‘A God Thing’: RENEW.org Helps Spur Dialogue Among Independent and Noninstrumental Church Leaders

By Chris Moon 

An effort is underway to bring greater unity to major streams of the Restoration Movement. 

The discipleship group RENEW.org on Dec. 5-6 organized a two-day conference for young leaders in Independent Christian Churches, noninstrumental Churches of Christ, and African American Churches of Christ. It was held at Harding University in Searcy, Ark.—a 5,000-student college with a heritage in the a cappella Churches of Christ.

The event was billed as a 40-under-40 type of gathering, primarily with pastors from large churches.  

The conference was spearheaded by RENEW.org founder Bobby Harrington, a longtime pastor of an Independent Christian Church. Also involved were The Solomon Foundation CEO Doug Crozier and Harding University President Michael Williams.

Orpheus J. Heyward, pastor of Renaissance Church of Christ in Atlanta—a large, a cappella African American congregation—was a lead presenter.

Organizers said the idea was to bring together some of the disparate streams of the Restoration Movement for a moment of dialogue and relationship-building. The hope was to generate new unity around the theological and missional areas where these churches see eye-to-eye. 

On Facebook, Heyward called the event “a pivotal moment of ecclesiastical history.” 

Williams told Christian Standard the gathering was “a God thing. . . . That’s what I would first call it.” 

How It Came to Be 

Independent Christian Churches and Churches of Christ, and noninstrumental Churches of Christ, are descendants of the movement started by Barton Stone and Alexander Campbell in the early 1800s. But they parted ways over a variety of issues that date back to the Civil War.  

Those issues include the use of musical instruments in worship, formation of missionary societies, and certain other “innovations.” 

Organizers of the Harding gathering note that these streams of the Restoration Movement still have many key things in common, including a high view of Scripture and an adherence to elder-led churches, baptism by immersion, and the weekly celebration of Communion. 

HU President Williams said the gathering was born, in part, out of a relationship he has developed with Harrington, a Harding graduate. 

Williams became president of Harding in June 2022. As he did, he began making calls for “a new Restoration Movement.”  

“We’re watching this seismic change in culture, and how do the people of God respond to it? We respond by locking arms with other believers,” Williams said. 

That led to Williams’s relationship with Harrington, who regularly invites collaboration with Church of Christ pastors at Renew.org. The discipleship platform hosts an annual conference that features a cappella Church of Christ leaders alongside those from Independent Christian Churches.  

Harrington and Williams began talking about “what’s happened with the culture and the kingdom of God and what we might do to inspire leaders to lean into the moment,” Williams said. 

“The byproduct was building some friendships and some relationships,” he said. 

A Gathering for Young Leaders 

The gathering at Harding was called the “40 Leaders Around 40 Gathering.”  

Harrington joked it wasn’t a great name. But it summed up those who were invited—roughly 40 leaders, mostly from larger Independent Christian Churches and noninstrumental Churches of Christ.  

Leaders from African American and Latino churches also were present. And one representative from the International Churches of Christ was there.  

All were around 40 years of age or younger.  

The idea was to motivate younger leaders in each stream of the Restoration Movement to begin working together—in ways the Baby Boomers haven’t, Harrington said.  

“The younger guys will determine where the church ends up in the next 20 years,” Harrington said.  

Harrington serves at Harpeth Christian Church in Franklin, Tenn., in addition to his leadership at RENEW.org. He said RENEW.org has rooted its faith statements in doctrine that both noninstrumental Churches of Christ and Independent Christian Churches can get behind.  

“I’m a Christian Church guy, but there is a core of solid theology that Church of Christ guys—and actually Baptist people and community church people—can all align around. That’s been our experience,” Harrington said. “So that’s what we invited them into.” 

The divide between pastors of these two streams of the Restoration Movement is marked, in part, by unfamiliarity.  

Most of the Independent Christian Church leaders had never even heard of Harding University—and certainly hadn’t been on its campus before the December event. The school is larger than any of the Bible colleges aligned with the Independent Christian Churches.  

Harrington said Harding University—like RENEW.org—is committed to avoiding the extremes of being too sectarian or too progressive. 

“I want to encourage kids to go there,” Harrington said.  

Concerns About Race and Music 

The Harding event consisted of presentations from members of the different streams of the Restoration Movement.  

RENEW.org editor Daniel McCoy spoke. So did Williams, Heyward, and Crozier, among others.  

“This was representative of the resurrection of the Restoration Movement,” said Heyward, the pastor of Atlanta’s Renaissance Church of Christ. 

He said the gathering enabled leaders to address “the elephants in the room.” 

For instance, Heyward said he stressed that music doesn’t have to divide the streams of the Restoration Movement.  

Each side can make its scriptural arguments for whether to use musical instruments in worship. But the issue isn’t one of salvation, Heyward said. 

And while his church won’t back away from its a cappella tradition, Heyward said he doesn’t believe Instrumental Christian Churches are heretical.  

“Let’s be OK with being different in that musical area,” he said.  

Heyward also discussed with the group the “Black psyche.” He said African American churches only exist because African Americans for a time were excluded from White churches. 

It’s a reality that both Black and White churches need to take seriously. 

“I think broaching that conversation was ground-breaking,” Heyward said. “It was well-received. Preachers and pastors could understand it and were willing to move forward with solutions to it.” 

‘Seeds that Are Being Planted’ 

Crozier, from The Solomon Foundation, discussed how his organization—a church extension fund with Independent Christian Church roots—has been able to make inroads with African American Churches of Christ in recent years.  

The Solomon Foundation has funded about $180 million in construction loans to nearly 100 African American churches in the past six years. Crozier counts Heyward as a close friend. 

But in the midst of reaching those noninstrumental churches, Crozier said, some pastors worried The Solomon Foundation’s real goal was to put instruments on the stage in those congregations. It took a heart-to-heart conversation with multiple African American church leaders to begin to build trust.  

Crozier thinks similar breakthroughs can be made across the racial and musical divide that separates many Independent Christian Churches from noninstrumental Churches of Christ.  

“It is the seeds that are being planted where [we say], ‘Let’s get people together and talk,’” Crozier said. 

The key will be getting younger pastors involved in those talks.  

“Let’s don’t go to all the old guys like us,” Crozier said. “Let’s go to all the next-generation leaders and get them in the room.” 

Harrington this week posted his own summary of the Harding gathering at RENEW.org. In it, he expressed hope for more gatherings like the one at Harding.  

He told Christian Standard, “What we’re pioneering is a future vision of the Restoration Movement ideals.” 

Chris Moon is a pastor and writer living in Redstone, Colorado.

Author: Christian Standard

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