I once tried to start a house church, where all authority and ritual were tossed aside for the simple life of faith and peace and love. A year later we ended it and all who were involved knew that this experiment failed. Without authority and doctrine (which must come from God) we lose sight of direction and are scattered.

In the infancy of the church recorded in the New Testament we see conflict and division among the flock. There may be complaints about ceremonies created by men, which you can replace with newer ceremonies, or anti-ceremonies, still created by men. And one may claim the new ceremonies are truly led by the spirit like the olders ceremonies are also claimed to be. In the end you will watch as even this begins to split and fracture and even new spirit-led gatherings are formed to do it right.

Part of my reasoning for returning to the Catholic faith was that in truth Catholicism isn't a denomination, it isn't defined by what split away, but has from the beginning defined itself. I came from a charismatic church and in the non-catholic world would gravitate toward charismatic-style beliefs and avoid other groups, but i find that as a charismatic I am quite comfortable in the Catholic Church. Here under one roof I find unity with other charismatic types, as well as non-charismatic types. I can look around and see people who would be Lutherans, or Baptists or Pentacostals and even some for whom there is no non-Catholic denomination they could attend, I see them all under the same roof sitting next to each other with a common creed and devotion for the body and blood. This is adoration of the most high and though it is set within form, it is also one that works.

Last point is that for real christian unity to exist all christians with either have to step ahead into a new one world church, (which will be man made of course), or collapse back from where they came.

- Adapted from a post by Mike Juli on Spero Forum

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