you do not go to the Baptist Church, the Presbyterian Church, or the Chinese Christian Church, you still are divided from us.’ But who is responsible for this? After all, where does the Lord want us to be one? Does He want us to go to the Presbyterian Church and be one there? The more we go to the Presbyterian Church to be one, the more we are divided. Should we go to the Baptist Church to be one? The Baptist Church is also on a ground of division. If we go there, we are divided and not in oneness. Is there oneness if we go to the Chinese Christian Church? It also is on a divided ground. When we go there, we are not one but divided.” After I spoke these words, none of the elderly men said anything again.
Brothers and sisters, the oneness of the church is a matter of the ground. Therefore, we must see the ground clearly. The place for the school to assemble is at the gymnasium. We should not go to the auditorium, even though there are many students there. When we go there, we are not being united but divided because the ground is wrong. In like manner, the groups of students who are assembled in the dormitory, in the classroom, and in the dining hall are all wrong; therefore, everyone has to give up his own ground and assemble on the ground designated by the school. All the Christians need to forsake the ground of denominations, the ground of sects, and come together on the ground of the church, which is the ground of oneness.
In recent years people have often questioned us, asking, “Why do you say that only you are the church, but others are not?” We tell them, “No Christians would be so foolish as to say that only they are the church, but others are not. It is foolish for anyone to say this, and it is naive and simple for anyone to believe this kind of saying. We acknowledge that those in various sects and denominations, even those in the Roman Catholic Church, are in the church as long as they are saved. We have never said that only we are the church. However, we would say this: Our feeling is that we are standing on the ground of the church. This we have said; we have not only said this, but we have strongly emphasized this.”
Today the many grounds of the church are wrong. We can clearly see that there is the ground of the Presbyterian Church, the ground of the Baptist Church, the ground of the Methodist Church, the ground of the Lutheran Church, and many other grounds of many other groups. Even though we are separate from them, we should not think that this is wrong. We need to determine who is responsible for this division and also the ground for this division. Since we are on the proper ground, we are not responsible for the division.