THE CHURCH OF CHRIST OF TOMORROW

As Ouida and I were driving home from a house meeting in the Mid­-Cities area (between Dallas and Fort Worth), I said to her with cautious optimism, Well, tonight we were with the Church of Christ of tomorrow. While she agreed, neither of us was saying that the Church of Christ of today is necessarily all that bad. We were simply recognizing that a religious body, like an individual, has to grow if it ever matures into a reasonable and responsible spiritual force. While Churches of Christ may seem to be caught on dead center by a native sectarianism, we are easing our way into the deeper waters of the mainstream, and we will stay afloat and move, even if slowly.

There is a reluctant acceptance of denominationalism in what I am saying. Of course the Churches of Christ are a denomination, if not several denominations. I say a reluctant acceptance because any unity-minded believer admits that denominationalism is far from the ideal, and he looks to the day when denominationalism will be transcended. No one knows how this may come about, but if we believe that our Lord’s prayer for the unity of all believers will indeed be answered, we are confident that one glorious united church upon earth will one day be a reality. None of us created the denominations; they have been handed to us by centuries of history. It looks as if the best way to overcome our divisions is to work through the existing institutions. I am persuaded that the most effective way to make Churches of Christ freer, more spiritual, and less-sectarian is to work within its structures.

While I reluctantly accept denominational reality as a means of overcoming it, I refuse to be a sectarian or to belong to a sectarian church, if I can help it. By sectarian I refer to that claim to righteousness that sets all others at naught, or that presumes to be the only Christians rather than Christians only. I refuse to make my opinions and deductions a test of fellowship, and I will not be a member of a congregation that rejects a sister or brother for whom Christ died for the sake of some party creed.

So I am making a crucial distinction between a sect and a denomination. The latter is simply a group set apart by its own name and structure, recognizing that while it is part of the church catholic it is not the whole of that church. A sect, however, claims to be the only true church, rejecting all others. Many of those who insist that they are not a denomination only give testimony to their sectarian character, for they are really saying that all others are denominations while they, being the true church, are not. The exception to this would be those independent congregations that wear no denominational name nor any such affiliations. While these may be applauded for what they are, it is by no means certain that this is the way for all of us to go. When, therefore, I speak of the Church of Christ of tomorrow I am referring hopefully to a people, my own people, who are moving from the sect-type church to the denominational-type church. As a denomination that has moved into the mainstream of the church at large, we will have a great deal to offer in terms of our heritage, commitment, and plea. Until this happens we will have little impact upon the Christian world, and consequently upon the world generally, for we will be no more than an isolated sect that is content to play games with itself. As part of the Christian world, however, we can bear witness to the apostolic proclamation and to the Biblical mandate for a united church and thus contribute to the victory over denominationalism that will eventually come to the Body of Christ upon earth.

If you are curious as to what I saw on our night out that caused me to speak to Ouida of the Church of Christ of tomorrow, I will be specific. The gathering was similar to those I have been a part of all over the country. In this case those gathered belonged to an influential congregation in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The minister, who is a beautiful, open believer, and several of the elders were present, along with upwards of two dozen others, who were both young and old, intelligent, spiritual, affluent, and growing. I will list some of the ingredients of the Church of Christ of tomorrow.

1. Far and away the most important change is that they are sick and tired of being sectarians and refuse to be so any longer. This means that they now recognize that there are Christians beside themselves and that the Church of Christ folk are not the only ones that will be saved. This may sound like a negative trait, but it is really very positive, for it reflects an understanding of what the church really is: Christ’s Body made up of all those everywhere who are in Jesus.

2. There is a new realization of the meaning of truth, a concept we have terribly abused. Truth is coming to be experienced in terms of a Person rather than as some system of doctrine drawn mainly from our own deductions. While there is no put-down of true doctrine, our people are growing more Christ-centered and are looking at things in terms of the one truth that really matters, which is Jesus Christ. Being right about Jesus is now far more relevant than being right about instrumental music or the millennium or speaking in tongues.

3. Disillusioned with our isolationism and exclusivism, they want to reach out and touch the larger Christian world. They have had enough of condemning others and are now ready to examine themselves. They are open to suggestions as to how they might work with other believers in serving and redeeming a lost world. This includes a desire to be more involved in helping suffering humanity, like Jesus did.

4. The Bible is becoming a different book. Now suspicious of proof-texting to support doctrines that may have been sectarian to start with, they have a hunger to know what the Scriptures are all about. Laying aside any party slant, the Bible is becoming an open book, full of beautiful, liberating truths. They want their preachers to open up the Scriptures, plainly but deeply.

5. Now more liberated, they are “as free and happy as calves let out of a stall,” to quote the TEV on Mal. 4:2. Consequently they are doing all sorts of weird things, such as reading “denominational books” and listening to the likes of James Dobson and going to hear the likes of Bill Gothard. They quote Francis Schaeffer, William Barclay, Elton Trueblood, Keith Miller, and John Stott as if they had heard them at the Fifth and Izzard Church of Christ in Little Rock!

6. They are growing increasingly wary with the law-gospel they. have been nurtured on all their lives in the Church of Christ and are discovering salvation by grace, which does not come easy, for it is very difficult for any people to give up a works salvation. But with our churches running over with broken homes and broken lives we are being beckoned by the Spirit to that righteousness imputed by Christ on the basis of faith rather than works. Our world aflame has shown us that we are not wise enough, good enough, rich enough, obedient enough, or right enough to do it on our own.

7. There is a real concern for the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. Among our folk this rarely expresses itself in terms of tongue-speaking. It goes deeper than that, for the Spirit is being accepted as a comforter to the believer, enlightening her mind and bearing Christ’s likeness in her life.

8. A mutual ministry concept is emerging, expressing itself in house churches, various sharing structures, and a more open pulpit in the freer Churches of Christ. I know of several para-church groups within a Church of Christ that do some of these free things that they cannot do in the church. A group in Alabama has a tax-exempt corporation set up so they can do off-limit things like invite controversial speakers, but still they all hang in as members of the Church of Christ. There are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of house churches among us, of all types, usually within the church, sharing with each other in the Spirit.

These are some of the things I have in mind when I refer to the Church of Christ of tomorrow. I probably will not be around when it has really arrived, but the signs are so clear that I am confident that it will come. We can hasten the day by resolving here and now to be the Body of Christ instead of a sect.

In His own good time the Father will use the Church of Christ of tomorrow, along with many other renewal efforts, to answer the prayer of the Christ that all believers be one. We are all wonderfully blessed that we have an opportunity to be a part of the changing scene. I am thankful for what I see already and I can hardly wait for the Church of Christ of tomorrow. I am resolved to be used, in my small corner, to help to make it so. You are coming along too, aren’t you? the Editor