OUR CHANGING WORLD

 

Prof. Hans Kueng of Tuebingen University in Germany in his Signposts for the Future issues twenty theses on what it means to be a Christian. The first thesis asserts that that person alone is a Christian who lives the whole of life in the light of Jesus Christ. This is similar to Thomas Campbell’s thesis in the Declaration and Address, which asserts that the Christian is one who professes faith in Christ and who obeys him in all things according to the Scriptures and who manifest the same by his temper and conduct. Too often our view has been far more superficial than that of Kueng and Campbell.

In a workshop on elders at Harding College, Prof. Jack Lewis of Harding Graduate School presented a study of the relevant Greek terms. He concluded that the terms indicate that the elder is more of a servant than an authoritative figure—“an example to be followed, a teacher from whom to learn, a shepherd whose voice one hears, a protector from the wolves, a leader to whom one submits in humility because he is God’s steward, and he is an older man to whom respect is gladly given.” At the same conference Reuel Lemmons, editor of Firm Foundation, pointed to leadership rather than rulership in reference to elders. It was also observed that the eldership should not be self-perpetuating.

Harold Thomas, 8427 Bleriot St., Los Angeles 90045, will send you a brochure on the tours he conducts to Europe and, the Holy Land. If you plan that trip of a lifetime anytime soon, here is your chance to go with exciting company.

Tim Timmons recently addressed Dallas Seminary on “friendship evangelism,” urging the students to go out in the marketplace where the people are. We are only talking to ourselves, he noted. Rather than handing out cliches, we must touch people at the point of their needs.

There is more than one thing special about the College Park Christian Church in Normal, Illinois, which is now in its new facility. It was formed in 1971 when a Church of Christ and a Christian Church merged, reversing the trend of division. Their new building is located on land once owned by Alexander Campbell. A copy of his will is attached to their deed. How’s that for something special?