CHURCH OF CHRIST ROAD MARKERS
by T. F. McNABB

The other day I was looking through my new copy of the latest Gospel Advocate catalog. I turned to the front inside page and saw an attractive advertisement which arrested my attention. In fact, I had to blink my eyes twice to make sure I was reading correctly; for there, in prominent letters, was an advertisement for “Church of Christ Road Markers.”

The reason I was momentarily startled was that I remembered reading sermons and articles in various unofficial Church of Christ publications that one should never use the phrase “Church of Christ” as an adjective. In fact, several times I had been corrected when casually referring to something about a “Church of Christ preacher”, “a Church of Christ orphanage”, “a Church of Christ college”, or a “Church of Christ Lectureship.” I was informed there were no such things and that this was the language of Ashdod!

And now here “Church of Christ” was being used as an adjective, on prominent display, coming from a leading seat of non-instrumental orthodoxy!

Now I find nothing essentially wrong in a church supply house, such as the Gospel Advocate company, selling “Church of Christ Road Markers,” or “Church of Christ” outdoor bulletin boards and signs. In fact, for those who wish to denominate themselves as such, I think it is economically feasible to have a standardized “Church of Christ” sign, which can be purchased at a centralized supplier.

The advertising goes on to state that “all [the signs] have ‘Church of Christ’ lettered in black in upper panel,” with a “black directional panel below which may be lettered locally.”

Now that sounds like a good idea—to have space for lettering the sign locally, for additional clarification.

One problem, however, is that “Church of Christ” is quite an ambiguous phrase, and without some clarification, there might be some confusion to those reading the directions.

I notice in reading church signs here and there over the country that many churches of different denominations are careful to properly denominate themselves, whereby visitors do not get confused as to what kind of church they might be attending.

For example, sometimes in the North, one sees a sign reading, “. . . . . Baptist Church (Southern Baptist Convention)” ; or, further down the street might be another church with a sign that reads, “. . . . . . .. Baptist Church (Non-Convention).” In one town I noticed one sign reading “Church of God—Headquarters, Anderson, Indiana,” while a few blocks across town was another sign reading, “Church of God—Headquarters, Cleveland, Tennessee.” These simple suffix explanations can mean a lot to members of these respective groups who want to be sure they have found the right church.

In some places nowadays the various Churches of Christ are making sure the public understands their differences, too, and that visitors to the city find the right kind of Church of Christ. For example, I have a Saturday church advertising page from a large city newspaper, and notice four or five different kinds of “Church of Christ.”

Twelve churches are listed in a block under “Churches of Christ,” with explanatory notes identifying them as premillennial; fourteen churches are listed in another “Churches of Christ” block identifying them as anti-premillennial, “a-mills” I suppose you could call them. Then a single church has a block all its own associating itself as a sponsor of the Herald of Truth Television program. I suppose this would be an institutional, pro-cooperative-efforts Church of Christ. Another group is blocked out as “Churches of Christ (Christian Church) ,” which leads one to believe they would be instrumental music churches.

If churches can be segregated in the newspaper, identifying themselves as to the party with which they belong, then it would seem a good idea to add sufficient remarks on a “Church of Christ Road Marker” sign or outdoor bulletin board sign to identify the party or theological school of thought to which it has allegiance.

A few years ago some old-line Congregational Church groups amalgamated and named their new organization the “United Church of Christ.” They now use that title locally. Surely no non-instrumental Church of Christ would want to be confused with that! A sign reading “Church of Christ—Not United,” might solve the problem. Some denominational neighbors, who had heard of some of the internal dissensions in the local Church of Christ, might feel the title quite fitting!

Then, too, in recent months some Churches of Christ have been disturbed by some few members who claim to have reached a closer relationship with the Holy Spirit than that ordinarily sanctioned by Church of Christ doctrines. Some even claim to have spoken in tongues! Now while this was controversial in the early church days of Paul, one should not be surprised that it would be controversial today, also. Paul dealt with the problem with charity and gave instruction concerning the regulation of the gift in the church, but nowhere do we read where he recommended those professing spiritual gifts be disfellowshipped from the communion of saints. One could hardly imagine Paul writing an excommunication bull on members who professed a deeper relationship in the Holy Spirit and who had given testimony of their experience. Neither could one imagine him sending this bull to the weekly Solid Rock periodical (assuming there was such a publication) as a notice to “the brotherhood.”

Some local churches, ministers and Church of Christ leaders want no part with such a Holy Spirit move. In order to serve notice to the public, perhaps they could letter their sign locally, adding an explanatory suffix. The sign would read “Church of Christ—No Tongues.” Passerbys might wonder how the members communicated with one another, but, nevertheless, this would be a notice to everyone of this church’s stand on this controversial issue.

There are other instances one could name, whereby proper identification could be locally lettered. We heard of one Restoration group that decided that since they spoke where the Bible spoke, they would abide by Paul’s admonition and “greet the brethren with a holy kiss.” Another local church ostracized this “heretical” church from fellowship. They would not be identified with this group! The church issuing the disfellowship notice might label their sign, “Church of Christ—No Holy Kissing.” Some young couples and other romantic prospects might shun the church with such a sign, but the sign would let the world know where they stood on this issue.

We heard about another Church of Christ group who decided they would abide by the Lord’s admonition and wash one another’s feet. Some other churches took offense at this. To let the public know where they stand, they might label their sign, “Church of Christ—No Feet Washing.” The public might raise their eyebrows as to the health and sanitation status of the members, but the suffix would identify the church as to what it was not.

There are a lot of other labels we could think of that could be placed on the black panel below the standardized “Church of Christ” lettering, such as, “Gospel Advocate”, “Gospel Guardian”, “Firm Foundation”, “Anti-cooperation”, “Anti-Orphan’s home church supporters”, “One-cuppers”, “No Handle Cuppers”, “Pro-christian Colleges”, “Fermented Grape Juicers”, “Plain Grape Juicers”, etc., to name only a few.

One wonders what the early church and saints did without such modern signs (these are advertised as “now reflectorized”), especially when many of the Christians had to meet secretly. Any kind of sign might have been to their disadvantage in inviting persecution and bringing an abrupt halt to their worship. But somehow they did grow and increase; the word was spread abroad, and many were added to the church daily. And that with no “Church of Christ Road Marker” signs, nor any other kind of denominational signs.

“Church of Christ Road Markers,” and standardized “Church of Christ” signs seem but another mark of a religious group maturing as a denomination. As someone remarked, when motoring along the road, and reading one of these signs: “There’s a Church of Christ sign. Is it pointing to a Church of Christ Church, where a Church of Christ minister preaches a Church of Christ sermon to the Church of Christ folks?” It could be!—T. F. McNabb is an army chaplain stationed at Fort Dix, N. J.