RIBEIRÃO PRETO, Brazil (BNC) — “The church meets here.” Today on Facebook this picture appeared of a sign on the front of the building of a congregação in the city of Ribeirão Preto, state of São Paulo. The congregation understands that the church has no name, because it is unique, one body, Ep 4.4, and that denominating the church with a name turns it into a denomination.

The sign communicates well the singularity of God’s church. It goes against the fad of giving increasingly creative and long names to entities that, by their teachings, are clearly human inventions and not divine.

We knew of another congregation in the northeastern Brazil whose official legal name is “The Church in ____.” The brethren in that city also give testimony to the uniqueness of the family of Christ.

May God’s people always be conscious that religious division is not an advantage for those who are looking for a church, but shame for those who reject God’s plan and invent their own religions, far from the divine commandment.

“I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to agree together, to end your divisions, and to be united by the same mind and purpose”
1 Corinthians 1.10 NET.

The question is, why don’t American churches show the same understanding?

Follow BNC stories