READER'S EXCHANGE

 

We do enjoy this little paper. We are Christians that use the instrument in worship as well as many other no-no’s, such as Sunday School helps, but we really are just “Christians only” who worship with the family wherever we are.—Pearl Wilson, Mineral, Wa.

Even though all my life has been spent in the church, I feel I am just now beginning to understand the gospel of grace. For the first time in my life I can say without reservation that truly, truly, this is good news which everyone should hear! For someone who always struggled under the impression that we are saved through perfect belief manifesting itself in perfect obedience, Eph. 2:8-9, read in all its simplicity, has become a fountain of hope. I can hardly sleep at night for thinking about it! It certainly is a joy to be a child of Abraham after being a son of Moses for so long.—Christopher A. Davis, Union Seminary, Richmond, Va.

I disagree with you when you say that the church is the community, for the community is the community. The church is the church, which means that the party is the party. We do not have to be stuck with “church,” as you say, any more than we have to be stuck with “Easter.” Part of my individual reformation movement is to restore the Spirit’s vocabulary. - Buff Scott, Jr., Cherokee, Io.

We have settled at a place which is an exciting blend of old and new in an unlikely setting. The Norwood Church of Christ has elders who have educated themselves with theological insight which I had to go to seminary to attain and who struggle creatively with the synoptic problem and the issue of women’s place in the church. I’m sure many in the area are aghast, but it is a pleasant and refreshing surprise and a very hopeful omen to me. It is not a “renewal” church or a “Charismatic” church, but an old Church of Christ which has allowed questions to arise and be asked, and has taken seriously the attempt to deal with them.—Clark Goslee, Cincinnati, Oh.