Someone will raise the question of a church’s relationship to a particular denomination. Situations develop where a church comes to see the Scriptures in a certain way and wants to live by that interpretation, and it results in their having to separate from the denomination. This is a very difficult problem, and I know from experience how slowly and carefully one needs to move because of the need to protect the unity of the church. We ask ourselves the question, “When must the congregation that wants to remain faithful to the Scriptures separate from the denomination which in the church’s judgment at that point is not being faithful to the Scriptures?”
At an individual level, we live in a pluralistic church situation. People go to a different town or other geographical location and join a church, not necessarily of the same denomination they came from. But then they do not stay there, and instead drift around from church to church. I think that is generally a great mistake. There might be some areas where there are only one or two good churches, but usually we do not have a situation in which we can say that there is only one true church here. This allows for individuals going from church to church. What I advise people to do when they go to another community is to seek out the most evangelical and effective church they can find, plunge in there, and be part of its ministry regardless of what denomination it may be.
Whether you are talking about a separation by a church from its denomination, or a separation of an individual Christian from a local church, there are two points to keep in mind, since separation is a serious thing. The first point is when the denomination of which you are a part becomes apostate. This refers to a church that has so fallen away from Christian truth that it can no longer truly be called a Christian denomination. It takes a position that is contrary to the essentials of the Gospel. When this happens, it puts the church in the category of 2 Corinthians 6 because you would then be dealing with a case of unbelievers, even though there might well be true believers still lingering on in the church.
The second reason for separation is when the denomination requires individuals or individual congregations to do something which in their judgment, as they seek the position out on the basis of Scripture, they find to be contrary to the will of God. Now you have to be very careful in both of those. One of the problems in this matter of separation is that people wanting to justify their own wishes bring in terms like “apostasy” and conclude that a particular church is no longer a true church, when it is not necessarily true. You have to be very careful when you level the charge of apostasy. Christians do err, but error itself is not apostasy. It has to be when a church takes a stand which is contrary to the Bible, and which involves one of the core doctrines of the faith that is essential to salvation. It would have to involve such matters as a denial of the incarnation, the vicarious atonement, the resurrection, or something else of that nature. One cannot call another assembly a false church simply because it disagrees with you on a theological point.
The difficulty, of course, with this is that very few churches do that. They retain the language even if they begin to depart. At the time of the Reformation that was the case. The Roman Church was maintaining a view of justification which involved works, which is a false gospel. It comes under the anathema that Paul pronounces in Galatians. The Protestant Reformers separated at that point, and rightly so. But you have to be very careful when you say a denomination is apostate.
