The Final Discussion

By Talmadge F. McNabb

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     Raccoon John Smith Men's Dormitory at ACC (Alexander Campbell College) was a hallowed place of memories. For the past few years it had been the home of a number of young men who planned to become preachers. Most of these already had two or three years in ministering to surrounding Churches of Christ on weekends while attending the college. Many interesting and exciting hours had been spent in the dormitory as the young men gathered in the evening to recount their experiences on the previous weekend.

     Now graduation day was fast approaching. Final examinations had been taken. In a few days they would receive their degree in Bible and be on their way to face the world. Most of the young men would go to several different states, while others were going away to foreign fields.

     They decided to meet for a final discussion, an informal one in the dormitory lounge. The idea was to pool information about their accumulated ministerial experience while acting as student preachers. Perhaps they could learn more effective ways of avoiding pitfalls of failure in the ministry as they were about to step out on their own.

     One of the young men had been an Episcopalian. Tired of so much liturgy and tradition, one day he attended a simple gospel meeting, heard the word and followed his Lord in the waters of bap-

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tism. Afterwards he heard of ACC and transferred there, hoping to learn more of the simplicity of gospel ministry. He had thoughts of becoming a preacher himself, and was anxious to learn all he could about how to do this in the correct way. He knew the Church of Christ group whose members sponsored the school was different from the Episcopal Church he left, and he also knew he had much to learn.

     The young men gathered in the lounge for their free-for-all discussion. They made themselves comfortable in the upholstered chairs and settled down with coffee and cookies to enjoy this final get-together. One personable young man, formerly a Baptist, expressed how he would like to enter the ministry but had only a little experience. There had been no pulpit vacancy for him but still he was eager to learn all that he could. He said, "I am interested in knowing what pitfalls to avoid in the Church of Christ ministry."

     Immediately he was informed by another student that he should never use such terminology as "Church of Christ ministry." This would be denominationalizing the church, and, in fact, this was one of the big problems of ministry in the Church of Christ -- using the wrong vocabulary. Knowing the jargon of the party in the Church of Christ with which one was working was very essential. This could make you, or break you, one of the participants pointed out. It was important to use a word like "auditorium" and never "sanctuary" as did the sectarians.

     Another student chimed in to say that an important thing to watch was who was called "brother." He recalled that he almost lost his pulpit when he referred to a preacher in the conservative Christian church as "brother." In fact, even among Churches of Christ you could not call every person "brother." One might be in error, or an "anti," or be teaching some heresy. The rule to remember was to call everyone "Mister" until you found out if he was in the right party and doctrinally sound.

     The ex-Episcopalian student interrupted by saying he thought this was downright silly. He pointed out that Paul was called "Brother Saul" by Ananias before he was fully converted or had been baptized. He said, "Who are we to be always judging as to who is a Christian brother and who is not? Even the title 'Mister,' means 'Master,' and if we want to make a play on words, let's remember that Jesus said his disciples were not to be called master, for they had but one master, even Christ."

     "You are right," agreed another student. "But remember, we must go by what is already established in the Church of Christ, and in most places, calling the wrong man brother can get you marked as a liberal. You might even lose your pulpit over it."

     Another student brought up the point of avoiding the use of upper case letters in spelling certain words.

     "What in the world do you mean by that?" queried the puzzled ex-Episcopalian.

     The preacher student explained that he got into trouble at one church because he capitalized the word "church" in the heading of their bulletin, making it read, "Jones' Hollow Church of Christ," instead of "Jones' Hollow church of Christ." This was a small thing, he thought, but an issue was made of it, and immediately the elders began to question him as to whether or not he had been influenced by sectarians to believe that the church of Christ was just another denomination.

     He saw that no amount of reasoning on the basic rules of grammar had any effect on them. He quickly learned that the best thing for him to do was to always eliminate the upper case spelling in "church of Christ." He became so jumpy about the matter and remembered the rule so well, that he even had a few sentences in the bulletin, such as "churches of Christ are having a combined meeting," etc., and placed "churches" in lower case, even though the word was at the beginning of a sentence. Anything to play safe, and never again to be under suspicion of being unsound on this point.

     All of the young men agreed that failing to use a lower case initial letter in

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"church of Christ" could put you in danger of being fired. They also reminded one another that when writing such a term as "brother Johnson," they should remember to use the lower case "b" in "brother," for capitalizing here would be to give a title and that would be sectarian and get others to raising an eyebrow of suspicion and questioning your soundness.

     Another preacher student said it was important to remember never to do anything about Christmas or Easter time that would make it appear you placed some religious significance on such observances. He recalled that one Easter Sunday he decided that since most people were thinking about the resurrection, he would take advantage of their interest by preaching on "The Power of the Resurrection." He reasoned there was nothing in the New Testament which said one could not preach on the resurrection, no matter what day it happened to be. Selecting an appropriate hymn to go with his sermon, he chose, "Christ the Lord is Risen Today." As the congregation began singing one of the deacons strode from the meetinghouse in a huff. Someone overheard him murmuring he would never come back again to hear such sectarianism.

     The young man received several expressions of approval. Some said the sermon had inspired them. But the elders called a meeting at once and put him on the carpet. They warned him that he must not again engage in the denominational policy of recognizing Easter. The word itself was of pagan origin. The next year, four weeks in advance of the date, he began a series of messages on "Why We Should Not Observe Easter." This went over big with the elders and deacons and they hired him for another year. He had learned his lesson well.

     He pointed out that one needed also to be especially careful around the time of Christmas. You could have a Christmas tree in your home if you liked, sing carols around the piano in the living-room, as long as you attached no religious significance to it; give gifts, send Christmas cards to your friends, and have a secular good time. But just not give any religious connotation to any of this. Even though a lot of religious neighbors might be thinking of the birth of Christ, one should not make the horrible mistake of preaching a sermon on "The Incarnation" or "The Annunciation." It would be better to try a series of lessons on "Why December 25th Cannot be Christ's Birthday." This would go over big and assure everyone of soundness in the faith.

     The discussion in Raccoon John Smith lounge continued far into the night. Everyone seemed alert and interested in the lively exchange. No one wanted to leave although it was past midnight. One young man brought up that perhaps they should accentuate the positive and discuss ways of being successful in the ministry.

     "I know one sure way," responded an enterprising looking lad. "Be sure to send reports of your meetings to one of the popular brotherhood journals. And report only your good meetings. Those with poor visible results are best unpublicized. While improving your own image, do not forget to mention that Brother Jones who is the local minister of Sound Street Church of Christ is carrying on the work in a fine way. His church is growing and might well be featured as an "On the March" church of the future. Every member subscribes to the Gospel Emphasizer, and the church uses only Sunday School literature and materials put out by the Gospel Emphasizer Company. This tactic is based on the principle that if you scratch his back, he will scratch yours. I have found this works very effectively."

     Another student added that one should attend all of the lectureships he could. But never refer to these as "Church of Christ conventions." That would be a serious mistake. It would be a real giveaway. People would look at you askance and wonder about your soundness. The Church of Christ has no conventions of any kind, seeing it is not a denomination. At the lectureships, expose yourself around, shake hands, slap people on the back, smile, and be sure to meet the preachers of the big churches.

     Another way to success, the student continued is to be a "name dropper." Ordi-

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nary brethren tend to be impressed if they think you are on familiar, friendly grounds with the big name preachers. Mention that you have read some big name preacher's article in the Gospel Emphasizer, and that you follow his ministry with interest and admire his soundness in the faith. That will do it!

     Still another responsive student reminded the group to be sure and get both name and picture in the official preacher's album, "Ministers of Today." No group of elders of any consequence would be reckless enough to consider hiring a preacher who is not even listed among the approved faithful gospel preachers. Also, once you land a church, be sure to keep it listed in the Party's Official Directory, as one of the places "where the saints meet." This is a sure way of being "in."

     The discussion was well into the morning hours when it was noticed that the former Episcopalian was very quiet. Someone asked if he would like to add anything. The student paused a moment as if to more clearly verbalize his thoughts.

     "I came from an old-time traditional church," he thoughtfully said, "where the people seemed bound by their traditions. Now in the Church of Christ I see the same thing, although perhaps in a different way. Could it be that we are bogged down with things that are more traditional than scriptural? I never want to return to parroting a party line. I want more than anything else to secure spiritual freedom by throwing off the shackles of tradition forged on us by the party blacksmiths.

     "My eyes have been moist with tears," he continued, "as I have been reflecting on the broken hearts, the confused lives, the lost souls bobbing in the wake left by preachers in their scared scramble for the chief seats in the synagogue. Listen, men! A preacher who practices party politics instead of Christian principles can expect to reap what he sows becoming a slave to the whims of the party.

     "I beg you, do not be afraid to turn from the party's primrose path. Turn to the rugged road of reform and restoration, and follow the lowly Christ. This takes courage. It takes humility, faith and fortitude. Let us choose spiritual freedom even above so-called success. The question we must ask ourselves is whether we want to follow the party's preachments enshrined in unwritten creeds, or to explore the forgotten frontiers of faith, Christian unity and brotherhood.

     "I have made my decision. I am following the Prince of peace, regardless of the unwritten creeds some party has laid down. I am pointing people to the Christ and to him alone. We can flounder about and dawdle around over upper and lower case spelling, who we should call a brother, and a lot of other nit-picking, while souls are dying without Christ."

     When the young ex-Episcopalian had completed this speech, a hushed silence had fallen over every one. No one else seemed to have anything more to say. They had come together for their final discussion to share and to learn. Now they had learned the most important thing of all -- to follow the Christ instead of a party's idiosyncracies and trademarks. A sacred reverence seemed to permeate the atmosphere. They felt close to one another. Spontaneously one of the young men knelt by his chair to silently pray. Tears were in the eyes of some. Others also knelt. First one and then another prayed, asking God for forgiveness, asking His guidance upon their lives. "Oh God, let Jesus be first in my life," one young man pleaded.

     They arose from their knees. They firmly gripped hands with one another and sang, "Blest Be The Tie That Binds." Perhaps this had been the best discussion session they had ever held. Something had happened they would never forget. This was indeed a momentous time -- this final discussion. The effect of it would remain in some lives forever. They would look back upon it as one of the mountaintop experiences of a career in college and take courage.

     (Editor's Note. The author is Senior chaplain of the U. 5. Army Hospital in Frankfurt, Germany. His address is Box 30, 90th General Hospital, APO N.Y. 09757).