New Wine Does Fit An Old Skin

On Sunday, September 20, 2009, I was in Abilene and was excited to be able to visit with my youngest daughter, Lindsay and worship with her at the Minter Lane Church of Christ in Abilene. She spent some time looking for a congregation in Abilene when she got to town and knowing how frustrated she was with the concept of tradition trumping Christ, I was not sure if she would even end up within our fellowship. When I heard her talk of this congregation of saints, I was not sure what to expect when I visited but was thrilled after the worship service this past Sunday.

When I approached the building, it reminded me of several buildings I have entered in the past and everything is actually where it is supposed to be according to our denominational heritage. When I entered the auditorium, I stepped back in time with the wooden pews on each side holding the appropriate cards for visitors and membership. The building did have a great center aisle for those wishing a great place to walk for a wedding (had to put that in since my oldest is looking for a place to be married).

Being a song leader, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the song books placed neatly in the racks and I tried to think of a time when I had been in a building with song books this old but without looking at the date, it may have just been the wear of the books giving me this impression. I did notice the Minter Lane publication of a song book in the rack with the other book. It was not the usual words typed up so they could sing some other songs but rather a professional publication put together and stapled in the middle.

When we entered the building, we were given a worship guide reminding me of the worship guides I usually get when I visit a Baptist, Methodist or Lutheran service. I noticed a number of songs to be sung (few of which I knew) and several items listed for the day. One quick break in tradition was the use of more than one scripture reading and a reading done by the entire congregation. This was awesome!

Another break from the official Church of Christ traditional doctrine was one of the scripture readings being done by a woman. Yes, Christianity is not a “for men only club” found in most of our heritage. While one visit is not enough to see how much women are integrated into the worship experience, I would hope they also lead prayer, help with communion and teach from time to time. All of these things would most likely be offensive to several of the people I know but none of them is forbidden by anything other than the tradition of man speaking for God.

The singing was incredible, the lesson was awesome and I came away feeling edified and strengthened to walk the walk of a Christian this week. I know every group has their own hang-ups and I am sure this congregation is no exception to the rule. What pleases me greatly is the thought that our fellowship of Christians is coming out of the traditions of our past and knowing this group is probably one of the more conservative churches of Christ in the city of Abilene brought great excitement to the realization of Christ winning the battle over tradition.

Before closing this blog, I would have everyone know of one thing impressing me most in the handout this past Sunday. Everyone was being encouraged to attend and participate in the Great Communion planned for October 4, 2009. If you are in Abilene on October 4^th of this year, you would be able to meet together with our brothers and sisters from the churches of Christ, the Christian Churches and the Disciples of Christ and share the communion of our Lord. What a great day this will be for Christians in this world to acknowledge we are all one in the Lord though we have a variety of traditions for our weekly observance.

My hat is off to the body of Christ at Minter Lane and pray God continues to bless them with an even greater blessing than was offered up for the children and students of all ages on Sunday so they can continue to be a great edification of Christians in Abilene.

Yes, the skin is an old skin but the wine of life flowing in this congregation is fresh and edifying to those who get a “taste.”

"The Way We Do Things"

I often find myself aggravated when I discover an organization of my affiliation making political statements of support for a candidate in the political forum. The National Education Association and Texas State Teachers Association are often on the opposite side of my belief system and yet I see them come out in support of candidates I would never support. I have often objected to this because the membership was never polled to determine if even a percentage of the active group believed in the statement of support. The honesty and integrity of various organizations is often found lacking in this area when communication with the membership and a statement reflecting a percentage of support from the membership given in representation of the complete organization would be an easy task.

In our church congregations, we often find ourselves in the same hierarchy of decision making because we have created something for the church of our Lord replacing Jesus as the head of the church. In our attempt to copy things from the first century congregations, with very little, if any, guidance from God in the bible, it is easy to recognize how we have appointed people as the decisions makers for the local church. It is so odd how I was part of those who condemned the Catholic Church and the other denominations for having this hierarchy of decision makers and yet I was guilty of the same thinking. I was even taught to use this characteristic of having a hierarchy to define those who were denominations and later it became the basis for me being able to understand how my own heritage of the churches of Christ was actually a denomination. Basically, all of us who have been part of church groups have been part of denominational structure after coming out of individual homes.

Moving back around to the point of this blog, referenced in the title, I have considered who is supposed to be the decision maker for the church body. In my thinking, the bible only indicates one head of the church and this is Christ! The Church (body of Christ) does not have a main part of the body, separate from the head called upon to make decisions for the body but rather a condition where all parts work together under the direction of the head.

My understanding of the bible has me believe each part of the body works to support each other but no part of the body gets to tell the other part NO! There is no one in the body of our Lord given the authority to tell another Christian "you can't do that" or "this is the way we do things." If this exists, I would sure like for someone to show me where it is. I often hear other Christians communicate a directive to other Christians describing how we are to obey the instruction of our elders and I still don't see anything in the bible replacing Jesus as the head. Elders are not called or appointed in the bible to be the decision makers for the body but rather the spiritual leaders. The very qualifications we are asked to consider in men who would be elders is a life without reproach and life they are living as an example of how we are to live.

The simple explanation for the conflict which exists within the body of Christ is found in those who first, believe there is a need to be right and second find a need in their own lives to tell another Christian what to and not to do. It is not enough in our lives to live the life Christ lived as an example and nothing more. We have to make others into ourselves.

I am encouraged to hear of so many congregations who are giving up on the concept of elder directed congregations in favor of elder led congregations. Many have examined the false doctrines of their past and realized the error of placing Christ (as the sign says) in a co-pilot seat.

My dad used a phrase I believe might have been used by many adults in the past of telling me not to do what he did but do what I was told. I must say that I have used this phrase many times and I don't believe it was the true philosophy of my dad (particularly in his last years) but it has been a policy very close to the one we have traditionally held in our churches of "do what I do or else you are not welcome as a brother."

Christ said "follow me" and even the apostle Paul said "follow me." The focus of what to follow is not found in rules but rather a life. Just my opinion, but the body needs to focus on following and, in reality, becoming Christ to the world.

I look forward to a time when someone told "you can't do that" or "we don't do that here," to simply say, in a loving manner, "who placed you at the head of the church?" The local church body may want to do something or not want to do something but it is not the position of man to say no or yes, but rather the body to say yes or no. The body is ready for the task if only each part will do what it is called upon to do and not try to instruct the other part of the body.

Tracking "Our" Success

It has been a great afternoon and as I sat considering so many things, I came to consider how I have been raised in a fellowship of men and women who regularly track our success for God. I have had several ideas swimming through my mind lately but they all eventually came around to this concept and while I have not spent several days contemplating the idea of the effects this might have on our relationship with Christ, I currently believe, at least partly, it is responsible for the belief held in my fellowship of being able to accurately fulfill the will of God.

A primary goal of my fellowship has always been wrapped up in the number of baptisms we have within a year. In fact, just prior to sitting down to write, I found time to catch up on the Reflection writings of my great mentor in the faith Al Maxey and found myself impressed to discover how John Allen Gano had baptized over 10,000 persons in his lifetime and his son some 6,800 persons. http://www.zianet.com/maxey/reflx411.htm While this blog is not intended to downplay the awesome job of this preacher and his son, I have not been so impressed as to ignore the outcome we have often fostered in our own acts of taking Christ to others.

Our practice for so long following the baptism of a person was to hand them a book along the lines of “Now That I’m A Christian” and insure the education of the person into the dogma of our heritage. We may have had a “side goal” of helping them to develop a relationship with God but the primary focus of what I grew to know as “scriptural based teaching” was to place the burden of our legalism strongly on their conscience so they might know the “truth” of the true church; The Church of Christ! If the reader chooses to read the referenced Reflection above, he will soon discover how this man was not impressed with bringing someone into a relationship with the “local church” but rather a permanent relationship with God.

The beginning of this thought process focused around the joy I receive daily as I get to teach two 7th grade bible classes in school. These young minds are just getting to a point in their lives when the balance of always being told what to do and believe is being replaced with learning how to make decisions for themselves. As they learn from the myriad of mistakes they make on a daily basis (the same ones all of us made), they still find adults ready to tell them just “how things are.” Not being fond of pressing my dogma of education on the students, I am in the perfect place to inform them of the differences between what God has stated and man teaches. The questions they bring forth in class will often describe the same struggles being dealt with daily in our various church families and it is not uncommon for me to answer them with the realization of past “truth” being founded not in the bible but rather the will of man.

I once read a comment concerning the practice of some in public education to eliminate the family belief system and replace with the belief system of our society and I know this is the case having spent the majority of my teaching career in public education. What is now odd in my thinking is how I now seem to have a goal encouraging my students to think and make choices for themselves and not be restrained by the shackles their parents and church family wish to place on them.

I still find myself about to tell students the “truth” of the matter when questioned on some topic and yet, for the most part, I quickly make reference to the reality of men in my denomination forming a belief in one direction and those of other various denominations forming beliefs in another direction. Even this early in the year, I have been able to make reference to the reality of scripture not speaking to both point of views and how in their maturity they will be called upon to make decisions based on the faith they mature with Christ in their own lives. I hope they enjoy the honesty of the discussion because I know from email messages of the discussion content getting home.

Returning to the opening thoughts of this blog and hopefully bringing everything together, this idea formed by men relative to tracking our success indicates a mission we have come to believe exists for the church of our Lord. Stated simply, we believe we have the power to bring salvation to others and while this is currently the goal of many in the church, I do not believe our mission, the GREAT COMMISSION as some might call it from Jesus was ever intended to imply we have the power of salvation to give to anyone.

In truth, I was taught how some might not have the opportunity of being saved if I failed to do my part and effectively, I was responsible for some being lost and some being saved. We even refer to others as great warriors for the Lord based upon the number of baptisms happening in response to their efforts and yet salvation is not a gift of our labor but rather the gift of our savior.

In reality, when it comes to the “plan of salvation,” we have no part in success or failure and if the facts are told, there is NO FAILURE in the plan of salvation. Christ did everything needed and completely forgave all sin. With no part of salvation being part of our decision, we are either of the group thankful and devoted in our hearts to sharing the good news of God’s success or we choose to place our hearts far away from God in our lives and effectively spit in the face of Jesus.

I pray for the time when this realization becomes the norm and we begin to live a life thankful for all Christ has done. Unfortunately, those who must check off items from their list of legal requirements can only find support for their belief when totaling the number of successful conversions each year.