No.3, September 1993

 

WHY I BELIEVE IN THE INSTITUTIONAL CHURCH

 

            For most of my life I have had an ongoing quarrel with “the institutional church.” This is because I believe in it (or should I say her?). One doesn’t give his life to something he doesn’t believe in. I am optimistic about the future of the community of God upon earth. While I am not unaware of the many things that are not right about the church, I am hopeful about what the future holds. If there is cause to be pessimistic about the way things now are, such as all the ugly divisions among Christians, there are also reasons to be optimistic about the church of tomorrow.

 

            By the institutional church I mean the church that is out there in the world that all of us believers belong to in one way or another. While I think of no denomination as “the church,” or even all of them in the aggregate, I see the church as made up of all those who are in Christ, and these are in the various denominations, including our own Churches of Christ /Chris­tian Churches. All of us who are true disciples of Christ constitute what Thomas Campbell called “the Church of Christ upon earth,” scattered as we may be among all the sects and denominations.

           

            To put it another way, denominationalism is something that has happened to the church, but the church is still there. In these few paragraphs I want to tell you why I believe in the institutional church, and this at a time when many are bad­mouthing it and leaving it so as to “start over.” And those who start afresh (“We are not a denomination!”) eventually become a denomination, but not necessarily a sect. The distinction is crucial. We can avoid being a sect (by not being sectarian!) but I am not sure we can escape, in time, being a denomination, and that may not be as bad as some have made it. Alexander Campbell, for one, conceded he had started another denomina­tion, though that was not his intention.

           

            It is what we are - all of us, the institutional church - that I believe in. I believe in it because Jesus must have been referring to it when he said “the gates of hades shall not prevail against it” (Mt. 16:19). I take that to mean that no demonic force, no untoward circumstance, no siege of persecution can destroy the Body of Christ upon earth. This is the church we know, the church of history, the church that has been here since Pentecost. However blighted by faction, false doctrine, or the cares of this world, it is still the church. It is inviolable and indestructible. It is also essentially and constitutionally one, for Christ cannot be divided. Factionalism may beset it, but still it is one. For all of its warts this is God’s community on earth, within what we call “the institutional church.”

 

            I believe in it because it gave us the heroes of the earliest centuries, including the many martyrs who laid down their lives rather than denounce Christ.

 

            I believe in it because it gave us Augustine and all the noble fathers of the middle ages. I believe in it because it gave us Martin Luther and the Reformation. And James O’Kelly, Bar­ton Stone, and Alexander Campbell of our own immediate heritage. And all the noble women of the faith. It is the church itself that has produced its reformers. It was those of the institutional church that were imprisoned, beaten, and burned at the stake.

 

            It is the institutional church that gave us the Bible, along with its many translations. And biblical scholarship with its ongoing ministry of interpretation. That is why it matters what the church has said through the centuries about the meaning of Scripture. And missionary outreach to every nook and corner of the world, building hospitals and schools as well as churches. The church has been a great blessing to the world. It would in fact be a far different world were it not for the church.

           

            And I believe in it because of you. You are the institutional church. You assemble yourselves each week to “call upon the name of the Lord” and you seek to follow Christ every day of your lives. For that reason I love you every one. You are my sisters and brothers. If I know my heart, I would lay down my life for you as Christ laid down his life for us all. In spite of all of our failures we are the church militant upon this earth. We will one day join the church triumphant in heaven.

           

            That is why I am not leaving, including that segment of the institutional church in which I was let down. Until the final summons comes I’ll be around, carrying on my lover’s quarrel. - Leroy

 

WHEN ANGELS CALL: A FOOTNOTE

 

                While we were visiting with Bill and Jeanie Henry in Trenton, New Jersey, their grown twin daughters, Sheila and Sherry, told us of an experience that I would like to share with you. Their maternal grandmother whom they loved deeply had died. They had made the trip to Ohio for her burial. The next day on their way home it was a bitterly cold, grey day as they stopped at a restaurant restroom.

 

                As one of the sisters was washing her hands, she had the feeling that someone was watching her. Looking into the mirror in front of her, she noticed a woman with long white hair who was shabbily dressed. The stranger stood behind her looking intently at her and smiling. Feeling too grieved to pass small talk with anyone, she intended to ignore her. As she reached for a paper towel, she turned to confront the stranger.

 

                “You know the Lord!,” said the old lady, “I knew from the moment I saw you that you did. I know you are upset.” At those sympathetic words she began pouring out her grief to the kindly old lady, telling her things she normally would not share with strangers”.

 

                The new friend revealed to her that her grandmother loved them very much and did not want to leave them, but when she saw her husband and the Lord she knew she had to go. When one of the sisters said, “I hope she did not suffer any pain;” the little old lady replied that she did not.

 

                There was anxiety about the treacherous weather, and this was expressed to the new friend. She said, “Go, the Lord will be with you, and you will be kept in safety!” She then said she was on her way to visit someone else who needed help, and she thought that this person was in Cleveland.

 

                About that time the girls’ mother came in and the new friend said, “That is your mother.” But the mother never saw the stranger even though she had walked between the three of them.

 

                Then this dear lady held out her arms and said, “Come to me my children!” The sisters and their new friend locked in an embrace. The girls experienced such, comfort as they had never experienced in their lifetime as her loving arms enfolded them. As the girls expressed their love for their new friend, she said, “Go in peace, my children! The Lord will be with you!” As they were leaving with tears streaming down their cheeks, she told them not to look back. Women waiting outside complained that they tried to enter but the door was locked. The girls and their mother waited outside the restroom for the stranger, but she never appeared.

 

                “Forget not to show love unto strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares” (Heb. 13:2) now has new meaning for me. - Ouida

 

THE NONPARTY PARTY

 

                We may suspect that the “I am of Christ” faction in the church at Corinth was as sectarian as the others, perhaps more, for there is nothing like wearing the right name. The others ­the Paulites, Cephasites, Apollosites - all wore human names and were “denominations,” while the Christites or Christians were non-party, non-denominational.

 

                There is nothing more sectarian than the non-party party, the non-denominational denomination. This is because such a group finds its reason for existence in its own distinctiveness, carefully isolating itself from other believers. How can one do better than to say “We are of Christ?” Is that not sufficient ground to have nothing to do with those that are of Paul or Cephas or Apollos?

               

                But Paul found the situation in Corinth intolerable. They were all “carnal” (l Cor. 3: I), a forceful word that means to be of the flesh, the “Christian” party as well as the others. This is because each party had the “I” or “We” or “Us” mentality that set them apart from the others. It is evident that there was no love lost between the parties. Each party demands that you love only those loyal to the party, and “faithfulness” is loyalty to the party more than to Christ.

 

                It may appear appropriate to say, “We disapprove of all your denominations; we are just Christians, we are of Christ,” but it runs the risk of being self-righteous. And it nearly always breeds exclusivism: we are right and all others are wrong. therefore we have nothing to do with them. There is a better way. Paul refers to it in what he says to these factions, “When you come together to eat wait for one another” (1 Cor. 11:33). While each party was eating separately, excluding the others, the apostle enjoins that they eat together, not separately. It is a great imperative for Christian fellowship, to accept other believers as equals.

 

                We are all more or less guilty of not waiting, not accept­ing, not associating. The newer “non-denominational” move­ments, such as the Bible churches, can be and often are intensely sectarian, exclusive, and doctrinaire. They are the only ones who are really right, and no one else in town really teaches the Bible! Their growth is nearly always the disen­chanted from “the denominations” rather than the lost of the world. They “go their own way” and “have their own church” and are disinclined to “wait” on other believers. Ecumenical is a bad word!

 

                If we are serious about being “of Christ” or “non-party” or “non-denominational,” it is better that we be loving, forgiv­ing, accepting like Christ was. To be “Christians only” should mean to be intensely Christlike, following only him and accept­ing all those that he accepts. We will never be “of Christ” in any party sense if we “wait” for others like Christ does, including those “not of us” (Mk. 9:38-39). Let us receive others as Christ receives us. - Leroy

 

                After long years of being confined to her home with sundry responsibilities, Ouida is becoming something of a traveler. She has learned to “pack light.” So far this year we have made two trips to Tulsa, two to California, one each to New Jersey and Oregon. Before the year is out we will, the Lord willing, be in Austin and Lubbock, Texas, New Cumberland, WV (when we will also return to Bethany, one of our old homes), and then the big one in September - China!

 

                The China trip has two dimensions. We join a mission group of 10 couples who will teach the Bible in homes of Chinese people who have requested such study. There will be two weeks of this, after which Ouida and I will remain in China for another two weeks to lecture in universities. We will be telling you all about it.

 

                Our return to Princeton Seminary for my class’s 45th reunion reminded us how much things change and how much they remain the same. Several of our lecturers were women, and they were impressive. In my day the seminary had few women students and no women faculty; now they are a third of the student body and several are faculty. The issues are different: ecological theology, ethnicity, global ethics (especially third-world concerns), and ordaining homosexuals, an undreamed of issue in my time. The Presbyterians are fearful of an eventual division over ordaining gays and lesbians to the ministry. But much of the campus is as it has always been, and the real problems of people and churches remain much the same.

 

                It is always a blessing to visit the Liberty Street Church of Christ in Trenton, N.J., which I always do when I return to Princeton. But this time Ouida was along, and we could be together once more with the church that nurtured us while we studied at Princeton. Bill Henry, minister of the church, and his wife Jeanie are very dear to us. Their two grown daughters, Sherry and Sheila, told us an exciting story of their encounter with a very special stranger. I have persuaded Ouida to pass it along to you in this issue as a footnote to her earlier piece on angels. You will want to read it.

 

                In Oregon we stayed in a cabin alongside a river and slept under blankets. I was part of the program at a camp conducted by a newly formed Christian Church in Sweet Home that does not want to “do church” as usual. Ouida served on the kitchen crew that served exciting meals. They have a real sense of community and seek consensus on all decisions. I predict for them an exciting future. Afterwards we rented a car and drove to Seattle for a few days of pure vacation. We rode the monorail to Seattle Center, walked the water front, visited museums, saw Mt. St Helena explode on an Omni screen, and cruised the locks. The locks especially impressed us.

 

                As I always do when traveling on Sunday, I searched the Yellow Pages for the Church of Christ closest to our hotel. I detected from talking to the minister that it was a nonclass, one-cup congregation. We were planning to attend when he graciously conceded that we might want to attend a “cups church” only two blocks from his church. He was so courteous that we ended up visiting both churches. At the “mainline” church I learned the minister’s parents were both old college friends of mine of over a half century ago at Freed-Hardeman. I had roomed with his father and had dated his mother! When I got home, I called the parents to renew old acquaintances. When we dropped by the one-cup church the service was over, but we took time to enjoy rich fellowship and call to mind mutual acquaintances. I know many of the leaders in all of our various divisions. I assured these dear brethren that I understand their position, and that they have every right, even a duty, to worship according to their conscience, and that we do not have to sever fellowship over such matters. I told them that brotherhood is not predicated upon how we serve the Supper or whether we sing acapella or any other scruple, but upon our common relationship to Jesus Christ. I emphasized that they were as much my sisters and brothers as those up the street, that I make no distinction and draw no lines. They seemed to agree, and I was pleasantly surprised when the preacher had one of my books he wanted me to autograph. That beautiful Lord’s day confirmed what I had told Ouida, that in keeping our date with the Lord around his table in his assembly he would reward us with joys that far exceed sightseeing, and usually there are surprises.

 

                The first Sunday back home I spoke at the First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) here in Denton, which recently celebrated its 125th anniversary. Our oldest Church of Christ celebrates the same date. We were one church back in 1868. My subject was what the Cross says about unity. To express their appreciation they sent me flowers with an attending note, “From your sisters and brothers at First Christian Church.” They were assuring me that they got my point: together we draw no lines, even if other of our sisters and brothers sometimes do. It is a great blessing to be free to accept all those who are in Christ.

 

READER’S EXCHANGE

 

                Jesus said nothing about church structure, but only of the proper attitude toward God and man. If we realized this, we would see that church structure is an expedient, and this would give us an entirely different view of Paul’s writings on this subject. We would see it as a wise way for the church to function, but not as a divine pattern to be searched out and conformed to. It’s amazing how much the system enslaves us, isn’t it? ~ Melvin Weldon, San Leandro, Ca.

 

                (This is typical of the questions ministers among Churches of Christ are asking themselves about polity or church government. We are not only to see that Jesus left no “order” for the church, but what the apostles said in the main grew out of problems that arose, which differed from church to church. They never set forth a clear-cut church order. It might prove helpful if we had an ad hoc gathering of concerned minds, especially from the younger set, to work out “a proposed polity for Churches of Christ.” It would of course be only suggestive, but if it held promise of solving some of our severest problems, such as our authoritarian eldership, it might effect some change.)

 

                As for Craddock’s “wallowing in grace,” I see more people living with a load of guilt than with a load of grace. I would gladly err on the side of too much grace if only to combat the tendency to err on too much guilt. I will not preach cheap grace, but real grace, which is the answer to guilt and sin. ~ Terry Fisher, Holland, Mi.

 

                You said that one must believe and obey to enjoy forgiveness and eternal life. This brings up the old question of how much obedience is required before one can enjoy those blessings. This is the real issue in salvation by grace. How much obedience is required beyond faith before God accepts the sinner? ~ Bill Swetmon, Plano, Tx.

 

                (This is a good and honest question by a good and honest man. We are saved by grace, not by a legalistic system. But is there not a response we are to make to that grace? I see this as faith and obedience, but these cannot be viewed legalistically, such as in exact terms or steps. It is a matter of a humble and contrite (obedient) heart. God’s grace reaches out and accepts one’s stumbling, imperfect faith and obedience. It is a matter of heart more than of understanding. Now someone may ask how wrong can one be and still be accepted. He cannot be wrong in heart at all, though he may be weak in flesh and mistaken in understanding.)

 

                It is a blessing that College Press is keeping Louis Cochran’s books in print, for they are most helpful in the study of Restoration history. The Fool of God is a historical novel on the life of Alexander Campbell, and is great reading (Ouida and I have read it aloud to each other twice!). $12.00 postpaid. His Raccoon John Smith is a historical novel on another pioneer preacher, which gives another perspective of our heritage, and highly entertaining. $12.00 postpaid. Captives of the Word is Cochran’s short history of the movement, and again is highly informative, especially his chapter on “The Church With Three Faces.” $14.00 postpaid.

 

                Waymon Miller’s New Testament Elders, another new title by a veteran preacher and elder among Churches of Christ, is part of the answer to our leadership crisis. In a loving but forceful way he exposes the error of the authoritarian style. He sees elders as shepherds more than “rulers” and questions the traditional meaning of obey and submit. ­Get this book and then pray for a way to get it into the hands (and hearts!) of our elders. $8.50 postpaid.

 

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