28 March, 2024

Things I Appreciate About Us

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by | 29 January, 2006 | 0 comments

By Doug Priest

I am a legitimate son of the Stone-Campbell Movement! My father is a preacher, my grandfather was a preacher, my grandfather”s cousin was a preacher named Walter Scott Priest, and in fact, my great-great-grandfather, Stephen Priest, was baptized by Alexander Campbell and was a member of the Brush Run Church. So when I share the following illustrations of things I appreciate about “us,” I mean we of the Restoration Movement.

Free to Choose

My wife and I were recently at a lovely denominational retreat center. As a part of her job as adult minister at our church, Robyn was looking for a specific version of the Bible that had only recently been published. Our church was considering using the new translation, and Robyn wanted to preview it.

Since the retreat center had a well-stocked bookstore, we thought we could pick up a copy of that Bible there. Looking through a variety of versions on their shelves, we did not see the one we wanted. We decided to ask a store associate if perhaps we had overlooked it.

“No,” the woman helpfully replied, “you did not overlook that translation. We don”t carry that particular translation. It is a fairly new translation, and our denomination has not yet approved the sale of that version in our stores. You realize that our store is owned by the denomination.”

I would be the first to admit that the owners of a store have every right to pick and choose what they want to sell in their store. And I would say that same thing goes for a chain of stores linked with one denomination. It is their store; they can stock whatever they wish.

But as we left the store, we commented to each other how much we appreciated being in a group of churches that does not require the approval of a governing body to determine whether one translation of the Bible can be sold or not.

Free to Fellowship

It is 2006, a full century since the historic split in the Stone-Campbell Movement between the Disciples of Christ and the churches of Christ. Later, the “independents” and the Disciples also by and large lost touch with one another.

While our history is fraught with these unfortunate episodes of disunity, through the past century some have valiantly tried to find common ground with other believers. Many early Disciples, such as Peter Ainslie and Jesse Bader, were instrumental in the unity movements among various denominations. Two dozen years ago there were helpful discussions with the Church of God, Anderson, Indiana. This year (and for many years preceding this one), representatives of the independents and the churches of Christ have talked about unity. The recently published and influential Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement, in which the three branches receive equal treatment, is highly commendable.

Our movement has not seen fit to construct fences around ourselves to maintain some false sense of doctrinal purity. We are secure enough in our beliefs and opinions (since that is what most of them really are) to have interaction, fellowship, and dialogue with others. If it is true that one learns the most from reading authors one does not agree with, then by all means we would be wise to continue such interaction.

Free to Listen

Perhaps this is somewhat anecdotal, but I know the man who shared this with me to be honest. A few years back a woman was scheduled to be one of the main speakers at the North American Christian Convention. The usual comments, ranging from “This is an historic occasion!” to “How could they?” were making the rounds.

Word got out that some attending the convention opposed to a woman preaching were considering walking onto the platform in protest and escorting her from the stage. Apparently there was enough truth to the rumor that a solidly built bodyguard was stationed near the platform stairs as a precaution.

I appreciate that no protest took place, and I appreciated her thoughtful message. I hope she, and others like her, preach at the NACC again soon.

Free to Serve

We are coming to realize the fallacy of the false dichotomy. Due to our Western influences from Greek philosophy, we”ve labored under some “either/or” options that are neither helpful nor realistic. The false dichotomy of “sacred or secular” became very pronounced during the early decades of the last century. In those times churches separated themselves into camps that labeled one another as either “conservative” or “liberal.” The liberals engaged in doing good deeds, termed the “social gospel,” while the conservatives concentrated their efforts on evangelism and starting churches. Each group first offended and then later ignored the other. Polarization was the result.

The liberals talked about “salvation today.” To them, salvation was characterized by peace, justice, the lack of poverty, and the alleviation of hunger. In contrast, the conservatives described salvation as eternal life and the blessings that come with Heaven. The liberals accused the conservatives of being “too heavenly minded to be any earthly good,” while the conservatives berated the liberals for their “socialist agenda.”

Time has helped us gain perspective. We better understand that Christianity must embrace all of life, and that Christianity must embrace the entire world. Today churches engage in holistic ministries where social action and evangelism inherently come together as they should. There is a positive blurring of the lines as we move from the “either/or” to the “both/and.”

We read about churches that promote evangelism and the fight against hunger. Congregations support HIV/AIDS education and discipleship courses. Church members give up their vacations to make trips to the poorer areas of the world to help construct houses for the homeless. We read with pleasure about the church that holds prom night for those who are differently-abled. We hear about the youth group that picks up litter and plants flowers in the inner city and we say to ourselves, “What a great idea.”

Free to Cooperate

I went to Bible college out West in the 1970s. At that time there were some half dozen or so Restoration-related Bible colleges in that part of the country. In those days the competition between these colleges was fierce, at least among the students of the various schools. A friend from another Bible college once told me that his school had “the most respected professors” of any of the other six schools. I scratched my head in wonderment because it was my opinion that my school had the better professors . . . and not by a small margin! On top of that, my school had the larger library, three times the number of students, and we always beat their team in basketball too.

In a geographical area of the country that had too few congregations and too many Bible colleges, it was easy to get caught up in the competition mentality. Today the climate has changed. The mentality is no longer competition but cooperation. Very rarely do we hear comments pitting one school against another. Rather, the schools find occasions to cooperate on a variety of endeavors. There are cooperative educational programs, shared professorships, mutuality in prayer, and joint ventures in mission. We”ve come a long way.




DOUG PRIEST served as a missionary in Kenya, Tanzania, and Singapore before becoming executive director of Christian Missionary Fellowship. He earned his PhD in missions from Fuller Theological Seminary and serves as an elder of the Oaklandon Christian Church in Indianapolis. An avid birder, he also enjoys digital photography, reading, and stamp collecting. He is editing a book he plans to give to attendees of the 2008 National Missionary Convention in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Doug and Robyn”s daughters, Nicole and Andrea, live in Philadelphia.

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