Restoration Review, Vol. 31, No. 9, November 1989

OUR CHANGING WORLD

I have fully recovered from my allergic reaction and am back to running two miles most mornings, which I enjoy. I enjoy all of life, which I view as a banquet set before me, especially when Ouida can go places with me, as she did recently when I spoke at both a Church of Christ and a Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Arkansas City, Ks. We had a joint meeting at the Christian Church on our common heritage. I told them that the essence of the Stone-Campbell plea was that Christians can unite upon the fundamentals of the faith while allowing liberty in matters of opinion, and that it is this that we must recover in our own time. Also last month I was with the Dayspring Church of Christ in Edmund, Ok., one of our more progressive churches that I have long desired to visit. They asked me to talk about the history of Biblical interpretation, which was part of a series, which I tried to make interesting. They are nine years old, are growing in love as well as in numbers, and are really out front, and have never had a hired minister! But they do not lack for dynamic leadership. I told them that they were the kind of Church of Christ I have been hoping for and working for all these years. Having already put sectarianism behind them, they say they are ready to reconsider the ministry of women in the church. The Sunday I was there they had an "Anointing of Elders" service. They are what you can call avant garde, which is the greatest need in Churches of Christ today, churches that will, like Jesus did, move on out ahead and Lake the lead.

Stephen Bilak, one of our missionaries to the Slavic world, tells in his Ukrainian Messenger (published by the Minter Lane Church of Christ in Abilene, Tx.) how the Russian people last year celebrated the 1,000th birthday anniversary of the Orthodox Church, and that they are this year honoring the 175th birthday anniversary of Taras Shevcheno, a great poet whom Bilak describes as "a Prophet, Moses of Ukraine, Apostle of Truth" and as "Just a Christian." In his day Shevcheno opposed idol worship, traditions of men, and the corruption of the Orthodox and Catholic churches. He pled for a restoration of New Testament Christianity and claimed to be "just a Christian." Bilak quotes one Russian Christian leader as saying that Shevcheno saved Russia's faith from dying out. It is heartening to see our people recognize the contributions of the church at large.

This past summer more than 3,000 evangelical leaders from 170 countries met in Manila for the Lausanne II conference. Poverty was a pervasive theme. The Manila Manifesto, the statement that came out of the conference, recognizes that evangelism and social action are inseparable ministries. The Manila meeting also recognized that many peoples of the world are inaccessible to traditional missionary approaches. We can enter some countries only as tentmakers, that is, as cross-cultural lay witnesses with a secular identity, it concluded.

The Sycamore Church of Christ in Cookeville, Tn. is launching a "One Nation Under God" campaign for the summer of 1991, which will be a coordinated effort of Churches of Christ all across the nation. It will begin with a full page ad in Reader's Digest and include a week-long, nation wide TV series, and a mailing to every household in the U.S. Simultaneous with all this will be gospel meetings across the country. 14,000 congregations are being asked to participate. What a blessing such an effort could be if it were done in a non-sectarian way.

At least one TV evangelist has commented on the Jim Bakker court trial. Billy Graham issued the statement that he was saddened by Bakker's personal tragedy and that he felt sorry for his many sincere supporters who have been hurt. He also said that Christians must get away from the "celebrity syndrome" and get their eyes off personalities and onto Jesus Christ, who as the "bright and morning star" is the only star we need.

The St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Sewickley, Pa. is a special kind of Episcopal church. while it uses the traditional liturgy and kneeing stools, it has become a center for evangelistic outreach with increasing numbers accepting Christ. It has quadrupled in size since 1971 with 1200 in attendance. Its pastor, John Guest, has given the church such a heart for evangelism that it has sent him out on a national crusade evangelistic ministry. Guest, whose star has begun to rise, is described as "the thinking man's evangelist."

I also addressed my own church here in Denton recently on the essence of religion as set forth in Micah 6:8. I noted that each of the three values in that passage are explained by the other two. "To do justly" means "to love tenderly" and "to walk humbly with God." "To love tenderly" means "to do justly" and "to walk humbly with God." "To walk humbly with God" means to serve others in terms of doing justly and loving tenderly. All three add up to what Jesus teaches us in the story of the Good Samaritan. I also pointed out that we have a Good Samaritan in the Old Testament in the person of Ebed-Melech, a black man who saved the prophet Jeremiah's life by pulling him out of a muddy well. Ebed-Melech must have "loved tenderly" because he not only pulled the prophet to safety but also provided him with rags to put under his arms to soften the tension of the rope. A black man pulling a white man out of a well is a good illustration, I noted, of what it means to do justly, love tenderly, and to walk humbly with God.

The Christian Science Monitor recently had an editorial on "Give Your Spouse Mental Elbowroom!" It noted that many things go into the making of a happy marriage -mutual trust, love and affection, honesty, faithfulness, and a sense of humor. Then it said, "But one of the most important gifts we can give our spouse is mental elbowroom -the mental room for the other person to be his or her own unique self, without constant judgment from us." Indeed, mental elbow-room would not only be a loving gift in a marriage but in all the relations of life and especially in the church. Another piece in the Monitor called for "Loving the Unlovable" in which the point was made that we can love those that God loves. When we realize that God loves the unlovable and find reasons why God loves them, then we too can love the unlovable, the article observed.