| READER'S EXCHANGE |
Arkansas
Correspondence
We
pastor the Assembly of God Church here. By mistake we received your magazine
instead of the Church of Christ. We liked it. We have never met Church of
Christ people who think like you. I must admit that most have been a real
thorn in the flesh for us. I am enclosing $3.00 for a bundle of back issues
of Restoration Review. Your
servant in Christ. —Hal
Corbett,
Bradley, Arkansas.
My
dear Sir, brother in the Lord:
I
was pleased to learn that a copy of Restoration
Review addressed to the Church of Christ was delivered to you at the
Assembly of God. Perhaps that shows that the postman has a better
understanding of the nature of Christ's community upon earth than we have in
that he saw no distinction between the Church of Christ and the Assembly of
God. Who knows but what he has left some of your mail at the Church of
Christ! Someone may have to apprise him of a fact that is not evident in
Scripture: that the Church of Christ and the Assembly of God are distinct
and separate bodies - not in heaven but in Bradley, Arkansas!
But
in correcting the postman we are admitting our heresy. We are heretics as
long as we tolerate divisions among Christians and claim that the Assembly
of God, Church of God, Christian Church, and Church of Christ are separate
bodies. The Scriptures know of only one church, the Body of Christ, and it
is variously described as Assembly of God, Church of God, etc., and when we
divide that one church into so many sects that not only remain separate from
each other but often treat each other as enemies we are heretics and
factionists. May God have mercy onus in our sin of perpetuating these ugly
divisions and doing little or nothing to fulfill the prayer of our Lord for
the unity of his people!
I
am sorry that you have not always had pleasant experiences with members of the
Church of Christ. But I am pleased to inform you that there are many in the
Church of Christ who would treat you in a kind and brotherly manner. In our
zeal for what we believe to be true we sometimes behave in a sectarian way,
but more and more of our people are coming to realize that we can believe we
are right without having to believe that everyone else is wrong. We are
realizing more than ever
But
we in Churches of Christ are not the only ones who have had a problem with a
sectarian and exclusivistic attitude. Pharisaism has plagued the church at
large all these centuries. No denomination is completely free of it. We must
all help each other to "Receive one another even as Christ has received
you" (Rom. 15:7).
And
that is the way I love and receive you, dear brother, sight unseen, the way
Christ loves and receives me, warts and all! I hope our new friendship will
cause you to reach out to more Church of Christ people in a humble and
forgiving way. There will be those that will love and receive you in return.
My prayer is that God will use a stray copy of Restoration
Review to make peace in Bradley, Arkansas. We know that He does things
like that, don't we?
We
have put a bundle of back issues m the mail to you, and as a token of
appreciation for the neat thing that has happened between us we are sending
the paper to you gratis for the next year. Who knows but what you will soon
be sharing these with members of the Church of Christ! --Leroy
Garrett, Editor.
I
enjoy
your articles on the different denominations. I have so much more to learn.
I have a dream that one day our sectarian signs can be removed, and even
though there may be differences in the way we worship we can still praise
God in the way He intended. -Pat
Carter, LaPlace, LA.
I've
enjoyed your series on your visits to the various denominations. I
especially appreciated your open-minded treatment of the
Unitarian-Universalists. I'm hoping for an article on the United Church of
Christ since that denomination had part of its origin with the
Congregational Christian Church which did not merge with the Stone-Campbell
movement in the early 1800's.-- Richard
Clark, Salem, IN.