My dad has been a minister for the Church of Christ all my life. As such, I grew up learning and breathing church life. My parents did their best to raise me up to become a faithful Christian, and they made sure I knew what was right and what was wrong. If you’re not familiar with the Churches of Christ, let me give you a brief and sloppy overview. (For a more in-depth history, click here.) The Churches of Christ are a part of the self-designated Restoration Movement. Growing up, I was taught that there is only one church. This church was established by Jesus and His Apostles back in Acts 2 with the baptism of the Holy Spirit during Pentecost. We can witness this church throughout Acts and in the letters written by Paul and others that make up the New Testament. Since then, however, things like the Catholic Church and the many different denominations coming out of the Reformation Movement of the 16th Century have perverted the one true church and have made a mess of Christ’s body. The Churches of Christ strive to return to the original practices and doctrines of the New Testament church.
Now, I may be biased, but I believe this is a noble goal. I do believe Jesus and His Apostles only established one church, and we can get an idea of what it looked like by reading through the New Testament. In Ephesians 4:3-6 Paul says, “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called— one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”
Another aspect of the Restoration Movement was a striving to reunify all the different denominations that have strayed from the initial plan. Unity is a serious and righteous goal as well. The problem is: How do you unite all these different groups with their seemingly infinite amount of disagreements? The Churches of Christ feel that we can all turn back to Scripture and follow what we see there; nothing else. Again, I consider this something that is not only critical, but Biblical. Jesus prayed for unity of His followers in the garden before He was taken away to be crucified.
Paul tells the Galatians, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!” There is only one Gospel. So, why is it so hard for us as so-called Christians to be united?
Unfortunately, the Churches of Christ have not united all denominations together, and have in fact become quite divisive. Though not ever explicitly stated, my dad taught me that there were three kinds of people in this world: the true Christians that belong to the church of Christ, non-believers, and those who belong to different churches but aren’t part of The Church. The latter were much better than the atheists and agnostics, but he still regarded them as outsiders.
The Churches of Christ among themselves have had several splits, over such mundane things as Bible classes for children, how many cups to use for communion, whether or not to have a kitchen in their building, and whether or not to use instrumental music during worship. There are even urban legends that float around about churches splitting over carpet color for their building, and with my experience, it doesn’t surprise me one bit. The Churches of Christ are very head-strong, and pride themselves on their Scriptural accuracy. It can make for a pretty legalistic and OCD-inducing faith. Little things like not capitalizing the “c” in church of Christ (except for when you use it as a proper noun, which is technically not possible because the church doesn’t have a name) and not calling the ministers “pastors” (because the word “pastor” is actually the word for what is commonly referred to as Elders) are things of importance to most of the old-school Church of Christers. Though, thankfully, there is a movement that is getting away from such trivial arguments.
So, what’s the solution? Well, I believe the problem is something that plagues many groups, whether religious or secular. The problem is a lack of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. We, as people who claim to follow Jesus of Nazareth, have become just like the very people Jesus rebuked. We’ve become so caught up in the “rules” of church that we’ve abandoned things like love, justice, peace, and putting others before ourselves. We will never agree on all the little details, and we most likely won’t agree on the bigger details either. But can’t we all agree to follow Jesus Christ, declaring His death, burial, and resurrection until He comes again?
I understand that we have to draw the line somewhere. We can’t accept every doctrine as Truth, and we must use logic and the Holy Spirit to help us discern what is right. But if we get so caught up in what’s “right” and what’s “wrong” that we forget about God’s love, grace, and peace then what good are we to the world? Things like grace, love, patience, justice, and humility are attractive even to non-Christians. How much more could we do in the world if we united around Christ Jesus and His gospel of love?
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