A NECESSARY INGREDIENT OF VICTORY

As I assess the condition of our churches in this new millennium, I see  a missing ingredient that has left us vulnerable to Satan’s wiles.  We have lost the sense of brotherhood we once had. I am 65. I remember when all congregations in an area knew each other, supported each other’s efforts, cooperated in good works, and helped in planting new congregations.  We rejoiced at the victories of others and mourned their losses. We had gospel papers that helped us keep in touch with each other. We thrilled to read of victories in distant fields and lifted up prayers when fellow-Christians were in need.  Preachers we had never seen, we knew by name and by their teaching. We felt free to call on them for advice and assistance.  They were willing to give it.   Back them people were not so much interested in where a man went to school, only if he were a faithful preacher of God’s Word. We honored men who were faithful proclaimers of the gospel and were proud to call them our brothers. Churches respected the membership of sister congregations and did not try to recruit them in order to increase their own numbers. We all loved the Church of Christ and were proud to be members of it. There was not nearly so much doubt and suspicion about each other. We loved our fellow-Christians like family and called them brother and sister.

Sadly, this spirit of brotherhood has been neglected and largely disappeared over the last 30 years. To regain our strength as a people, we must work to rebuild and restore that sense of brotherhood (I Pet.4:17).