THE HOPE OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST TODAY
by PAT BOONE

(This is the conclusion of excerpts from letters from Pat Boone to a professor at a Church of Christ college, who plans to publish a book in response to Pat’s and Shirley’s recent religious experiences. We pass this on to our readers with Pat’s permission and with the expectation that it will encourage others in Churches of Christ to think and act for themselves and to be an individual before God.—the Editor)

I believe the hope of the Church of Christ today is not to further develop a rigid pattern by which we make everybody alike, or try to, but in encouraging every Christian to find his own, individual, vital, active relationship with Jesus.—Pat Boone

I am writing this from Japan. Just last night I spent some time with a Christian businessman from the States, who is a member of the church close to Osaka, and active with our Christian College here. He echoes the confusion and concern I find more and more all over the world in church circles: what do we have to offer that other groups don’t have? How do we explain the division in Christianity in a way that a Buddhist or a Shinto or a Moslem or a heathen can understand? And after we convert them, how do we keep them?

He told me they’ve baptized 50 in the last 11 months, which is wonderful. But one by one they’re all drifting away. The idea of Christ and salvation sounds good to them at first. They obey, in an initial way, but then so little happens. Even worship services soon begin to be routine and predictable. The “do’s” and “don’ts” we teach have little effect. So these people slip back to their old familiar habits, and it is impossible to reach them again. Why?

So little happens! That’s why.

Part of the problem is that we’ve esteemed ourselves as better than others. Strife and vainglory have abounded. Oh, I know we’ve felt we were defending doctrine, and in many instances we have been. But from this sense of “rightness” has come an air of superiority, which has a negative effect on others. Instead of letting God show them His will, perhaps through our example and humility, we’ve tried to bind others to our concepts, right or wrong, and judge, condemned and excluded them if they didn’t agree with us.

Paul says in Philip. 2:13: “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” He will do it if we will but let him, but we erect barriers both in ourselves and in others. We often just get in the way, and thus keep God from acting in people’s lives. We judge others and drive them away.

This is why people become discouraged and leave. We’re not letting God “work in us both to will and to do his good pleasure.” We want it done our way, according to our concepts of what His will is, instead of encouraging each Christian to find out what God’s will is for him, through his own study and prayer. We do not help people to find their own exciting and vital relationship with the Lord Jesus, who is just waiting and ready to “come in and sup with him.”

We are afraid to do that! Suppose someone comes up with a different conclusion than our own? What if they decide that God expects of them something different from what we believe God expects of them? That is too dangerous. We can’t tolerate that much freedom. ‘Tis better if we keep everything regulated and everybody alike, and tell these converts exactly what they must think on each point, as we do each other. That way we take no chances!

But that is why so little happens in people’s lives. They drift away, especially our own youth. And this brings me back to my main point, which comes from months of agonizing soul-searching, prayer and study: I believe the hope of the Church of Christ today is not to further develop a rigid pattern by which we make everybody alike, or try to, but in encouraging every Christian to find his own, individual, vital, active relationship with Jesus.

We are not to give a man all the answers. Ask him a few questions. Find out what he thinks, what he has discovered. Let him tell us what Jesus has shown him. Let’s do some listening and find out how God has acted in his life and answered his prayers, and been real to him. Surely we are to offer what guidance we can, but in a way that will encourage him to have his own adventure with the living God. And let’s not grow uneasy about where his adventure may take him!

This will sound dangerous to those who doubt God’s willingness and power to nourish that new convert. Do we really believe that passage that tells us that everything works together for good to those who love God?

I am not afraid any more about what influence my book may have. Even if I am wrong on some points, Even if I am wrong on some points, down no rules.* I don’t try to persuade people to be like me or believe like I believe. I simply tell my story. I encourage others to find their own answers and to discover their own relationship with Jesus. It does not have to be our way. I only want God “to work his own pleasure” in them. We urge everyone to read the Word, to see it as quick and relevant, and to allow God to speak to his own heart.

We can testify to the change that this has wrought in our own lives: the freedom, the joy, the intimacy with Christ, and the discovery that God is in control and ready to lead all who will be led.

I know how earnest you are and how you love God and reverence doctrinal purity. This is wonderful, but it must be mixed with an awareness of man’s inherent fallibility. Even if you have studied for 40 years (or 400 or 4,000), it does not qualify you to make the final, emphatic pronouncements you make. Socrates asked questions; you make rules.

I know your love for me and Shirley, but I don’t see this love manifested in your judgments and indictments, and in your use of personal letters and conversations in such a public way and against our will. We have asked that you address yourself to the issues and not against us personally. You are trying to make us the issue or our experiences, whereas you should consider the question of what God’s Spirit will do or is doing today. You don’t want to hurt us, and yet you know you are. It is not the personal harm I fear, but the effect this will have upon the church. Your promoting the choosing of sides, whereas in our book we have simply related an experience. Which is likely to cause more division, our telling what God has done in our lives or your rigid judgment and condemnation of people and ideas?

It is one thing to believe something strongly and to contend for it, but it is something else to feel so right about them that we condemn, judge and disfellowship those who disagree with us. This is what causes the divisions that result in a total break-down of communication. If Shirley and I are wrong about what we’ve come to believe about the Holy Spirit, we are much more likely to be led out of our error by loving fellowship and prayerful study than by the ranting and raving of accusations and the disfellowshipping that goes with it. I can’t see that differences about the Holy Spirit should be a basis for disfellowship among us.

Some may feel they have to disfellowship or “withdraw” from us, even people we’ve never met, because we believe things they don’t. This is sad and wrong, and I can see no Bible basis for it. The issue in this case is deeper spirituality. It is a matter of greater joy and commitment. If we are wrong or overzealous, God will correct us and overrule in what influence we may have on others.

And surely the time must come, hopefully soon if not now, when the church can have diversity without division. Then brethren in Christ can differ in their belief and experiences and still be brothers, for together they stand on the sure foundation, which is Christ (1 Cor. 3:10-15).

Christians divided over the beliefs of Luther, Wesley, Calvin, and Campbell. This was because “the Establishment” felt compelled to withdraw from these poor, misguided souls who had the audacity to go their own way, interpret the Bible for themselves, and to choose God rather than the majority.

The Inglewood congregation has been given an opportunity for significant leadership in this regard. Our elders are harassed and pressured and questioned from all across the country. They have a golden opportunity to demonstrate the real meaning of congregational autonomy, which includes the God-given right of one man to differ from another in his study of the Bible, and the freedom to share his views with others. This is Inglewood’s chance to show what Christian unity really means, that there can be diversity without division, as in 1 Cor. 12:3-21 and Eph. 4.

Inglewood has the opportunity to set an example before the entire brotherhood in being a congregation whose elders do lead the flock and instruct it, and in doing so allow the sheep their own individuality.

There are too many men in the church today and not enough sheep. I pray that we in the Church of Christ will trade in our men-qualities for sheep-credentials, and thus discover what it really means to be a new creature.

We have no selfish reason for making our experiences public. In fact publishing a book like A New Song runs the risk of destroying my career both in the entertainment world and in the church. It is therefore only because I believe God wants me to tell our story that I’m doing it. It is dedicated to Him. He knows it, and He knows my heart and my motives. He knows I intend to do His will. I believe Rom. 8:28 when it talks about everything working together for good to those that love God.

(You can order Pat Boone’s controversial book, A New Song, from Restoration Review, 1201 Windsor Dr., Denton, Texas 76201. See “Book Notes” for more details.)