Introduction: Identity
Derek Poole

Comment: What's in a Name?
Janet Morris

From the Director
David Porter

End Game of the End Times
David Porter

We Will Not Have Home Rule
Alywn Thomson

The Lost Field
Tony Davidson

Divine Assumption
Alan Wilson

Walking the Tight Rope
William Storrar

Certificate in Biblical Peacebuilding
Lynda Gould

Liberal Evangelical Post-Unionism and ECONI
Esmond Birnie

O God Our Help in Ages Past
Christopher Catherwood

Transformation
Lynda Gould

< Past Issues Archive

WHAT'S IN A NAME?
Have you ever sat in a group, had to give your name and say one thing about yourself? Despite the cringe factor, it's interesting to hear what people say. Even the most flippant remarks reveal something because they are, in small or sometimes larger ways, about identity.

In one such group I was recently confronted with an aspect of my own identity or, more properly, lack of it! In this particular context it was appropriate to identify oneself by denomination and people around me promptly did so. However, when it came to my turn, there was a strangled silence. As I attempted to say I was Presbyterian, which as a fully paid-up 'card-carrying' member of a congregation I actually am, the words just would not come out. To the considerable entertainment of those present, the most I could admit to on my first attempt was that I went to a Presbyterian Church. The second time around I gave up the struggle altogether and surprised myself by saying that I was post-denominational.

What does this mean - and does it matter? I'm currently in the process of finding out. Does it mean that I hate Presbyterianism in all its forms, that I've lost my faith or that I've suffered an irretrievable breakdown in my relationship with John Calvin (the mind boggles!). Or is it that I want to throw all of the past away and join a new 'non-traditional' grouping? The answer to all of the above is a resounding 'No'! I have not lost my faith and, while Calvin and I may not be bosom buddies, there are things about him that I respect and appreciate. Also, surveying the perniciously divisive nature of Protestantism, the last thing I want is to start another church. [Nor is this specific to Presbyterianism - its denominationalism itself - rather than any particular manifestation of it that I am increasingly unable to identify with.]

Why is this? I turned to the Net for help and discovered that I was not alone. Indeed, it seems that post-denominationalism is rampant in the US, although it means different things to different people. For many it has meant leaving the 'traditional' church and joining either one of the charismatic new churches or being affiliated to the Cell Church movement - and there is overlap between those two. For others such as myself it means a questioning of priorities and identity within a mainline denomination. Space does not permit an analysis here of the wider societal and theological contexts which have spawned post-denominationalism, but it seems that more and more of us are impatient with the old denominational boundaries. It's not that we want to destroy them or cease to value the good aspects of the heritage they represent, it's more about seeing a bigger picture, having a larger vision which relativises denominational importance. That picture is, I think, the Kingdom of God, which crosses all of our boundaries and woos and shocks us into larger concerns than our own. In the context of that Kingdom, what it means to be committed to Jesus Christ is more important than the particular label we wear.

This issue of Lion and Lamb is about identity. As Christians in Northern Ireland we need richer, freer identities. We need not so much to destroy all our boundaries as to see beyond them to the Household of God where all of us belong in the extravagant embrace of the Trinity. If such a vision were stronger in us, perhaps those currently outside the front door would find it easier to come in.

Janet Morris teaches Church History and English as a foreign language in the Bangor Institute and Belfast Bible College. She is a member of the Fitzroy Presbyterian Congregation and a former member of the ECONI Central Co-ordinating Group.