I’m not laying a claim to prophecy, but I believe the Age of Denominations is coming to an end.

God raised up and has used Christian denominations (Denomination – a subset of the whole, as in a dollar is a denomination of US currency. There is always and ever only one Church and any organization that declares itself the Church rather than a part of the Church is immediately to be seen as not included in the Church, but that’s an issue for another day.) to advance the kingdom of Christ in the world through the proclamation of the gospel. This has been true since Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the church door and set off the Protestant Reformation. The past 500 years have seen denominations rise, do a work of ministry, fossilize into formality, fall away from trust in scripture and in God’s leading, become religious bureaucracies, and after falling away from Christ, fall into irrelevancy – and usually remain as zombies eating at the flesh of the living.

Large religious bureaucracies cannot maintain the purity of the Church for long. They become embroiled in contests for power and position, and are quick to sacrifice principle to maintain membership. As long as there has been a consensus on what constitutes the gospel and godly living, denominations could stay in God’s toolbox. But that is no longer the case. Denominations digress from the clear Word of God on the most basic of issues. When a church or denomination rejects the clear teaching of scripture with a, “Did God really say . . . ?”, you know that organization or congregation has turned from Yahweh to baal.

The short-range future of the Church as we await the Return of the King is, I believe, strong self-governing congregations joined in voluntary association with other bible-based churches. They will own their property, write their constitutions and bylaws, elect or appoint their pastor/elders, and support external ministries as they see fit. Christian organizations will no longer have the political power and prestige they have enjoyed in the past – and that is a good thing. Political power corrupts the visible church. The world demands the church surrender its allegiance to Christ alone as the cost of a place at the political table. And faulty human beings, even and especially those draped in clerical garb, are quick to surrender the blessed hope for that place.

Christians in the US and Canada, be prepared to be the off-scouring of the culture and relegated to the same anachronistic irrelevancy as the churches in Europe. The bishops will continue to adjust their robes and swing their censors. The denominational churches will continue their ceremonies and rituals. But they are standing at the altars in Bethel and not New Jerusalem. You who believe God and his word will be considered wild-eyed extremists – fanatics to be suppressed or ignored. But when you see these things taking place, look up! Our redemptions is drawing nigh.