READERS' EXCHANGE

 

The Church of Christ in Trent is a sweet group. We have a good relationship with the Methodists and Baptists. Attitudes toward each other have changed for the good. This began about the time that the three preachers began to get together. The three churches even had one or two union assemblies last year. It is a shame to have three churches of about 65 each in this town of 333. But maybe opportunities for fellowship are better, although the building waste is great. —George Butterfield, Box 147, Trent, Texas 79561

I am now a member of the most successfully integrated Church of Christ in Houston. What can we do with other congregations without our members feeling out of place. In this city, in fact in this nation, there are two separate Churches of Christ, one white and one black. In 1975 there were two major lectureships in Texas, one 99% white and one 99% black. There are two separate singing programs in this city. In the few months that I have been reading your paper I have seen you speak out on many things. I have been in complete agreement with you most of the time. I have not seen you speak out on the racial problems in our congregations. How can we as the so called “Body of Christ” lead people to Christ if we are divided? We preach the one church when we are really two. —Wayne McVey, 6002 Belcrest, Houston, Texas 77033

(We have in the not distant past had considerable to say about the sin of racism, especially in drawing upon experiences while teaching in a black college. We have sent our brother a fistful of these back issues. But his point is nonetheless well made. A divided church is always wrong, a contradiction in fact, for the true Body of Christ cannot, by its very nature, be other than one. All our writings along this line are generally applicable to the sin of division, whether it takes racial form or some other form. That there are in fact two Churches of Christ in Texas, one white and one black, shows that we have been influenced by our culture rather than the other way around. —Ed.)