Why the Churches of Christ Were Right After All

On March 7th of 2011 a SMU Associate Professor Church History, Ted A. Campbell posted on his blog an article titled, “Why the Churches of Christ Were Right After All.” As a Methodist who has authored several books on church history he wrote from more than just an academic perspective. His ancestors had been members of the Church of Christ. Furthermore, he had attended the Preston Road Church of Christ on a Sunday and had a change of mind concerning this “eccentric” group. After a personal investigation he is starting to change his mind. He wrote, “so I did not have a very positive impression of the Churches of Christ, but I’m beginning to change my mind, and now I’m thinking they may be right on some of those most interesting points that have distinguished them. …Here are five reasons why the Churches of Christ may be right after all.”

“First, they have a profound insight into Christian music and its place in worship. …There’s something utterly wonderful about the sound of human voices blending together in harmony. I wonder if we have gone too far with our instrumental fetish in worship.”
The difference between the worship in the Methodist church and the New Testament church has to do with the kind of worshipers Jesus is seeking. Jesus said, “the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:23,24). The truth is from the Word of God. What kind of music does the Word require? Is it instrumental or vocal? Paul wrote, “let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord” (Col. 3:16). He also told the church at Ephesus they should be, “speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord” (Ep. 5:19). Even the founder of the Methodist church, John Wesley, said, “I have no objection to the organ in our chapels provided it is neither seen nor heard.”

“Second, they’ve sure got the right name. If you think about, I mean, think about it from the perspective of a friendly outsider, ‘Methodist’ and ‘Presbyterian’ and ‘Baptist’ are not really ace names for Christian groups. Even “Catholic” sounds a little pretentious and ‘Orthodox’ a little snitty. ‘Church of Christ’ sounds pretty straightforward by contrast.”
The Bible clearly condemns religious division (1 Cor. 1:10-13). Jesus bought the church with His blood (Acts 20:28). He should have the right to name it and its followers to give him the glory. Not some man like Luther for the Lutheran Church. The church is His bride and ought to where his name. Paul wrote, Greet one another with a holy kiss. The churches of Christ greet you” (Rom. 16:16).

“Third, the Churches of Christ celebrate the Lord’s Supper every Sunday. “Churches of Christ folk haven’t fallen for Protestants’ quirky idea that words can suffice in place of bread and wine. The service at Preston Road was very simple, with an elder of the congregation offering a simple prayer of thanksgiving for the bread (which seemed to be matzot, the kind of unleavened bread that Jews eat during Passover) and a prayer of thanksgiving for the wine (which tasted a lot like grape juice), then the elements were distributed to the congregation in the pews. It reminded me a lot of the simple prayers over the bread and wine in the second-century Didache document…”

The Methodist church like many other denominations do not partake of the Lord’s Supper every first day of the week. However, the church of the New Testament met on the first day of every week to partake. This was the habit of the church at Troas. “Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight” (Acts 20:7). Paul told the church at Corinth, “on the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come” (1 Cor. 16:2). Previously, when they were to partake of the Lord’s Supper they were to “come together in one place” (1 Cor 11:20). This of course was done on the first day of the week when they came together.

“Fourth, there really is only one Church of Christ. … the Churches of Christ were way out front in making us aware of that claim.” Jesus promised only to build one church. He promise to build it upon the fact He was the Son of God: “on this rock I will build My church” (Matt. 16:18). Paul wrote concerning the church’s relationship to Christ: “the church, which is His body” (Eph. 1:22,23). Later he declared, “there is one body” (Eph. 4:4). The church is also the bride of Christ (Eph. 5:23-33). And Jesus was not a polygamist.

“Fifth, and perhaps most importantly, the simplicity of the Churches of Christ allows them to focus on what is most important, namely, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The pastor’s (i.e. preacher’s) sermon on the salt and light passage in the Sermon on the Mount (St. Matthew 5:13-16) drove home the message that Christians need to be giving themselves for the world. The salt, he said, needs to get out of the salt shaker.”
New Testament Christians are still the people of the book. The Church of Christ is still “the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15).

The real reasons why the Churches of Christ were right after all has do with three scriptural factors: the right creed, unity, and relationship with Christ. First, the church of Christ does not have a creed other than the New Testament. The term “creed” comes from the Latin word credo which means “I believe.” Many denominations write out a detailed list of what they believe. The Baptist’s have their Manuals and the Methodists have their Disciplines, but the church of Christ has only the Bible. The beliefs or faith of New Testament Christians are from the Word of God. “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17). The church of Christ goes back to the Bible for the New Testament pattern. Noah built the ark according to the pattern give him by God. Moses made the Tabernacle according to the pattern given him on Mount Sinai. The pattern of the New Testament church is to be followed today without subtraction or addiction. “For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book” (Rev. 22:18,19).

Second, the New Testament church has united in belief. Paul told the church at Corinth: “Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment” (1 Cor. 1:10). The unity of the church is seen in it’s oneness. There is one church just as there is one God. Paul commanded the Ephesian saints to endeavor “to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all” (Eph. 4:3-6).

Third, the church of Christ has the right relationship with Christ. Christ is the head of the body with is the church. “He is the Savior of the body” (Eph. 5:23). The early Christians “were baptized into Christ Jesus” (Rom. 6:3). They “put on Christ” when they “were baptized into Christ” (Gal. 3:27) and “by one Spirit [they] were all baptized into one body” (1 Cor. 12:13). Those three thousand baptized on the day of Pentecost and the days following were added to the church by the Lord (Acts 2:47). As Jesus told Nicodemus, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:30).

What was Ted Campbell’s conclusion? “I came away with the sense that Churches of Christ folk really are the hobbits of the Christian world: not a lot of technological razzmatazz, not a lot of heavy emotion, not an elaborate or sophisticated liturgy, they just get the job done. There is a primitive simplicity to their communities that really stands out among other church bodies trying to be the church of Christ. We’d do well to learn from them and thank God for their witness.”

– Daniel R. Vess

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