Covenant Podcast Handling Church Splits | Pastor's Inbox
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Mar 24, 2026 Lee McKinnon, a 1689 Baptist pastor who reflects on unity and doctrine, and Joe Wilson, a Reformed/1689 Baptist pastor offering pastoral counsel, discuss church splits. They explore causes like carnality versus doctrine. They talk when leaving is warranted for heresy, guarding membership, pastoral sins to avoid, humility under criticism, reconciliation as the aim, and when separation is necessary for gospel fidelity.
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Two Core Reasons Churches Split
- Church splits often fall into two broad categories: carnal/selfish factionalism and principled doctrinal differences.
- Lee McKinnon contrasts splits rooted in selfish agendas with those driven by genuine conscience about doctrine and practice, citing Acts 20 and Philippians 2.
Leave When A Church Embraces Heresy
- Leave a church when it tolerates or embraces soul-damning error; separation can be a faithful, warranted action.
- Lee McKinnon invokes 2 Corinthians 6 and the command to come out from among them as biblical grounds for an en masse departure in cases of clear heterodoxy.
Factions Reveal Who Is Approved
- Many splits are the product of remaining sin or infirmity; factions reveal who is approved.
- Joe Wilson cites 1 Corinthians 11:19 to note that divisions expose who is approved among you, though discerning that rightly is difficult.