Imagine a world with no denominations?

Dr. Albert Mohler featured a discussion on the death of denominations a few days ago and it was an interesting show: Life in Post-Denominational America. Dr. Mohler had a particular expertise and vested interest in this question as an employee of a denominational seminary but I think he also gave the subject a fair treatment.

I think by almost any measure we are witnessing the death throes of the denominational system. Not necessarily the underlying doctrinal distinctions, but the system of denominations itself. Many churches that hold to what used to be characteristic of a particular denomination are adopting a less obvious name (so and so community church, etc). Churches that would hold to virtually all of the historic Baptist distinctive are tripping over themselves to not call themselves Baptists.

On the positive side, denominations do an awful lot of cooperative work among member congregations especially when it comes to mission work and to a lesser extent when it comes to seminaries. I remain utterly unconvinced that the seminary system is a good one, but I do see value in some sort of academia in the church. I do see the value in pooling money to support mission work at home and abroad even though I recognize the inefficiencies that can crop up in that system.

On the negative, denominations carry a lot of baggage. The first is that they are absent completely from the New Testament. There were not Presbyterian, Baptist, Lutheran and Methodist local churches in the primitive church. There was just the church. Denominations tend to add to the confusion among Christians (which one is “right”?) Denomination after denomination has slipped into theological liberalism and you can argue that even those that haven’t (like the Southern Baptist Convention), have still wandered away from the core purpose of the church. Denominations can and often have been choked with bureaucracy and become the source of petty fights over power and money.

I think that the trends are pretty clear. Americans at least are by and large moving away from organized religion and into more vague forms of spirituality. Walking hand in hand with this trend is the trend away from hierarchical denominations and more toward autonomous and independent local churches.

What do you think? Is the death of denominationalism a long overdue event that should be viewed as a positive? Or is it the latest sign in a world of watered down doctrinal fidelity? What does a denominationless world look like?