Mariners Church Weekend Messages February 1 - If Christians are to be one, why are there so many denominations? - Ed Stetzer
Feb 2, 2026
Ed Stetzer, evangelical leader and pastor-scholar, walks through church history and personal denominational roots. He traces early splits, the Reformation, and modern Protestant diversity. He contrasts spiritual family unity with organizational divisions. He outlines reasons denominations form and calls for humility, patience, and practices that reveal unity in Christ.
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Visiting Coptic Churches Showed Early Church Diversity
- Ed Stetzer recounts preaching at Kosser Eldabara Evangelical Church in Egypt and visiting Coptic Orthodox churches to illustrate early, continuing diversity in church governance and tradition.
- He notes Coptic/Orthodox distinct papal lines as evidence that different expressions existed even in the first centuries.
Great Schism Proves One True Church Claims Are Not New
- Major institutional splits predate Protestantism, highlighted by the 1054 Great Schism that separated Eastern Orthodoxy from Roman Catholicism.
- Both sides claimed to be the one true church, demonstrating long-standing competing ecclesial claims.
Reformation Shifted Authority From Tradition To Scripture
- The Protestant Reformation began with figures like Martin Luther challenging Catholic authority and asserting sola scriptura, leading to new denominational identities.
- Luther's Augsburg Confession reframed the church as where gospel is purely taught and sacraments rightly administered.