Eclectic Christian

The following post is by guest blogger Mitch Sylvia, easily the most Eclectic Christian I know:

One of the great failings of the Christian Church has been its inability to achieve unity. By Christian unity I do not mean cookie-cutter Christianity where we all think alike and share the same opinions about everything. There will always be room for differences of opinion on secondary issues. By secondary issues I refer to those matters that lay outside the core doctrines of the Christian faith.

In a previous post, my friend Michael Bell has referred to the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed as a framework for defining essential Christian doctrine. As these documents attest, the Christian faith is a doctrinal faith – certain beliefs must be affirmed if one is to genuinely be called a Christian. As these creeds affirm; there are many things which unite us as Christians.

My own Christian journey has been extremely eclectic and focused on the beliefs which unite the Body of Christ. This is why I have been asked to write a guest post to chronicle a bit of my spiritual journey.

I did not grow up in a church going family; therefore I was not raised in any one particular faith tradition. When I became a believer I attended an evangelical church affiliated with the United Church of Canada. Two years later I met my future wife, who attended a Plymouth Brethren assembly. We decided to seek God’s direction for a church we could both call home. The Lord led us to become involved with the Evangelical Missionary Church of Canada.

To keep this brief, I was baptized in a Pentecostal church, graduated from a Christian and Missionary Alliance Seminary, interned in a Charismatic church, later served as a youth pastor in a Presbyterian church and currently I pastor a Baptist church. People sometimes wonder how my affiliations can be so diverse. The answer to that question lies in understanding my experiences during university.

During university I became involved in Campus Crusade for Christ where I worshiped, studied the Bible and went on two missions trips with believers from a wide variety of denominations. The fellowship was inspiring and challenging and God used those years to shape my faith in many ways.

Throughout those years we never focused on what divided the Pentecostal students from the Baptist students or the Reformed from the Methodist. We challenged each other to walk faithfully with Christ and we were enriched as a result.

This is not to say that doctrine is unimportant. Of course it is – truth matters. However, as long as the essential beliefs are there; we need to focus on what unites us as Christ’s body not on what divides us. Christ is glorified and honored when the members of His Church live in harmony and unity with each other.

Mitch Sylvia