“The Church said this …’ ‘The Church said that …’ ‘The problem with the Church today is …’ are phrases that roll off the tongue pretty easily. The thing is that talking about ‘the church today’ makes about as much sense as talking about ‘sport today’.

Countless individual sports are played in every country, state, city, court, field, pool, and laneway around the globe. There are numerous multinationals, national, regional, and local organisations, codes, and associations. Billions of people from all walks of life play and watch sport.

Similarly, billions of Christians are gathered up in the collective noun ‘the Church’. However, while all Christians would agree on a few core basics and, while a common thread of belief joins them, there are many different expressions of that belief around the world. There are countless denominations, bodies and organisations all reflecting different cultures, histories, politics, and practices.

Like sport, faith is a subject of passion, and not everyone supports the same team. Christians have different ways of doing things and some Christians strongly disagree with others.”

(Downey, Peter, and Bill Salier, Jesus All About Life, Macquarie Park, Bible Society NSW. 2005. Pages 63-64)

DISCUSS

• Church has changed over time, why do we have so many different denominations?

Watch: Church History in Ten Minutes

Answer the following questions in the quiz

• Make a note of
  • the key events mentioned
  • the people central to theological beliefs, and
  • how they have impacted the church that we see today.