A Good Question

W. Carl Ketcherside

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     A good brother in the southland writes:

     I am troubled by your statement in the last issue in the article "Our Special Mission," to the effect that if the church accomplishes its purpose it must eventually lose its identity. How can that be possible?

     We deeply appreciate the interest which prompted the query.

     We wish the writer had noted a little more carefully what we actually said. Here it is:

     It is my conviction that any separate and distinct group existing in the Christian world to plead for a unity of all believers in Christ, that is in one body, must, in the very nature of things, have but a temporary existence in that state. If it accomplishes its own purpose it must eventually blend into the growing unity of the body of Christ which it promotes, and lose its own identity in the recaptured homogeneity of the one body which has been so seriously fractured and fragmentized.

     The church of God contains within it every saved person on earth. Every one who has entered into covenant relationship with God is a member of the one body, added to it by the power of God. Not all of these are identified with one of the factions of "The Church of Christ." The flock of God is scattered over the sectarian hills. The church has been in existence since the good news was first proclaimed at Pentecost. Jesus has never been a shepherd without a sheep, a head without a body, or a king without subjects. The church was here before Alexander Campbell was born, although there was no religious party then in existence designated "The Church of Christ." It was not the intention of the reformers to start a separate and distinct party under that, or any other, title. Their heirs have forgotten the original design of restoration and now contribute more to disunity among themselves than to unity of all the believers.

     But let me answer the question of my brother. I will give an example. In a small community, three religious organizations, each having about fifty members, meet for worship. They are known as The Methodist Church, The Baptist Church, and The Church of Christ. The sincere and scholarly men among the first two are deeply troubled by the sectarian division which exists in the world and begin a study of the sacred writings to see what they can do in a small way to eliminate such. After several years of mutual exchange of thought they resolve to sink into oblivion their local units, and come together to constitute a single congregation. They covenant together to accept the scriptures as their only rule of faith, and to create no barriers or tests of fellowship which God has not authorized. Those who were previously sprinkled among the Methodist party are immersed in conformity with the original meaning of baptism. All resolve to meet each Lord's Day to gather about the table of fellowship. They decide to accept no particular designation, but to simply employ any descriptive term found in the divine oracles for the people of God.

     In their initial meeting, they draft the following resolution:

     Resolved, that the undersigned, having previously been members of several diverse par-

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ties in the Christian domain, but having concluded that the party spirit is a sin, and having decided to constitute ourselves a church of God in this community, wearing no distinctive title, but welcoming every immersed believer whose character is in harmony with the moral standard of Jesus, shall continue to study together to grow in grace and knowledge of the truth, and to help make it possible for the will of God to he done on earth as it is in heaven, and to this end we mutually pledge ourselves in the grace of God.

     Now, what should "The Church of Christ" in that community do? Should it remain aloof, and demand that these others come and "make acknowledgements" unto them? Should they insist the only scriptural name is "The Church of Christ" and attack these godly, consecrated neighbors who refuse to sectarianize any term or title? My reply is that if they do so they will be a "sect" in that area, as they are now in so many places.

     Since our purpose is the unity of all believers in the Lord Jesus, by a restoration of the primitive order of things, we should lose our identity as a distinct group and blend into the growing unity we claim to promote. We need not worry about the church losing its identity. It cannot do so, for there is but one church, and never has been but one. The church was created by God according to an eternal purpose. It is impossible for the church to cease, die, or be lost. You might as well fear that Jesus will pass away as to worry about his body dying. Most of my brethren confuse a faction with the church. They fear the dissolution of the party will be the end of the church. That is why we need a restoration of the Restoration.