Our Editorial Policy

W. Carl Ketcherside

[Page 45]

     We have a letter of lament from a sister in the Lord. She writes, "I cannot tell from reading your reports who composes the brotherhood. I read of people all over the world and I don't know where they stand. Many of them I have never even heard of before."

     Bless her heart, this dear worried saint has cheered me beyond words. She indicates that at last we are achieving our goal. Once I was a very narrow partisan and edited a very factional journal. It is difficult to overcome such a spirit. Those with whom you have always labored regard you as a traitor when you change; those in other parties seek to line you up with their own sects. There are two grave dangers you must face. You may be tempted to exchange your old faction for another, or you may unwittingly create a new one and try to secure followers for yourself.

     I have renounced both of these alternatives, for either would destroy freedom in Christ. I have resolved to belong to Him and incorporated in this is the blessed liberty to share with all those whom He has received regardless of the walls they have constructed and behind which they crouch in their fears and inhibitions. The brotherhood of which I am a part consists of all who are under the Fatherhood of God. All of His children are my brothers and sisters!

     I no longer ask which works are approved by a party. I read all of the tragically partisan journals and when I find someone who is making a sacrifice for my glorious Redeemer, I mention it to my readers as space allows. I know that many of these think they are laboring to build up a party but my God can touch a good work by His grace and make it transcend even our own shriveled-up littleness.

     Some of those we mention believe it is right to use an instrument in public praise, while some bitterly oppose it. They differ with each other about the millenium, individual cups, support of orphan homes, Bible classes, colleges, the pastor system, and a host of other items which have been elevated above the cross and made tests of fellowship. And I differ with all of them about a lot of things. But I also love them all, not because we agree on some things, but because they are in Him.

     I never categorize them any more in my reports because I am concerned only in what they accomplish for Him. They can answer to Him, and not to me, for the motivation behind their deeds. Some brethren think I ought to limit my reports of foreign mission efforts at least to those who oppose instrumental music, but I would just as soon limit them to missionaries who had black hair and were six feet tall, or more. If we're going to start our own qualifications for God's children, I'll choose my own arbitrary restrictions and not be subject to sectarian pressure.

     Once, before I learned better, I think I

[Page 46]

would have rather seen people left to wallow in benighted heathenism and paganism than to be led to Christ and immersed into him by someone from a congregation in America that used instrumental music or believed in the pre-millennial coming of my Lord. I haven't changed my mind about instrumental music or the millennium, but the blessed Holy Spirit has transformed my heart toward my brethren, I would no more think of refusing to call upon a brother to pray who differed with me about the millennium than I would one whose eyes were crossed or who parted his hair on the left side of his head. In short. I'm tired of all this sectarian narrowness and bitterness. I never intend to be a party to any of it again, so help me God!

     I have written our good sister that if she tells me which "brotherhood" it is in which she is interested, I will inform her of a journal to which she can subscribe and she can be certain she will know where everyone stands whose name appears in it. But those who read MISSON MESSENGER must be content to allow the Lord to know them that are His and to read of their good works regardless of splinter, segment or sect, to which they belong in the fractured "brotherhood."

     As I view it, we would be just as guilty if we built an "anti-party party" as any other kind. The quickest way to do this would be to publish only the reports of those who concur with us. Soon you would know how they were aligned by seeing their names in our journal. We are opposed to all factionalism regardless of who promotes it. For that reason we will continue to emphasize brotherhood in Christ rather than loyalty tested by MISSION MESSENGER or anything else except the cross.