THEY MUST BE DIFFERENT KINDS OF CHURCHES

Churches of Christ are faced with a revolution in their camp.  A band of skilled, articulate men have launched a movement to reform (i.e. change) the faith, worship and practice of the brotherhood. If they are successful, we will no longer be a church modeled after the Biblical pattern; the church our fathers and mothers knew. The seriousness of the challenge is illustrated by the contrasting views of the church held by those who are promoting change and those who are determined to cling to the old paths of the Biblical standard.

Our view of the church is that it is stable and unchanging in its essence. We want to believe and worship just as the first disciples did and as faithful saints have since the beginning. The church was established by Christ (Matt. 16:18) and given a standard of faith and practice conceived in heaven, suitable for all men of all nations and forever binding on those who wish to please him (Matt. 28:20).  Their view, in contrast, is of a church that theoretically can be different in every age, culture and community.   Their churches are the products of their culture and are shaped by those who are significant leaders. The reject the idea of a the Bible as our divine pattern and ridicule the idea as “patternism.”

Our view is that the Church of Christ is the spiritual body of Jesus in this world (Eph. 1:22); purchased by his blood (Acts 20;28); established by Christ (Matt. 16:18). It is God’s family of saved people (I Tim. 3:15), that will live with him in eternity ( I Cor. 15:24; Rev. 21:2).  Their view is that the Church of Christ is a human organization founded by Alexander Campbell and Barton Stone in the early 1800s. At best, it is only a denomination, merely a part of the real church.  They see it as seriously flawed and of no lasting value.  To them, ones salvation certainly does not depend on being a part of it.

Our view is that the faith, worship and work of the church have been ordained and commissioned by Christ (I Cor. 11:23). The Scriptures provide us all things that pertain to life and godliness (II Pet. 1:3-4). They constitute a “pattern of sound words” to which we are to cling (II Tim. 1:13). We are explicitly taught to “observe all things whatsoever (Christ) commanded” (Matt. 28:20).  In his Testament, Christ sets forth the doctrines, we are to believe, the kind of worship we are to offer and the mission his church is to pursue. Our duty is to acknowledge him as Lord (Rom. 10:9) and render submissive obedience to him in every way (Heb. 5:9).  They see belief and worship as something derived from our history and culture;. that human leaders have set the standards for the church. They specifically deny that there is a standard or pattern to which we must conform. They can adapt their message and worship to meet the felt needs and demands of society. They feel comfortable in allowing or doing things Scripture specifically forbids such as placing women in positions of public leadership in the church (I Cor. 14:33-34).

These examples demonstrate that although these two groups of people both call themselves Churches of Christ, they clearly are different in important and significant ways. In fact they represent two different kinds of churches; one divine, the other human; one guided by Scripture, the other by the will of man.  Just as counterfeit money looks remarkably like genuine money, so the churches of the change movement appear to  the unsuspecting to be Churches of Christ, but their similarity is only surface and their value is no more than that of a counterfeit bill. Christ built but one church (Matt. 16:18);  He has “but one body” (I Cor. 12:20). Although counterfeits may exist and even flourish in our midst, they will not stand the inspection of the Great Judge of alll (Matt. 7:21-23)