OUR CHANGING WORLD

 

I believe it is a “first” in the history of the Church of Christ—our “Church of Christ” I mean, of course. One of our “free” churches in Caruthersville, Mo. has taken the name of Grace Community Church of Christ. I know of at least one congregation to bear the name Community, but to be a Grace Church of Christ is something else. They also belong to the ministerial association, and their recent bulletin tells of how the churches in the city want to do something about an “Adult” theatre that has opened.

One of our preachers, now working with a Texas church, tells of how he got fired by a church in another state for being so concerned with social issues and the down-and-out. They wanted him to preach the Bible and not bother with things that are none of the church’s business. He was even bringing call-girls to the assembly, who doubled as waitresses at drive-ins. When one such waitress was too embarrassed to return to church, the preacher learned that it was because she had been “dating” one of the deacons, and she got the impression that he didn’t like for her to be around. It isn’t that some of our brethren are not interested in such folk, it is only in a different way that what the preacher had in mind.

One of our ministers in Fort Worth has cultivated an exciting fellowship with a Lutheran pastor, who invited him to speak to his people, which the Church of Christ preacher has done several times. He explained to his congregation that he was not going to the Lutherans to show them where they were wrong, but to share in the search for truth. He now hopes that the Lutheran might address the Church of Christ.

Joe Black, who ministers with the Cahaba Valley Church of Christ in Birmingham, writes that other Churches of Christ in that area should be pleased rather than unhappy that they are in business since they receive the castoffs and derelicts that nobody else wants. One of our sisters who had fallen away into deep sin was ministered to by a Baptist chaplain, who, when he learned that she was Church of Christ, asked her if she would be willing to talk to a Church of Christ minister that could be trusted. Cahaba Valley was contacted. Joe says that Birmingham has enough churches for the righteous and that there needs to be one for the sinners. Right on!