The popular Jamaican term ‘diss’ means disrespect, I gather, but I see two other implied nuances, namely disregard and disobey. Jamaican language specialists, I hope, will pardon my ignorance or defective sight.

Well, we as Christians do all three to our Lord Jesus Christ and we cannot advance any plea of mitigation either!We ‘diss’ Jesus in two ways pertaining to two significant statements he made. His ‘High Priestly Prayer’ in John 17 and ‘His Great Commission’ in Matthew 28.In John 17:20 Jesus prays, “that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.” (New King James Version)This is a prayer for unity, togetherness among Christians; a prayer that continues to be an embarrassment and a challenge for the multitude of denominations locally, regionally and globally.In a deep spiritual sense, the Church of Jesus Christ is in fact one, in spite of us in our exclusive denominational camps and in spite of us in our rugged individualism within our local churches. This is what one can call the essential reality of Christian unity.In another sense, at the level of functional reality the Church of Jesus Christ needs to be one, that is to behave as one and that depends on all of us within local churches and within denominations.I believe God is asking us to rethink our doctrinal distinctives. Historically, denominations have mushroomed here and elsewhere because individuals and groups wish to emphasise, or specialise, in certain things or ‘truths’ that we regard as our denominational distinctives.That’s not a problem, so long as we do not allow distinctives to lead to divisiveness, where we sit in our particular camps and look down on others or speak unkindly against each other without even an intention of talking to or with one another.The approach to distinctives which I would ask us to reject lovingly or surrender willingly is that approach which views our denominational distinctives, objectively, as ‘what ought to be prized and thus what is prescriptive for all Christians’.Even if this approach was correct and defensible, there could still be far fewer denominations within Christendom and more Church mergers, and there could be greater togetherness between and among churches because much or most of what many of us prize as distinctives of us is held in the same way by others.The approach to distinctives which I recommend is that which views denominational distinctives, subjectively, as ‘what we prize and thus what is simply descriptive of us’. The other approach, I remind, views our denominational distinctives, objectively, as ‘what ought to be prized and thus what is prescriptive for all Christians’.But you might say to me: “Come now Chisholm, surely you know that what we prize and thus what is descriptive of us could be what God commands or expects of all of us and therefore ought to be what all Christians prize and regard as prescriptive.”My answer: You are dead right, it could be operative word, could. But you must bear in mind that some things are possible, or probable or likely or certain — if we have the evidence to move it along the spectrum.My recommended approach does not deny the likelihood even of one’s denominational distinctives having the backing of scripture, but my approach leaves room for openness to being corrected by others.Let me illustrate the need for humility and openness re denominational distinctives.I heard that there was, at one time, a denominational group in Kingston called ‘Straight Way Baptists’. Their major denominational distinctive, which was consistent with their name, could be detected in the way they baptised. They would lower you into the waters of baptism vertically (no bending) and take you up out of the water vertically, or straight way, and they had scriptural justification for this odd practice in the baptism of our Lord.Mark 1:10 says of Jesus, “And straightway coming up out of the water…”They did not know and could care less that Mark used a word in Greek that means ‘immediately, right away’. They thought it had to do with the position of the body in baptism!Consider the fact that there are a few umbrella groups of denominations in Jamaica. The ones I recall are the Jamaica Council of Churches (JCC), the Jamaica Evangelical Alliance (JEA), the Jamaica Full Gospel Fellowship (JFGF), and the Umbrella Group of Churches (UGC).Why can’t all of the denominations under each umbrella group become one denomination since they share doctrinal commonalities that make it possible for them to be grouped as they are? Why not, except for rank carnality and power play?My problem is that I have never been in the top hierarchy of any denomination long enough to understand the difficulties of denominational polity (read ‘earth runnings’).So how then are the denominations within the JCC one in line with Jesus’ prayer? Is the Umbrella Group of Churches anything more than a face-card (façade)? Is there even a desire for functional oneness within each umbrella group and especially within the overarching (?) UGC?What doctrinal distinctives render this impractical or impossible which also means continuing to frustrate the prayer for oneness of the Lord of the Church?So we continue to ‘diss’ Jesus by our refusal to pursue oneness! But, as I hinted in my column of May 29 (Church: Funhouse or Schoolhouse?), we also ‘diss’ Jesus in our disregard for teaching.In the Great Commission in Matthew 28: 19, our Lord’s central command is ‘make disciples’ of all nations (the King James Version’s “teach all nations” is not faithful to the Greek verb here, but the New KJV gets it right).Verse 20 suggests two means of the disciple-making process, “teaching them… baptising them…”Whatever else we may be hooked on, then we ought to show due regard for the priority that Jesus puts on teaching in Church circles.Let the Church quit ‘dissing’, (disregarding and disobeying) her Lord!