I’M NOT LEAVING

By the contingency of birth I grew up in the Church of Christ. I was immersed at the hands of one of the old-timers and was schooled in not just one but two Church of Christ colleges. My teachers had long since been among the most eminent of the brotherhood, including such stalwarts as N. B. Hardeman, H. Leo Boles, L. L. Brigance, C. H. Roberson, and James F. Cox. Some of my teachers supposed that I too might gain some eminence among our people. It certainly was not predicted that I would one day walk out and leave the Church of Christ to go its own way.

In these days when far too many are walking out for all sorts of reasons, I wish to go on record again and say that I’m not leaving—despite the gentle hints to the effect that I might as well. I may charge our people for what I believe to be serious shortcomings, but this is because I love them. I want to help make our people more Christian, more mature, more in touch with the Christian world, more concerned for ecumenicity, and more aware of the human predicament. I cannot do this as well by joining the Baptists or Methodists, and besides I could not conscientiously take such a step anyhow. I am staying where God put me by birth, believing that he wants me to serve where I found myself. But I stay also because of conviction. Problems are not usually solved by running off, and this is why I urge would-be defectors to stay put and work for wholeness where they are. If the Church of Christ is so bad that one is tempted to leave, then it needs the help of those who would walk out.

My efforts for renewal and reform may cause me to be loved less, if loved at all. But it is more important that I love than that I be loved. What I want for our people is more important than what I actually accomplish. David did not get to build the temple, but God blessed him because it was in his heart to do so. I love the Church of Christ, and there isn’t much the brethren can do about that. That I believe it has become another party within Christendom does not dampen my hope for its potential for Christian witness and unity.

If one labors for oneness and brotherhood these days, it almost has to be within the framework of some party, for that is all there is. Within all parties there are many who are praying and working for better conditions. Such ones should remain where circumstance has placed them, so long as they can believe that this is God’s will for them, and there work constructively for renewal through recovery.

This is why the present unity movement will not end in another sect. We urge people not to become factious nor troublesome, but to be peacemakers, remaining where they are and exercise diligence to preserve the unity of the Spirit. We are not forming a party. No one is urged to join us, for there is nothing to join-unless indeed it be “the fellowship of the concerned ones” that labors only to build up and not to divide. Part of the problem here, insofar as the Church of Christ folk are concerned, is that we feel this way about Baptists and Christian Church brethren also. We do not think they should leave where they are and join the Church of Christ. Rather they should join themselves to the Lord more devotedly and work where they are.

Surely one may have to leave a communion and go to another. It does happen and sometime should. That would include their leaving the Church of Christ and going elsewhere. Yet we would urge as a general rule of Christian maturity for one to stay where he is and help those he best knows and who best know him. One certainly does not escape sectarianism by running from one denomination to another.

Anyhow I’m staying. Brethren in high places, and low places too, may not want me on their lectureships or in their pulpits, and I may for all practical purposes be disinherited by many. But I can write and such brethren will read, God bless them. And after 16 years as an editor I can testify to a lot of change in attitude. Now there is more encouragement that I continue my efforts. Many of the younger ministers assure me that a better day is dawning. We are pleased to be alive in these exciting times and to help make history. So I look forward to 1969.—the Editor