We need to re-balance ourselves. Balance. It can be done in one year, God willing, or it might take one thousand years.
We have to balance our views of the invisible and visible church. Sectarian Christians need to spend more time reading the scriptures that talk about (1) authority and (2) the universal church. Social-gospel Christians need to spend more time brushing up on exegesis and theology. And evangelical Christians need to hit the books and put their brains to work.
It seems almost too convenient that mainline churches and conservative churches have complementary ministries that would benefit both groups immensely.
Maybe church leaders will conduct interfaith talks for the next ten thousand years. Actual change is made, daily, by fallible believers in an infallible God.
Yes, our thoughts are formed by the churches we've attended. But our churches are closer than they may appear. I've skimmed over (lightly) the confessions of Methodists, Pentecostal, United Churches of Christ, Adventists, Baptists, Presbyterians, Reformed, Lutheran, and Anglicans -- these comprise the bulk of all evangelical churches (plus Anglicans, which are 'extra'). Though some may not pay attention to their own creeds anymore, their written confessions are nearly united in the essentials, and they all are united in the two fundamentals: Sola Fide and Sola Scriptura.
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