CORRESPONDENCE WITH A WEAK BROTHER

Dear Brother John:

I have been an evangelist for over 10 years and am currently preaching for a Church of Christ in a western state.  We have been receiving your paper in the mail, and I have to admit that more often than not it winds up in my trash can unopened.  I don't consider myself to be a "change agent" in any way, although I do find myself disagreeing with much that you publish.

My problem is with anyone who proclaims themselves to be the savior of the brotherhood, and the watchdog pointing fingers and naming names of those who perhaps do things differently than what you define as "the old paths." The reason your paper was seldom read by me was that your arguments against these people tend to deal, not with doctrinal error, but with things they do that are simply different than what has been accepted in the past. Example: Most of us in the Churches of Christ have no problem with a song leader up front leading us in singing. I recall in the past you addressing churches that have multiple song leaders or "praise groups."  Now, personally I would feel a bit uncomfortable with that kind of arrangement, but there is just as much authority for 6 song leaders in Scripture as there is for one.... It seems to me that we have a bunch of "Editor Bishops" that various groups in our brotherhood prescribe to.  Unfortunately I believe that you are trying to establish your paper to fit in that category. "If you don't agree with us, then you are out of the brotherhood." Humbly, Seth J.


Dear Bro. Seth:

Thanks for taking time to write and share your thoughts. It is evident that you have not read the past issues of Christianity Then and Now.  I have no objection to more than one song leader...nor have I ever said so. I would however object to women being among the ten.

You can close your eyes and pretend that the promotions of the change agents are just about nonessentials but you are sorely mistaken. If they prevail, the Church of Christ of which you are now a part will devolve into a Protestant denomination much akin to the charismatic churches. That may not bother you. Had you been preaching in the era from the end of the Civil War to 1920, and had you thought then as you do now, you and your congregation would have been swept away in digression and you and your flock would now be a part of the Disciples of Christ/Christian Church.  Thank God that David Lipscomb and other good men took a stand against the change agents of that day.

You are totally mistaken if you conclude that I wish to run the brotherhood.
That would be just as wrong as the presumptions of the change agents who wish to change the worship, faith and practice of the brotherhood. But I do have the right to express my concern about the direction some of our schools and preachers are going. I have the obligation as a preacher to preach the word, to reprove, rebuke and exhort (II Tim. 4:2).

I will remove your name from our mailing list so you won't have to bother with discarding the paper. The future will reveal which of us took the proper path. Perhaps we shall meet in the day of judgment.