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Any church that is worthy of the name “church” proclaims salvation by grace through faith — the gospel. Many of the churches that exist today exist because in times past the older denominations stopped proclaiming that message. Absense of that message in the Roman Catholic Church was one of the chief causes of the Protestant Reformation, but as years went by many of the churches which developed as a result of the Reformation also stopped proclaiming the gospel.
Churches “split” for many reasons. Splits which result from personality conflicts or the refusal of Christians to be subject to one another are inexcusable, but those which result from the desire to restore the purity of the gospel to the proclaimed message are necessary. Even then, however, they should be a last resort, after every avenue has been exhausted in the effort to achieve internal reform. The fundamentalist churches which came out of the great fundamentalist/libesal controversy in the early part of this century were largely the result of the necessary type of split. These churches carried the banner of the cross where it had been abandoned by many older churches.
As I have visited churches over the last several years, I have noticed a tragic development in many of these which began so nobly to take up the banner of the cross. While they still claim to proclaim the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the proclaimed message has gradually and subtly been changed by the addition of a gospel of works. The gospel of Christ says salvation is by grace through faith (plus nothing). This new gospel says salvation is by grace through faith plus walk
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