G. C. Brewer’s Warning to Herald of Truth . . .

IS “CHURCH OF CHRIST”
A DENOMINATIONAL NAME?

There is one idea that I have had great difficulty in getting across to my people, and that is: the church of the New Testament has no name. It may be referred to in various ways, even as the Way, but God gave it no name. To have named it would have implied that there were many churches, and that it was but one among many. The church is God’s family or his community, and since he has but the one family or community, it is amiss to name (or denominate) it.

I was reminded of this difficulty when I received a response from a Texas sister, who commented upon these words from our December issue:

“All God’s children, whether in Kenya of in Texas, are in the fellowship, which is the only one there is --- the only one, that is, that God calls us to be a part of! I have no interest in belonging to any other. In God’s sight there is no such thing as a ‘Church of Christ’ or a ‘Christian Church’ or a ‘Presbyterian Church,’ for there is only his Body, which is the church, the fellowship of the Spirit.”

One would think this would be readily accepted by folk who are conditioned to speak as the scriptures speak. I only said that God’s church is the Body of Christ, and that it is not to be identified with any named group, even when those names have some scriptural ground, as all three of those I listed have.

The Texas sister called this garbage, insisting that while God does not recognize the Presbyterian Church or the Christian Church as his, he does recognize The Church of Christ as his, as she put it, for Christ built his church, and it is named after him.

The sister is by no means alone in her viewpoint. Our folk have for generations been taught that their church is scriptural in “name, doctrine, and practice,” and every tract issued by our people on the “Identity of the True Church” makes the point that it has to have the right name. While some tracts will list Church of God, Church of the Firstborn, or Church of the Lord, along with Church of Christ, with the appropriate references, we always select that one descriptive term, Church of Christ, and make it our name.

If in the above paragraph, to which our sister took exception, I had said “Church of God” instead of “Church of Christ,” it would have been all right, for that is not the name (or even a name) of her church, even though it is far more scriptural, in terms of frequency of use, than Church of Christ. She even granted that “Christian Church” misses the mark, but not the Church of Christ! She has probably never considered that there is no difference, either in the original Greek or in the English translation, between Christian Church and Church of Christ, any more than there is between an American man and a man of America.

But I have said all this to say that I have good company in my frustrated efforts to show that Christ’s church has no name at all, and when anyone names a religious community he then and there denominates it or makes it a denomination. That company includes none other than the late G. C. Brewer, one of the most respected ministers among Churches of Christ in the twentieth century.

In the Autobiography of G. C. Brewer the old warrior gets fired up over a question as to “whether the church of Christ is not a church among churches.” Noticing the small c in the question, brother Brewer was led to say:

“Some unthinking brethren seem to hold that to spell church with a small c avoids making a title or proper name of the phrase ‘church of Christ.’ This is laughable. When the sense is plainly a designation --- a telling of ‘what’ church is intended --- then the phrase is used as a proper name, and thus the scriptures are violated, and to use a small initial letter in a proper name is to violate the rules of grammar. So, brother, you are both unscriptural and ungrammatical.” (p. 138)

Our brethren can stand to be ungrammatical, but to be unscriptural is something else, and those are fighting words, even if they do come from G. C. Brewer. When he calls the small c thing laughable, he is really stepping on toes, for the “church of Christ” name has become a fetish, and it is part of the unwritten creed to use the small c.

But the old warhorse did not stop there. He goes on:

“President Hugh Tiner (then of Pepperdine College), in writing in the Gospel Advocate about our late Brother Riggs at the time of his death, spoke of him as ‘a gospel preacher of the church of Christ!’ As if a gospel preacher could be of any other church! He tells us that Brother Riggs was a gospel preacher --- fine; he was --- but Hugh also told us to what denomination he belonged!”

Brother Brewer goes on to tell how he warned those who started the Herald of Truth that it would put us before the world as a denomination, that it would be known as The Church of Christ Hour as much as The Lutheran Hour or The Catholic Hour are identifiable with those denominations. They told him this would be avoided by calling it Herald of Truth. Then he says:

“This they have done, but they have not avoided the error I feared. In the announcer’s ‘Churches of Christ Salute You’ he just as definitely tells who or what denomination is hearlding this truth as he could if he said, ‘The Methodist Churches greet you.’ This is definitely a commercial for churches of Christ as any commercial is a plea for any sponsor.”

Recent mail outs from Abilene would confirm that Herald of Truth is indeed sponsored by a denomination known as “the church of Christ.” Art Haddox, elder of the Highland church, recently sent out a plea for funds that began with: “God has given the churches of Christ a second great victory in less than six months! Now the NBC television has joined ABC in accepting churches of Christ for national public service time on its chain of over 150 stations.”

Brother Haddox goes on rejoicing with: “Never before has any major network --- let alone two --- recognized the churches of Christ as a national group, entitled to nationwide public service time.”

Brother Brewer --- G. C. Brewer, mind you, not the editor of this journal - says it is both unscriptural and ungrammatical to use “the church of Christ” like that. But Brother Haddox is not deterred. He goes on to reveal that one television spot produced by Herald of Truth will end with: A message of love from churches of Christ.

How would it do for Herald of Truth to sign off with a message of love from churches of God? or even from Christ’s churches? or from the family of God? Candor demands that we admit that there is a religious group known as “church of Christ” or “Church of Christ,” and that no other name, not even a scriptural one, is used by these people. This alone makes it a denomination, perhaps not a sect, but a denomination.

This is why our folk are unhappy when others steal our name, such as Christian Churches who also call themselves Church of Christ. Since they use the capital C, I guess we’d have to say, as per brother Brewer, that while they may be as unscriptural as we are, they are not as ungrammatical!

If we looked at this in a syllogism, it could go this way:

The New Testament church does not have a name.

The church called the Baptist Church does have a name.

Therefore, the church called the Baptist Church is not the New Testament church.

You would have to have a short course in logic to know that there are six rules controlling a syllogism. But you do not have to take my word for it that this syllogism obeys all the rules and is therefore valid, for you can tell by studying it that it has the ring of validity. And the premises can hardly be questioned. The conclusion therefore must follow.

Since I do not have the boldness of a G. C. Brewer, I will not alter the syllogism to read Church of Christ or Christian Church instead of Baptist Church. Each one can do that for herself. Once you alter the name, it is still a valid syllogism!

If you conclude that the Church of Christ is not the New Testament church, it may still be true that many within the pale of that denomination are true Christians and members of Christ’s Body, which has no name! So with the Baptist Church. So with the Presbyterian. You would have a hard time finding a Presbyterian that would argue that the Presbyterian Church is the New Testament church. He would rather contend that Presbyterians are also Christians and are part of the family of God at large. We would presume that some of them surely are Christians, not because they are Presbyterians, but in spite of it. So there must be true believers among all the denominations, and they are all, where ever they are, members of Christ’s church, which has no name and is therefore not a denomination. No denomination (a named religious group) can be that church, for that church has no name.

So what do I want for our people? That they discard the name Church of Christ? Not necessarily. We have not done so where I am a member here in Denton, though we are low-key on that name, naming our building (Christian Fellowship Center) rather than those who assemble there. But we use the orthodox name on letterheads, bank accounts, mail-outs (sometimes), and even on a signboard. But there are those among us who believe we should drop the name and have no name, and they have a strong case, witness G. C. Brewer. We sort of have it both ways, which was intentional. Those who prefer can tell folk they attend Christian Fellowship Center --- no denomination, as Ouida did Mormons at our door. They kept trying to pin her down --- what denomination? --- and she would say, “I am just a Christian and assemble at Christian Fellowship Center.” They could not do a thing with her, but they would have had her “pegged” had she said “Church of Christ,” for the Mormons know there is a denomination by that name.

Others of us admit what is a reality: our background, teaching, prejudices, practices have been and are Church of Christ, non-instrumental! But we want to be free, responsible and spiritual, and to help bring about an undenominational Church of God upon earth, someday. Many others in the “Church of Christ” believe as we do, the majority I think, but it would be much more difficult to minister to such people if we burned all the bridges to our denominational past. So we are a Church of Christ, and we endeavor to be what we believe a Church of Christ should be, the right kind!

So we stand within the tradition of Stone and Campbell and our early pioneers, who admitted to their denominational status, but who were not a sect. Alexander Campbell now and again referred to his people as a denomination (which was a fact since they named themselves Disciples of Christ, Churches of Christ, or Christian Churches --- and often all three!), and yet he insisted in strong words: You will never make a sect of us! There is a crucial difference. To be a denomination I can buy, out of necessity, for the time being; but to be a sect, which is to presume that you and you alone are the true church and the only Christians, never!

Our pioneers were a denomination in protest. I like that. It acknowledges that the church of Jesus Christ upon earth is essentially, intentionally, and constitutionally one, consisting of all true believers. But until the unity ideal of Jesus’ prayer is realized, we are stuck with denominations, or so it seems. It is folly, as well as dishonest, going through life claiming not to be a denomination when it is obvious that you are. That is a good way to be something far worse, a sect. But true believers will work and pray for that time when denominations will cease to be, which will probably be gradual and indiscernible, as the Spirit works more and more in our hearts, making us one in Jesus.

That is the only way denominations will cease to be, the Spirit making God’s children one, not our harping against them. And one day it will be a reality - one family of God on earth with all denominations forgotten --- and no one knows just what form that will take. But Jesus’ prayer for unity will someday be fulfilled. Then there will truly be just one church upon this earth, the Body of Christ, and it will have no name, for there will be no reason to name it, since it will be the only community of God upon earth.

So what do I want from our people?

Honesty! --- the Editor