Reviewing the Reformation

Was it a success? Well, that all depends on how you look at things.

I mean, we ended up with a strongly divided church because of it. And the followers of these key leaders continued to divide things with great passion. It seems the Reformers wanted the focus of faith and works to be crystallized. And they succeeded. On the positive side, there’s been more bible literacy and the work of missions across the world because of the Reformers and their inventions, such as the printing press.

Protestants have become Catholic. Catholics have become Protestant. The Reformation allowed minority reports to have a voice, like re-baptism, while also causing a shifting tide in some big topics. Political theology was both in, under, and around this historical event. Understandably so, because this event didn’t take place in a vacuum. This should help us to understand the English Reformation alongside the Continental Reformation. 

Currently, most people wouldn't be able to define the word, "Protestant." The noun itself seems pretty foreign. The adjective has all but dropped off from the mentioning of that time period. 

Catholics on the other hand? Very well-known. They seem to have remained intact and unscathed. Meanwhile, Protestants have continued on being divisive since the 16th Century. 

All of this matters now because as a church planter, I’ve had the same question (albeit, worded slightly differently each time) posed to me over and over again:

"Why are there so many denominations if we’re supposed to be unified?"

This is an excellent question and a pressing topic for our society in this day and age. We’ve seen political party division tear apart churches, families, generations, schools, companies, nonprofits, and more. We’ve seen a pandemic and the trending fear of slippery slopes tear apart those same groups. So division appears to be en vogue. 

But isn’t the church supposed to be different?

I’m not here to knock the Protestant Reformation; only to show a historical lineage of division still rearing its head in 2025. Church and state are mixing in some places and ways, but are supposed to remain as far apart from each other as possible. So then my concern is, how do believers intend to present the Body of Jesus as unified on the key things so that all those disconnected can see Jesus’ prayer in John 17 as good, right, and what’s been happening.

We’ve got work to do, believers, but with God all things are possible.