The Mini-Meeting Trail . . .

WHICH OF OUR SECTS WOULD CAMPBELL JOIN?

We had a special Sunday afternoon service in Murfreesboro, Tennessee recently. I addressed the First Christian Church that morning and had a large home gathering that evening. At an early hour that a.m. I had gone to Nashville with Norman and Ella Rae Parks to participate in the services of the avant garde Belmont congregation, an inner-city group that is as catholic as it is holy and apostolic and that fills its building several times on Lord’s day. It has the kind of service where the leather jacket set, the long-haired hippies, the exuberant college crowd, the crew cut business man, and tolerant orthodox main-liners all get turned on for Jesus. And this includes blacks and other minorities. As I sat there before services began, taking it all in, a mini-skirted college gal, chic and blond, strolled by with a Negro child on each hand.

But the Belmont Church of Christ, where the inimitable Don Finto labors, is a story all its own, and I am not attempting to tell the story here. It is enough to say that Nashville’s “hippie church” is one of the most exciting places in the brotherhood, however unsettling it is in orthodox circles. And it is a proven haven of rest to many burdened souls. I would not call it hippie at all, but rather a free church where one can be himself in the Lord and not be required to toe some party line. One lad from the down under set, who had been taken in for Jesus’ sake by a Belmonter, got up at a recent service to bear witness to what Jesus meant to him. He thanked the folk at Belmont with, “I’ll tell for sure, this church has done a hell of a lot for me!”

Enough said. And in Nashville, of all places!

The afternoon service in Murfreesboro was especially meaningful to me for two reasons: we had a good solid representation of our Restoration folk from far right to far left, and in the audience were two couples that I was especially pleased to see, Louis and Bess Cochran, and Mr. and Mrs. Boone, parents of Pat Boone. The Boone’s, who are delightful people and deeply spiritual believers, spent the rest of the day with us, sharing with us in detail the recent experiences of their famous son and his family as it appeared from their perspective. They were at first very concerned about Pat and Shirley, fearing that they had fallen prey to some fanciful California sect, for they heard lots of rumors before they were ever able to talk to Pat. But once they talked to their son and saw firsthand the glorious change that had come in his life, including a solution to some grievous problems that had long disturbed them all, they not only rejoiced but resolved that they too would study the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer.

This they did for well over a year, studying and praying together for the first time. Finally they too, both of them, had experiences similar to, but perhaps more dramatic, than Pat’s and Shirley’s, the details of which I will not divulge here in deference to their privacy. But it is now generally known in their home congregation, the College Church of Christ, which is hard to the campus of David Lipscomb College, that they are not exactly kosher on the Holy Spirit. But they are completely accepted by the brethren nonetheless and there has been no effort, even after sessions with the elders, to disparage their position. And I say three cheers for the College congregation for this openness. It is a sign of real spiritual growth when a congregation can keep on loving those who cannot manage to stay within the party mould.

I must admit that brother Boone’s story was convincing. A working man who is not given to much talk, and one deliberative enough to make decisions slowly, he studied the mission of the Spirit of Christ in his life for the first time — and for over a year

Then as he was praying early one a.m. before going to work, talking to the Lord as usual in his “down home” way, it happened. Well, it may be that I just haven’t spent enough time in Searcy, Arkansas, but I just can’t tell such a brother that it is only a case of indigestion or that Satan has him hooked. Especially when he sits there, so obviously good and honest hearted, and tells me he now has a joy he never before realized was possible.

Enough said. And in Nashville, of all places!

Louis and Bess Cochran are folk that I have a deep appreciation for due to their love for Restoration history and for being people of letters generally. I have the honor of being among the few who possess all of Louis’s novels, including Son of Haman, Row’s End, and Flood Tides, long since out of print. And these I have only because he was gracious enough to give them to me. But he and Bess are more widely known among us for their Captives of the Word, Raccoon John Smith, and Fool of God. Bess being a writer in her own right. I am not sure that Bess is the best man of the two (It is a draw!), but I notice that she can hold her own with her ingenious, ex-FBI husband.

A case in point was at that afternoon Murfreesboro meeting, at which time I reviewed the history of our movement, pointing to some of the fallacies of interpretation we have fallen into, such as equating the Restoration Movement with the church itself. So I had somewhat to say about Alexander Campbell, observing that he had no intention of restoring the church, which he acknowledged to have always existed, but to restore certain things to the church. I also pointed out that Campbell wanted to work within the established churches, that it was never his intention to separate from the Baptists (he vowed he would not leave them), and he certainly had no idea of starting another sect.

This brought Louie to his feet, not especially to approve of what was said, but to observe that if Campbell were alive today he would not join the Disciples of Christ (Louie’s affiliation), but that he would identify with the Church of Christ, “you folks,” he would indicate, pointing at me. I could have asked him which Church of Christ, but there was no reason to discourage a man who was being so gracious. He went on to explain that Campbell objected to instrumental music, comparing it to a cowbell in a symphony orchestra, and for that reason he would cast his lot with us.

Louie no more than got seated until Bess stood and said, “I’m his wife and I disagree with him!” She went on to say that she didn’t believe that Campbell would join any of our groups for the simple reason that he was not a sectarian. He would move among us all and all others, she insisted, but he would not favor any group to the exclusion of the others. She indicated that Campbell would be ashamed of our ugly divisions and would do his best to unite our forces and make God’s people one, just as he did before.

Those who are reading our series on Campbell’s travel letters will observe that the installment in this issue on his sojourn in New York supports Bess more than Louie. Campbell, upon arriving in New York in the early years of the Movement, found three congregations so divided that they could not break bread together. And so he would not associate himself with anyone of them to the exclusion of the others. Spending his time equally with all three, and through mass meetings that included them all, he worked for their unification, which was eventually effected.

It is noteworthy that he did not align himself with the church that most conformed to his own views. This is not the purpose of an assembly of believers, to congregate folk in some arbitrary conformity, but to cultivate oneness amidst diversity. People can be and will be different, somewhat different, and still be one in Jesus together. Campbell knew this, and so he would never be pleased with our plea for conformity rather than unity.

It doesn’t matter, of course, what Alexander Campbell would think of us (or, does think of us) should he again walk among men. It is only another way of looking at our condition. What really matters is what the Lord thinks of us, and I can’t believe he is pleased with out willingness to continue in our divisive ways.

It is indeed a sobering thought to realize that such a one as Alexander Campbell would not get along with any of us very well, even if he chose to. Some would reject him because he believed there are Christians in the sects, or because he equivocated on the absolute essentiality of immersion, or because he “fellowshipped” sectarians, or because he supported the missionary society.

There is hardly a pioneer preacher of those days that we would accept, mainly because they were not sectarians. So long as we assume that one must have fellowship only with our own crowd, drawing the line on all other of God’s people, just that long we will perpetuate our parties. And all this is so contrary to what the pioneers were attempting to do.

For this to be true of Campbell and the pioneers is bad enough. What would be the case if Jesus himself again walked in our midst?

I asked a Harvard professor that question one time. Without hesitation his reply was that Jesus would be imprisoned or again killed. I asked him who would do it. “The church,” he said, “or the clergy would do it.”

How would he be treated at the Fifth and Izzard Church of Christ should he ride up some Sunday morning on an ass? Or how would he be accepted sitting among us in a business suit, attempting to teach us as he did before, and our not knowing his identity?

I am persuaded that many would accept him just as many accepted him before. Indeed they are the ones that accept him even now, believing in him whom they have not yet seen. Such ones are not part of the problem of sectariansim in the body of Christ. — the Editor