Concerning Fellowship

By Harold Key

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     Ten years ago I wrote a little article with the above title for our church bulletin in Memphis, Tennessee. Since our bulletin was mailed to many places, the article came to the attention of several who re-ran it in church bulletins and even in such papers as WEST COAST CHRISTIAN, edited by Brother Lovell, and THE AMERICAN CHRISTIAN REVIEW, edited by Brother Sommer. Recently someone came across a copy of it and sent it to me suggesting that it still has merit. So here it is.

     A few words regarding Christian fellowship are in order. Here and there we observe attempts to establish rules whereby we may admit or refuse people desiring fellowship with us. It has been our historic position since the days of Alexander Campbell and his co-workers to call all believers in Christ together as Christians only--nothing more nor less. On that basis, and no other, is Christian unity possible.

     Practically every religious denomination and sect is the culmination of well-meaning attempts to make "sounder" Christians. Just a stricter demand here, and a little more cautious requirement there, and the group has greater assurance that only the worthy will be admitted. Better yet, go a little further in this zeal for purity of doctrine and write out your concept of New Testament faith. Then you can show this to the candidates and ask if they accept it. Then just one more precautionary step--let some committee or even the whole congregation vote as to whether or not such persons should be admitted or rejected.

     A hundred years ago it appeared there really was hope for uniting Christians, or rather, restoring to Christians the sense of unity. Two-thirds of a million adults (out of a total U.S. population of less than 30 million) had accepted as their associational basis simply the desire to be Christians--that was all. Not "Baptist" Christians, not "Methodist" Christians, not "Presbyterian" Christians, not "Church of Christ" Christians--but just Christians. They spoke of themselves as "not the only Christians, but Christians only." No man-made organizations were to rule over them. No demands were made as to uniformity in interpreting the Bible. All were received who "believed and were baptized."

     No one could claim they all saw alike. Widely diverging opinions were held, many of which necessarily had to be wrong in part or in whole. But that which made them united was Christ Jesus. Each was a member of Him, and thus they saw that they were also members one of another. For a time their unity of faith was more fundamental than their diversity of opinions, because they had faith in their Lord and love for Him and for His brethren.

     But when they forgot their aim of restoring to the church the sense of unity

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and thought of themselves as "restoring the church" to the world, and when they assumed that the church had thus finally been "restored," they forgot the basis of Christian unity and began to insist on uniformity. It is always tempting for one who considers himself a "strong" brother to try to force the "weak" brother into likemindedness. Soon the "weak" brother is considered as an "erring" brother. Then he is regarded as "unsound," and eventually he is denied as even being a brother, although he believes in Jesus Christ and was immersed in His name.

     Nowadays among many people "fellowship," or "brotherhood," is considered as practically synonymous with complete approval. To them it means a blanket endorsement of all beliefs, opinions and actions. As an illustration, a preaching brother of the city recently expressed this very sentiment as follows: "When you fellowship an individual, you stamp your approval on him; you testify that he is sound, and that you can recommend him anywhere." If this were true one could not consistently have fellowship with the immature, ignorant, or lukewarm members of a single congregation. Such a definition destroys fellowship altogether.

     This side of Heaven the church will always consist of immature, imperfect, but growing persons who constitute the fellowship. They may be growing but very slowly, and they may be very trying to the patience of others further along in Christian development. But the critical point is that Christ is in them and leading them. This we must recognize and be careful to respect. It was for this very reason that the Apostle Paul wrote: "We who are strong ought to bear the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves" (Romans 15:1), and, "Welcome one another, therefore, as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God" (Rom. 15:7).