BY LEROY LAWSON
One thing is certain—there is no shortage of churches.
You can take your pick among the hundreds of different kinds, from the proud old denominations like the Episcopalian and Presbyterian to the newer, more energetic Assembly of God or Seventh Day Adventists, to say nothing of those amazingly numerous and various cults that keep springing up. In the midst of such diversity, what is special about our church?
What kind of a church is it, anyway?
Paradox and a Challenge
We answer paradoxically. The distinc-tive about this Christian church is that it has no distinctives. In fact we deliberately seek not to be different, because our goal is unity, not division. Christianity has suffered long enough from deep divi-sions separating denomination from de-nomination, Christian from Christian. When Jesus prayed “that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us” (John 17:21), he had us in mind. In the spirit of his prayer we seek unity with all others in Christ. Obviously that desire is difficult to achieve. Human nature resists oneness. We seem to believe with Robert Frost that “good fences make good neighbors,” even though something within us “doesn’t love a wall, [but] wants it down.” God desires unity, however, so it must be possible.
Our Roots
Christian churches and churches of Christ trace their modern origins to the early 19th-century American frontier, a period of militancy among denominations. America’s pioneers brought their deeply rooted religious convictions to the new land and perpetuated their old animosities. Presbyterian squared off against Anglican who defended himself against Baptist who had no toleration for Lutheran. A reaction to this mutual animosity was inevitable.
When it came, the reaction was sponta-neous. A group of New England Christians broke out of denominationalism, announc-ing their intention to follow the Bible only. Another group in Kentucky, and still another in Pennsylvania, each independent of the others, felt the spirit of unity mov-ing them to stand with, not against, fellow Christians. Under the leadership of minister
Barton W. Stone, some Presbyterian leaders in Kentucky published The Last Will and Testament of the Springfield Presbytery, putting to death their denominational connections. They said, “We will, that this body die, be dissolved, and sink into union with the Body of Christ at large; for there is but one body, and one Spirit . . .”
The early leaders of what later came to be called the Restoration Movement believed unity in Christ was— and is— possible. To achieve it required letting go of human traditions and loyalties to dynamic per-sonalities. Christ alone could be exalted. The ideal of the church that emerges from the pages of the New Testament must be the standard for today’s congregations.
Studying the Ideal
While gratefully acknowledging their debt to great reformers like Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Knox, and others, these “Christians only” believed their reforms remained unfinished. The only way to determine what the church should be and how Christians should behave is to study New Testament documents in which the churches of Christ are presented in splendor — and in shortcomings. While there is no single church that we should imitate, the ideal of the church as the body of Christ, the household of faith, the temple of the Holy Spirit, and the people of God is clear-ly pictured. In a unity effort initially separated from the Stone movement, another Presbyterian minister, Thomas Campbell, published his now famous Declaration and Address in 1809. He had earlier migrated to Pennsylvania from his home in Ireland. While still there, he had grown restless with the strictures of his denomination, the Old-Light Anti-Burgher Seceder Presbyterian Church, a splinter of a split of a division in the denomination.
When he found the divisions caused by local grievances in Scotland separat-ing Presbyterians in America, he rebelled. He would not exclude nonmembers of his denomination from Communion in his church. He was expelled from his presby-tery. It was really a question of who fired whom, for by this time Campbell could not carry out policies he deplored.
His son Alexander, meanwhile, had reached similar conclusions in his stud-ies in Ireland and Scotland and, when fa-ther and son were reunited in America in 1809, each embraced the other’s position. In time, the son surpassed the father as the leader of their unity movement.
Principles for Today
In his Declaration, Thomas Campbell set forth principles that sound as modern as today to New Testament Christians:
That the church of Christ upon earth is essentially, intentionally, and consti-tutionally one; consisting of all those in every place that profess their faith in Christ and obedience to him in all things according to the Scriptures. . . .
That . . . there ought to be no schisms, no uncharitable divisions among [local congregations].
That . . . nothing ought to be inculcated upon Christians as articles of faith; nor required of them as terms of communion; but what is expressly taught and enjoined upon them, in the Word of God.
That . . . the New Testament is as per-fect a constitution for the worship, dis-cipline, and government of the New Testament church, and as perfect a rule of the particular duties of its mem-bers, as the Old Testament was for the worship, discipline, and government of the Old Testament church. . . .
That . . . [no] human authority [has] power to impose new commands or ordinances upon the church, which our Lord Jesus Christ has not en-joined.
There are more propositions, but these are enough to show Campbell’s unusual good judgment. From his day until now, millions of others have de-cided they also wanted to be Christians only, without the complications of denomination.
Why I Belong to the Christian Church
BY RALPH KINNEY BENNETT
“What church are you with?”
“Christian.” “No, I mean what denomination.”
“Christian. We just call ourselves Christians.
“Oh.”
I could not begin to count how many times I have engaged in such an exchange, and I am sure it is familiar to many in our fellowship. By insisting that Christians should call themselves just that, the 19th-century American religious leader Alexander Campbell clearly signaled a return to fundamentals and equipped us with a marvelous intellectual “foot-in-the-door.”
Simplicity
Once we begin to explain why we call ourselves “Christians only,” once we intro-duce the biblical foundation, the logic, the simplicity of it, we have opened the way to the very roots and heart of what the church is and is supposed to be. It is the body of Christ on earth. It is supposed to be— despite all the well-intentioned additions and accretions we humans have put upon it— nothing more or less than spiritually reborn people worshipping God and living by his Word.
Why am I a member of the church of Christ? Because I believe independent Christian churches and churches of Chris strive to remove all the manmade clutter between me and the worship of the Lord. In that, these congregations cleave to the New Testament ideal. That ideal is characterized by simplicity.
Is there anything so spare in its outlines yet so rich in its reality as the New Testament church? The New Testament picture of Christians congregating portrays nothing elaborate— just people praying, praising, and preaching. These essential elements—baptism and partaking at the Lord’s table — are presented in the simplest, most straightforward and unornamented way. It is clear that they are not rituals but rather dynamic acts of participation.
Baptism is the indelible benchmark of a sacred transaction between an individual soul and God himself.
The Lord’s table is the continuing living link with the historical act of Christ’s sacrifice.
Variety
On the other hand, the New Testament picture of Christian living is a rich tapestry of transformed lives. Weak men grow strong in faith, fire-breathing persecutors become courageous defenders of faith, ordinary people battle with sin and triumph — learning to love, to share, to comfort and counsel, to meet the challenges of life in partnership with the Spirit. Both pictures portray worship in its fullest, truest sense. That’s the point.
Visit many Christian churches and you will find great variety in the way God is worshipped. But it is variety within limits. I’ve been to services I found a bit too “con-temporary” for my taste, and to others that were a tad too restrained. But I may gen-erally depend upon certain things—the vivid preaching of sound doctrine (our churches are preaching churches), the pre-cious comfort of the Lord’s table, prayer, and praise through song.
And one more thing. There is seldom any sense of hierarchy, but rather a sense of mutual ministry— because sharing Christ and him crucified is the task of everyone from the pulpit to the parking lot and beyond.
Our Position
How shall we summarize what kind of church we are talking about?
Perhaps the following terms will help.
A Christian church
Our message is that “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.” We require no other creed. He alone is Lord and Savior.
A church of Christ
The church belongs to him. We have no authority to change the teachings, rewrite the rules, alter membership requirements, or usurp his place. The church is not a democracy.
A church seeking unity
Like the Campbells and Stone, members of this church seek to be one in Christ with all others he calls his own.
A church seeking to restore
As much as possible, we imitate the New Testament precedents. That is why our baptism is by immersion, our Communion is every Lord’s Day, our leaders are called elders, our preaching is about Christ, and our prayers are in Christ’s name. Even our church name is rooted in the earliest days, when disciples were called Christians and their congregations were often addressed as “churches of Christ.”
An apostolic church
The church, Ephesians 2:20 states, is “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.” Whatever we know about Christ and the church we learned from Jesus’ closest companions, the apostles.
A thinking church
In the same Ephesian letter, Paul prays that God will give a “Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better…………. ” Christian faith demands the best our minds can give, so we are a studying church, seeking to apply biblical truth intelligently.
A feeling church
Ours is not a dryly intellectual approach to God, however. We rejoice and praise and pray and love and serve from the heart. We are unashamed of the gospel and not embarrassed to let our excitement be seen.
A sharing church
We share our faith and love with as many as we can reach and our possessions as persons who know that everything we have belongs to God to be used for his purposes.
A free church
We have no bishops or superintendents or national headquarters to determine local church policies. We elect our own leaders, call and support our own ministers, and decide where our mission money will go. We are not isolationists, though. Our congregations freely associate with one another to accomplish tasks too big for one church alone.
A growing church
We want to grow, because we are under Christ’s commission to disciple the world. We haven’t completed the task yet, so Christian churches and churches of Christ are renewing our commitment to go unto the ends of the earth, preaching and baptizing and teaching, until the whole world knows the one Lord of all.
— LeRoy Lawson
Staying Connected
Without denominational structure or headquarters, Christian churches and churches of Christ still stay remarkably well connected. Several agencies and entities help this happen.
Working Together
About 6,000 congregations in the United States today consider themselves as part of the fellowship of independent Christian churches and churches of Christ. They do not comprise a denomination, and there is no organization of national or inter-national oversight. Each church is locally autonomous. Despite diversity in many areas, the churches have much in common: (1) a common understanding of Scripture, (2) a common heritage, and (3) a common goal: to restore the biblical pattern so that Christians united can connect the world to the God who made them.
Those 6,000 churches have a total membership close to 2 million. They support more than two dozen colleges and seminaries, with more than 15,000 students. They also support hundreds of parachurch ministries, including church camps, church planting associations, children’s homes, campus ministries, publishing houses, and benevolent agencies. They participate in regional and national conferences, and avail themselves of other opportunities for cooperation in ministry.
North American Christian Convention www.gotonacc.org
The North American Christian Conven-tion usually meets once each summer for several days of preaching, workshops, and fellowship. It is not a delegate convention. It conducts no business except that of approving a steering committee to plan fu-ture conventions. It is a time of inspiration and connecting. Many would say that see-ing friends from far and wide is the main reason they attend the NACC each year, although the program offers many oppor-tunities to learn from nationally known speakers and leaders.
