Beyond Denominationalism

The greatest threat to modern Christianity isn't atheism or persecution. It's lukewarmness disguised as denominational loyalty. We need trans-denominational infrastructure that helps existing churches produce disciples who go 'all in' for the Most High God.

After years of visiting churches across denominations—Orthodox, Catholic, Baptist, Pentecostal, non-denominational—I've discovered something that would surprise most church leaders. What unites most denominations isn't their theological distinctives. It's their shared tolerance for lukewarm Christianity.

Walk into almost any church in America and you'll find the same pattern: people who attend services, speak Christian language, and live like practical atheists Monday through Saturday. They debate Trinitarianism versus Unitarianism while remaining spiritually indifferent to whether their music, entertainment, relationships, and career choices honor God.

This is the real crisis facing Christianity today. Not theological disagreements between denominations, but the widespread acceptance of half-hearted discipleship within them.

Christ clearly pointed out this danger when He said: "I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth." — Revelation 3:15-16

We need to move beyond denominationalism. This doesn't mean creating another 'better' denomination (this has been tried, and even non-denominational was made into a denomination of its own). Instead, we must create trans-denominational infrastructure that helps existing churches produce disciples who are actually 'all in' for God rather than merely playing Christian.

See: Learn Across Denominations for understanding how to appreciate denominational strengths while avoiding denominational idolatry.

The Trans-Denominational Problem: Churchianity Is Profitable

The real issue isn't theological differences between denominations. It's that feel-good, neutered versions of Christianity are pereceived as the safest, most well-trodden business models for local churches.

Here's the uncomfortable truth a lot of church leaders won't admit: they're running religion businesses that depend on keeping the spiritually immature comfortable. Weekly services push light, encouraging messages designed for early seekers rather than meat for mature believers. Churches compete over superficial metrics like attendance numbers, building size, and program variety. Meanwhile, the serious disciples in their congregations remain spiritually malnourished.

Deep spiritual realities get avoided entirely because they're bad for business. When was the last time you heard a sermon about demonic possession, casting out demons, or demanding divine intervention as your covenant right rather than begging for mercy? See: Demand Divine Intervention for understanding recompense theology that most churches won't teach. These supernatural realities are too "triggering" for comfortable Christianity.

Similarly, the kind of radical, expectant faith that actually unlocks God's blessing gets replaced with adult cynicism disguised as theological sophistication. See: Childlike Faith for what authentic, joyful trust in God actually looks like. Churches prefer doubt dressed up as "mature faith" because childlike expectation makes people uncomfortable when miracles don't happen on demand.

The result is cultural Christianity that unites denominations in shared lukewarmness. I've watched people leave Saturday evening services straight to raves a few hours later. I've met pastor's kids who date atheists while speaking fluent Christianese. I've encountered church leaders who build their careers on Christian platforms while making life decisions based purely on secular values.

See: Don't Be A Churchian for understanding how modern church culture enables religious performance over authentic discipleship.

This system creates a sophisticated form of spiritual misdirection. Instead of focusing on total life transformation through obedience to Christ, believers get distracted by denominational debates about baptism methods, worship styles, and eschatological timelines. At the same time, they participate in systems that actively oppose God's kingdom. They'll argue about biblical interpretation while living in ways that would be unrecognizable to the early church.

The lukewarm problem transcends denominational boundaries because it's not fundamentally a theological issue. It's a business model issue. People want the benefits of Christian community and the comfort of Christian hope without the cost of Christian obedience. And churches have learned to give them exactly what they want.

The All-In Infrastructure

What if we organized around commitment level rather than denominational affiliation? What if we built systems specifically designed to help believers go 'all in' for the Most High God, regardless of their church background?

What I'm talking about is trans-denominational formation infrastructure where the primary question isn't "What denomination are you?" but "Are you ready to live every aspect of your life as worship to God?"

Such infrastructure would serve believers from various denominational backgrounds while maintaining uncompromising standards for what it means to follow Christ in practice. A Baptist and a Catholic could receive the same intensive formation while returning to strengthen their respective church communities with what they've learned.

The core agreements for such a community must be clear and uncompromising:

Go All In for The Most High God - Complete integration of faith into every aspect of life including career, relationships, and daily decisions. No compartmentalization, no half-measures, no cultural accommodation that compromises obedience.

Acknowledge Evil and Resist It - Recognition that Satan exists and actively works through culture, media, and systems to deceive humanity. Commitment to spiritual warfare through discernment, resistance, and bold truth-telling rather than naive positivity.

Align Your Career With Your Calling - Professional life flowing from divine calling rather than worldly ambition. Work that serves God's kingdom rather than merely pursuing wealth, status, or personal success.

Let Your Walk Speak More Loudly Than Your Dogmas - The fruit of your life matters more than theological perfection. How you treat others, love your neighbors, and reflect God's character demonstrates authentic Christian living as the true measure of faith.

Support Others' Discipleship with Humility - Helping others grow in their faith walks while remaining humble in your own journey. Openness to learning, correction, and accountability from fellow believers.

Why This Infrastructure Is Necessary Now

We live in an unprecedented time of cultural hostility toward authentic Christianity. The infrastructure of modern life is designed to make sin easier and righteousness harder. See: Recognize and Resist Sinfrastructure for understanding these engineered systems.

Also, spiritual warfare has intensified dramatically. Pastors across denominations and those studying end times patterns recognize that demonic activity, cultural deception, and attacks on the church have reached levels not seen in previous generations. Yet most believers remain unprepared for this reality because their churches avoid teaching about spiritual warfare entirely.

In this environment, lukewarm Christianity isn't just spiritually dangerous. It's culturally impotent. The world can see through religious performance that lacks transformative power. They're not impressed by people who claim to follow Christ while living like everyone else.

What the world needs to see is people whose lives are so radically different, so obviously transformed, that it becomes clear they're operating from a different source of power entirely.

This requires moving beyond the comfortable boundaries of traditional church programming into formation infrastructure that's more intensive and more transformative. Most individual churches lack the resources, expertise, or cultural permission to provide the kind of deep discipleship that produces authentic transformation. Trans-denominational infrastructure can fill this gap, providing specialized formation that strengthens every church community it touches.

The Attractiveness of All-In Living

Here's what most Christians don't realize: in a world where the culture has spent decades putting Satanism on a pedestal, going all in for God will become a high status lifestyle.

When everyone around you is anxious, addicted, and spiritually empty, the person who has found peace through total surrender to Christ stands out dramatically. When the culture promotes destructive relationships, broken families, and meaningless work, the person whose life reflects divine order becomes magnetic.

Being all in for God isn't just spiritually necessary. It's culturally distinctive in the best possible way.

This is why communities focused on total life transformation will naturally attract high-capacity people who are tired of cultural Christianity's mediocrity. They want to see what authentic discipleship actually produces in terms of peace, purpose, relationships, and impact. See: The Truth Economy for understanding how Christ-aligned businesses can create economic ecosystems that demonstrate the superiority of God's design for human flourishing.

The goal isn't to create an elite religious club, but to demonstrate what Christianity looks like when people actually practice it. To show the world that God's design for human flourishing works better than Satan's alternatives.

The Path Forward: Supporting Church Networks, Not Competing With Them

Moving beyond denominationalism doesn't mean abandoning local churches or creating competing institutions. It means developing trans-denominational support infrastructure that helps existing church networks grow deeper and more effective at producing authentic disciples.

A trans-denominational organization like Truth in the Wyld becomes a force multiplier for churches by providing what most individual congregations cannot:

• Intensive training workshops, camps, retreats, programs that take believers deeper than Sunday services allow. Think Landmark Forum intensity but for professionals who want to go all in for God. These equip pastors and church leaders with practical tools for addressing lukewarmness and spiritual warfare in their own congregations, and help church members integrate their faith with their professional lives in ways most pastors aren't equipped to teach.
• Truth circles and accountability systems that provide the peer-to-peer discipleship most churches struggle to facilitate effectively
• Pop-up villages that demonstrate what all-in Christian community looks like, giving church members a vision they can bring back to their home congregations

This approach strengthens existing church networks rather than competing with them. When a pastor sends key leaders to a Truth in the Wyld intensive, they return better equipped to lead authentic transformation in their local context.

The goal is creating specialized infrastructure that serves multiple denominational communities simultaneously. This provides the deep formation work that individual churches often lack the resources, expertise, or cultural permission to tackle alone. Instead of every church trying to reinvent intensive discipleship programs, they can send their most serious members to proven trans-denominational resources while maintaining their unique theological and liturgical identities.

This creates a symbiotic relationship where local churches provide community, worship, and pastoral care, while trans-denominational organizations provide the intensive formation infrastructure that produces the kind of disciples every pastor dreams of having in their congregation.

The Stakes Are Civilizational

This isn't just about personal spiritual growth. It's about the future of Christian witness in the world. Lukewarm Christianity is worse than no Christianity at all because it inoculates people against the real thing.

When the world sees Christians who live exactly like everyone else except for Sunday morning attendance, they conclude that Christianity has no transformative power. They're not wrong about what they're observing. They just can't see what authentic Christianity actually is or requires.

Trans-denominational infrastructure that produces people who are genuinely all in for God would demonstrate what Christianity looks like when people actually practice it. The fruit of such formation would be impossible to ignore and would strengthen every denominational community it touches.

The early church turned the Roman Empire upside down not through denominational structures but through networks of believers whose lives were so transformed that the surrounding culture couldn't help but take notice.

We need the same thing today: a community of people whose commitment to Christ is so total, so obvious, and so fruitful that it becomes a light in the darkness of our collapsing civilization.

The question isn't whether you agree with every theological position held by other serious Christians. The question is whether you're ready to support the development of trans-denominational infrastructure that helps believers across traditions go all in for the Most High God.

Because that's the only kind of formation that will produce the Christianity capable of transforming our civilization. And it's the only approach that can serve the church universal rather than competing with it.

"I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought... One of you says, 'I follow Paul'; another, 'I follow Apollos'; another, 'I follow Cephas'; still another, 'I follow Christ.' Is Christ divided?" — 1 Corinthians 1:10, 12-13