| OUR CHANGING WORLD |
The Peak and Eastside Church of Christ is one of our oldest churches in Dallas, and it has responded to the changing demographic patterns in a creative way. It now has facilities for three separate assemblies representing different cultures. Recently they had a joint assembly conducted in three different languages, English, Spanish, and Khmer, which is probably a first among us. The church has an outreach program that is both inner-city and multi-lingual.
A growing number of Churches of Christ are joining the church at large at least to the extent that ministers from other denominations are being invited to share in our services and fill our pulpits, which until recently has almost never happened. We have had generations to grow up in our churches without ever hearing any minister except our own kind. Two churches in Tulsa, Southern Hills and Garnett Rd., now and again invite ministers from other churches, sometimes to preach, sometimes for a special program, and sometimes, as only recently at Garnett Rd., to tell how a church in the same city grew to 10,000 members. But it may be that our own church here in Denton, now known as Fellowship Church of Christ, is the first among us to have a visiting minister wearing a robe, as did the minister of Denton's First Presbyterian when he spoke to us on Christian unity Sunday, while our preacher spoke at a Presbyterian church. It is not at all uncommon these days for the "E" (more ecumenical as the directory classifies them) churches to invite other ministers. All indications are that our people love it, and they are finding out that ministers in other churches preach the Bible as well as we or better.
One "E" church, the Arcadia Church of Christ in Arcadia, California, may be dropped from the directory, for after wearing that name for many years it has decided to call itself Arcadia Christian Fellowship. But apparently only the name has changed and that in an effort to be less sectarian. In their latest bulletin they invited people to weekly communion and announced that Dr. Norvel Young would be speaking at the Temple City Church of Christ. So they are not far from the kingdom! But there is an unwritten law among us that a congregation will not be accepted as a Church of Christ unless it wears that name. Even if it changes to Church of God, which would be more scriptural (add up the prooftexts), it will be dropped from the Directory. And yet we tell the world that we are not a denomination!
The Fifth Restoration Forum is to be held at Cincinnati Bible Seminary April 28-30 and anyone interested may attend. Some 160 are already registered from Churches of Christ and over 100 from Christian Churches. These forums are an effort to explore ways to know each other better and to work together more. Another is in the planning stage for next September, perhaps in Abilene. The fifth forum will be put in book form. If you are interested write to College Press, Box 1132, Joplin, MO 64801.
Abilene Christian University will be offering a program of study for the Doctor of Ministry (D. Min.) degree this summer. It will require 24 hours of course work, all of which can be taken in summer, plus a thesis or some project. The main purpose of the program is "to enable ministers to be more responsive to the needs of the church." This will be ideal for our preachers who want to be a doctor of religion and be addressed as such. And it lays to rest any remaining doubt as to whether the Church of Christ has seminaries. Church of Christ preachers can now be doctors of ministry. That does belong in our "Changing World" column, doesn't it? All this may be well and good, but when, I ask again, are we going to lay aside the absurdity that we are not a denomination while all other churches are?