PELL-MELL IN LITTLE ROCK

So much is happening in the lawsuit at the Sixth and Izard Church of Christ in Little Rock that it takes lots of legal-brief reading to keep up, which I try to do. After over two years of litigation the plaintiffs (members of the congregation) won a court decision to see the financial records of the church, which the defendents (elders) did not want them to see. The defendents took the court order to the church office, demanding to see the books, but were still denied access. Using a coat-hanger, they tried to get into the room where the records were kept. Still repulsed, they got the judge to issue a contempt of court citation.

In delivering the contempt citation one of the members and one of the elders got into a fight of sorts, "a scuffle" the papers called it as they pictorialized it on their front pages. The member apologized to the church the next Sunday for his part in the scuffle and asked for forgiveness, but the elder apparently did not. In the meantime the elders have announced their intention to appeal to the state supreme court rather than open up the financial records to the members, which will stay the ruling that they must open up the books.

The elders also told the church that they want to "unincorporate," for it was being a corporate body subject to state laws that got them into all this, and return to being a voluntary association. They incorporated in the first place to avoid any danger of being sued as individuals, for the church is in several businesses, including a parking lot and a child care operation. They've also handled large sums of money for missions, particularly to Poland. The facts are that the elders are not in all this trouble because they incorporated, but because they insist that the members have no right to see the financial records - when the money belongs to the members, not the elders!

The usual reaction to this all across the country is, "What are they trying to hide?" The litigation has had its humorous moments. When the judge who ruled in the case was asked by the plaintiffs to order the removal of a paper shredder from the church office, he refused to do so since he felt that was beyond his domain, but a local paper quoted the judge as saying, "What does a church need with a paper shredder?" If this case will cause some churches not to incorporate or to unincorporate, they are to be advised, contrary to what the Little Rock elders imply, that a voluntary association is as much obligated under law to open its books to its members as a corporate body.

It will hardly become an issue among Churches of Christ as to whether members have a right to know all financial matters of their congregation, for our churches have always acknowledged this and practiced it. The Little Rock elders must be the only instance not only in Church of Christ history but in the history of any denomination where officials of a church have spent years in litigation and appealed to a supreme court rather than allow its members to see how their own money has been spent. Our problem is usually of a different sort: apathy on the part of the members as to how the money is spent and an abandonment of any fiscal responsibility. Our people are often all too willing to allow their leaders to do their thinking for them and to spend their money for them, and no questions asked.

What is an issue among us, which the Little Rock story and other cases of litigation will help to point up, is the authority of elders. This is odd for a people who have always been captives of the word, for the Bible never speaks of elders in reference to their having authority. To the contrary, the Bible warns elders "not to lord it over those in your charge but being examples to the flock" (1 Pet. 5:3), and their ministry is generally described in terms of servants and shepherds. So any "authority" would not be official but in terms of the exemplary lives elders are supposed to manifest. Decision-making should in some way involve all the members, not just the elders, and the failure to honor this democratic and biblical principle lies behind all these lawsuits. Elders are to be overseers and not overrulers.

While the plaintiffs (members) in Little Rock are suspicious that the church's financial records will reveal wrongdoing, they have even a greater fear. One of them told me that he dreaded to learn what might well prove to be true, that beyond wanting to hide something in the books there may be the arrogance of an "eldership" that cannot be questioned by anybody about anything. This attitude of "Who are you to question an elder?" has become all too prevalent among us in recent years, which is hardly the spirit of the one who is the chief shepherd of us all. Even the pope has his curia with which he must deal, but many of our elders presume to be lords over the congregation and responsible to no one.

The preachers are partly responsible for this as they forever refer to members placing themselves "under the authority of the elders." I thought our Lord Jesus Christ had all the authority, and if it's a matter of Christians submitting to anyone else, then we are to "submit yourselves one to another," which would of course include the elders, as Eph. 5:21 instructs us, but only then, as that verse indicated, out of reverence for Christ, who is our only lord and master, and so our only authority. But our preachers do not say much about our submission to each other out of reverence for Christ, but only to the elders as if they are authoritarian figures after the order of corporate executives, never to be doubted and never to be questioned. And yet our Lord could not have been plainer when he said "It shall not be so among you," when this kind of authority was in question, as Lk. 22:25-26 indicates.

So if the Sixth and Izard fiasco turns out to be more a matter of arrogance of power and raw egotistical pride ("How dare you to question what an elder does? We'll show you!") than misappropriation of funds, which is at least more understandable, then preachers and members alike are going to have to share the blame for such a tragedy. Preachers too often "butter up" the elders as power figures and many members act as if they are defying God himself if they question what an elder does. So if we have outdone the Roman Catholics in creating a hierarchy, we have only ourselves to blame. We were supposed to have learned long before Little Rock that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

If the Little Rock affair causes our folk to wake up and realize what is going on, it could be a blessing in disguise. At least one member of the Church of Christ in Little Rock aroused herself when she saw pictures in her local papers of her leaders scuffling at the door of the church. She wrote as follows to the Arkansas Gazette, which was published in full:

     As a member of the Church of Christ, I find it absolutely pathetic and degrading that people who claim to be Christians resort to childish antics such as scuffling and shoving like 2-year olds instead of coming together in prayer and love to resolve their problems.

     I refer to the front page of Section B in the March 12 issue of the Arkansas Gazette that depicts two church members of the Sixth and Izard Church of Christ congregation embroiled in a bitter dispute over church financial records. Actions like this go completely against the teachings of God's word, for in I Cor. 6:1-7 we are commanded not to go to the world in litigation against our brethren, but to settle the dispute among ourselves. Did any of these people stop and think that their action and hatred not only destroyed the influence and credibility of the Church of Christ but made us the laughingstock of both the religious and secular worlds?

     It is a sad day when the world cannot tell us from its own, and when we act just as sinful as the drunken bum on the street corner.

     I am and always will be proud of Christ's church, but I hang my head in shame and weep at deeds like this, which sully not only the name of the church but the name of Jesus as well.

     I urge these people involved in this unseemly dispute to please settle this quietly, prayerfully and peacefully without bringing more shame and dishonor to the Church of Christ. - Robin Hall Medley, North Little Rock.

While we might take exception to our sister comparing a poor drunken bum, who may not be far from the kingdom, to the haughty behavior of church folk, we admire her for speaking out in righteous indignation. And I am impressed that she did not feel obligated to use the lower case c and simply use "Church of Christ," which is of course correct since she is referring to a recognizable church body or denomination. Our fastidious use of "church of Christ," which is supposed to mean that we are not a denomination (while all others are!) is as arrogant and puerile as it is bad English.

But she is not quite right about 1 Cor. 6, is she? Paul is not issuing a command about not going to law to settle a dispute, but is shaming the brethren for having to resort to such. If brethren try for years to secure their rights guaranteed them both in Scripture and in our Constitution all to no avail, they may have to call upon the powers that be, which is why God ordained them. If someone is trying to steal your property or abscond with funds and you feel that you cannot in this case "rather be defrauded" (1 Cor. 6 again), then you may have to appeal to law courts for protection. Unfortunately some people even in the church cannot be moved by either persuasion, pleading, or prayer.

But the likes of our sister in North Little Rock is an important part of the answer to our problem of arrogance of power. When our folk in the pew speak up and say Enough is enough! and accept the responsibilities that are theirs in Body life, then and only then will the needed changes come. — the Editor.