| OUR CHANGING WORLD |
Bering Drive Church of Christ in Houston announces a conference on "Fellowship through Service" for April 10-11. This is a continuation of the series begun two years ago by the Central Church of Christ in Irving, Texas, intended especially for those among us who are in search of a freer and more open fellowship Participants will be Reuel Lemmons, Don Finto, Gene Shelburne, Robert Fife, Joe Hightower, Virgil Frye, Jim Whitehead, Carol Johnson, Bob Gutleben, Vance Drum, Wes Whit, and J. Harold Thomas. Subjects include how to stop disfellowshipping, worship renewal, service among the sick and the imprisoned, and healing. It begins Friday evening and ends Saturday afternoon. There will be a limited number of private accommodations. Write to the church at 1910 Bering Dr., Houston, TX 77057, or call 713-783-2340 for further information.
After extensive litigation, an Arkansas judge has ordered the elders of the Sixth and Izard Church of Christ in Little Rock to open its books to any of the members who wish to see them. While this is a court victory for the plaintiffs who have long sought such a ruling (which was made earlier but reversed by the state's supreme court on a technicality), Bob Scott, speaking for the plaintiffs, said, "I don't feel like I won anything. This is not a situation where anybody wins. It's a major loss for everyone." The judge thought likewise, for he told both sides that it is a tragedy when members of the same church cannot settle their disputes without court action. "The only thing more heart-rending than this case is a divorced couple with formative age children involved." The plaintiffs suspect that the elders will appeal the decision all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court before they will open their financial records to inspection by the congregation. The elders testified in court that they and not the members are to select other elders and that only they can remove a sitting elder.
Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis is hosting a "Christians Only but Not the Only Christians" conference March 29-April 1. It is billed as a "Reappraisal of Disciples Tradition in the 21st Century." Leading Disciples, including the church's president, is on the program, and there will be both plenary sessions and working groups on such issues as worship, ministry, authority, evangelism, and church life. For further information contact Dr. Michael Kinnamon at 317-924-1331.
On a recent Sunday I addressed a rather new congregation that meets in homes in the back country near Paradise, Texas, an hour or so from our home. Ouida had to stay with her mother. They call themselves "The Church of the Living God" and are mostly from Church of Christ families, several being from the non-Sunday School persuasion. They showed the one sure sign of being liberated: the freedom with which they discuss the Scriptures. Meeting in homes as they do they can better do Body ministry. They break the Loaf each Lord's day and are acappella. But that name! They'll never make Abilene's mailing list with a name like that. They are planning a building, which may not be a good idea. At least they are not mad at anybody and did not walk out of any church. A few started meeting and they are growing, and without a professional minister. For my more orthodox readers: are they a Church of Christ?
I recently conducted the funeral for an 87-year old woman whom I had visited in the hospital, the mother of a sister in our congregation. Divorced early in life, she was left to rear three children by herself, which she did devotedly. Her only son was in "the Lost Battalion" on Java and died in a POW camp in the jungles of Thailand when only 21. Her son returned from the war in a box and his mother received a folded flag. It underscores the triumphant truth that "He will wipe away all tears from their eyes and there will be no more heartache." Since she both lived alone and died alone, I thought it appropriate to say a word on Paul's elegant line "No one lives to himself and no one dies to himself, for if we live we live to the Lord, and if we die we die to the Lord."