UNITY MEET IN NEW YORK

The Fourth Annual Unity Forum was held in West Islip, N. Y., July 35, and since it has been our practice to report on these forums, we are pleased to say that it went very well indeed. There were serveral “firsts” this time, even though it was the fourth time around. It was the first time a noninstrument, mainline Church of Christ had sponsored a forum, though last year it was conducted by our premillennial brethren. It was also the first time it was held outside the southland, if indeed Bethany can be included in the south.

A more important “first” was the method of group dynamics that the West Islip elders elected to use as an approach to our problems. Led by Dr.Kenneth Schrable, a licensed psychologist of Concord, California, the forum of some 100 people were divided into groups of 10 or 12 each, wherein a kind of “group therapy” prevailed. Wearing tags with first name only, each one was urged to relate himself to the others in his group in an intimate, personal way, and not in terms of what faction in the brotherhood he represented, or whether he was a preacher, elder or Tennessean.

Each group also had its own uniqueness, with no group moving in exactly the same direction as any other. In my own group we began our first session by pairing off and getting acquainted with one other person. Once back in the circle, we would introduce our partner to the others, telling about him as a person rather than as a representative of some wing of our Movement. It turned out that in our circle we had premills, Independent Christian, nonclass, Disciples, and Church of Christ all represented, but by the time we found this out it did not seem to matter, if it ever did. We were brothers and sisters together in that circle, and we were all touched by Christ’s love in a special way.

We talked about each other’s strengths and weaknesses, even to the point of psychoanalyzing each other. We prayed together, confessed our sins to each other, and encouraged one another to use the talents given of God. We found a new dimension in togetherness. By the time we had our last session (there were three a day in these groups) we were ready to evaluate what it had meant to us. One sister said that she felt that she was really loved by others in the group, and with tears flowing went on to tell us of a very personal experience she had had with Jesus. Reluctant to tell it before, she poured out her heart to the delight of us all. She turned out to be the wife of one of our missionaries. Others stated that they had learned in an indirect way what unity was, that it had been experienced in the circle and in the forum as a whole.

One brother in the circle stated that one thing the group experience had meant to him was that hate had given way to love. He then rather jolted us by saying, “I hated Leroy Garrett, but now I love him.” That touched me deeply, of course, coming from a man that I had not even known before, but I hastened to point out that this was a great victory for him, not for me. This taught all of us what these unity efforts are all about. They help us to overcome hate (or indifference) with love.

Since no two groups did the same things, we all had fun in comparing notes on our different experiences. In one group two people faced each other, placed their hand on each other’s shoulders, and looked each other in the eye at length, to see what they could deep inside the other. This set the stage for their mutual probings. This “eyeballing” drew some criticism, mainly because it made therapists out of inexperienced people. Some thought it was even dangerous, and perhaps it was.

Lest I provide too much fuel for those who look for something to criticize, let me hasten to add that we did have some fine scriptural presentations, as well as very heartwarming assemblies with all the participants together. The most provocative, in my opinion, was an address by a black brother, Floyd Rose, on “The Hope of Unity Between Black and White.” This bold approach to the racial question as a part of Christian unity was another “first” in these forums, for we must confess that we had about forgotten the black church in these gatherings.

Not only did brother Rose review the history of racial prejudice in this country, but he spoke of his own experiences in the Church of Christ, showing that we ourselves have done little to make blacks and whites one in Christ, but have even perpetuated the indignities of one race upon another. He told how as a boy preacher with Marshall Keeble he would protest the erection of a rope through the center of the big tent in Keeble’s meetings, separating whites from blacks. When the invitation song was sung, he pointed Out, brother Keeble would receive the blacks while a white minister stepped forward to receive those of his race.

He also told of his unsuccessful efforts to enroll in Abilene Christian College. Even when he confronted the college president himself, asking for a reason why he could not study there, he could only get a “Ask brother Keeble. He’ll explain it to you.” He finally enrolled in a Methodist college, he told us, “ . . . where all those folks were that were going to hell!”

Time forbids that I tell of Dr. Robert Fife of Milligan College, who is always tremendous in both reasoning and scriptural exegesis; Carl Ketcherside, who would stand out even at a summit session of kings; Dr. Robert Shaw, a Disciples of Christ pastor who is struggling for “a free and responsible brotherhood” among those who are obsessed with restructure; Dr. Harold Thomas, who is such a dynamic person that he really doesn’t have to say much in order to benefit an audience, even though he does. Harold replaced Thomas Olbricht of Abilene Christian College, who was ill at the time.

I especially enjoyed Dwain Evans, minister at West Islip, who coordinated the forum. He is a delightful Christian who has demonstrated on Long Island what the church of our Lord throughout this country can become. No congregation among us is quite on “the growing edge of things” as is West Islip, and yet they are as faithful to the fundamentals as any. Their foresight and imagination in God’s work on earth are matched only by the measure of criticism that has been heaped upon them by those who do not understand. “Blessed are you when men revile you for my name’s sake” seems applicable to this group that has invested time and money in the black ghetto of Brooklyn rather than in real estate on Madison Avenue. And their Faith Corps is the Church of Christ’s response to the Peace Corps. West Islip is surely a salvation army Church of Christ.

I have been chided for calling this congregation “mainline,” which means it is within the general framework of what most of us mean by Churches of Christ. It is mainline. One can be ahead—a kind of avant garde—and still be in the mainstream.

We are sometimes asked if these forums cause people to give up their error and accept the truth. That usually means do they give up what we oppose and accept what we endorse. More specifically, it is sometimes demanded of us to name those who have given up instrumental music, as if this would be the criterion for judging any unity effort. Our non-class brethren could just as well insist that these meetings should lead to a closing down of our Sunday School system.

We are going to have to be allowed different criteria for evaluating unity conferences, for it does not necessarily follow that our problem of division is centered in things like organs, classes, and cooperative TV programs. It may rather be how each of us stands in reference to Christ. Surely we can all agree that men are brought closer to each other as they are brought closer to the Lord. We must learn that two men can enjoy fellowship together because they are in Christ together and still have differing views on many things. Our concern therefore must be to grow in Christ together.

This happened at West Islip. It will always happen when men are brought together for the purpose of glorifying Christ in their lives. And if we can keep this up, we can someday, manifest to the world that God’s community on earth is indeed one. Men may not give up their organs or Sunday Schools, but they will give up their hate and indifference with all the littleness that these produce.—the Editor