Articles for tag: Unity

July 13, 2020

Christian Standard

Communion on the Moon

By Jon Wren This Monday, July 20, marks the 51st anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. It was the culmination of years of intense planning, research, and effort—and of centuries of scientific and astronomical study. It ranks as possibly the most impressive human achievement in history. People of a certain age can recall the image of the American flag on the moon’s surface and Neil Armstrong’s famous “one giant leap for mankind” statement. But probably very few people know about something else that happened that day on the moon. After the landing, astronaut Buzz Aldrin removed from his “personal

June 15, 2020

Christian Standard

Four Important Questions to Advance Reconciliation

By Larry Griffin, LaTanya Tyson, and David Fincher (The column about racial justice, equality, and reconciliation was written by three Christian college presidents. Larry Griffin serves as president of Mid-South Christian College, Memphis, Tenn.; Dr. LaTanya Tyson serves as president of Carolina Christian College, Winston-Salem, N.C.; and Dr. David Fincher serves as president of Central Christian College of the Bible, Moberly, Mo., while also leading the Association of Christian Church Colleges and Universities.) As presidents of Christian church colleges that serve the Restoration Movement, we lament the examples of injustice and division that have sadly become too commonplace in America.

June 14, 2020

Megan Rawlings

Megan Rawlings

Unity Despite Politics

By Megan Rawlings We’re entering that time of year. We are inundated with campaign signs, slogans, brochures, and TV ads. Candidates are making promises, doing their best to make their competitors look bad, and trying to convince the public that they are the right person for the job. Unfortunately, it doesn’t stop there. Serious disagreements erupt in the public arena, and even believers get caught up in the drama. But how are we, as Christians, supposed to politely express our political opinions without offending others? Good Manners Had Bad Results Etiquette books fascinate me. I read them and study how

June 14, 2020

Ben Cachiaras

The Separation of Church and Hate

What are you bringing to the political fire? By Ben Cachiaras Our nation is polarized politically. It seems everyone is politicked off. The flames of strife, disagreement, and contentiousness are burning everywhere, and each of us has a choice in how we respond. In one hand you hold a can of gasoline.It’s obvious what happens when you pour gas on a fire. The fire explodes, destruction follows, people are hurt. In your other hand is a bucket filled with water. Pour the water on a flame and you hear that defusing sound: tsssss. The bucket contains the Spirit’s calming waters

June 14, 2020

Steve Carr

Sex, Religion, & Politics

Learning from Our Restoration History—and the Civil War—How to Fight Well By Steve Carr An adage suggests there are three subjects one should not bring up in public conversation: sex, religion, and politics. In this article, I throw caution to the wind and bring up all three, while pursuing how political issues have impacted the Restoration Movement. One of the mottoes of our movement is, “In essentials, unity; in nonessentials, liberty; in all things, love.” In the traditional understanding of this proverb, nonessentials refers to those extra-biblical topics not specifically mentioned in Scripture. While politics would seem to fit in

May 21, 2020

Christian Standard

A Biographical Study of Barton W. Stone (Part 4)

Here is the conclusion of our four-part series on Barton W. Stone, as excerpted from Frederick D. Kershner’s 1940 series on six of the “most significant advocates” of the Restoration Movement. (Click on any of these to read the earlier installments of the series: Part one — part two — part three.) _ _ _ “Stars: Message of Barton Stone” May 4, 1940; p. 7  The first relations of [Alexander] Campbell and [Barton] Stone appear to have been somewhat strained and not altogether cordial. The Kentucky reformer was a little dubious about too much emphasis being placed on water regeneration;

May 17, 2020

Matthew Wilson

Our Impact in the Wider Evangelical World

By Matthew Wilson As a pastor in an independent Christian church, I’m excited and encouraged that many denominational churches are abandoning traditions and conventions and are migrating toward movements like ours that embrace biblical supremacy. In many ways, I believe we are coming out of a dark ages and entering an era of enlightenment. People no longer follow doctrines and practices just because they are told to; instead, they demand to understand the context for what they believe. In modern history, many Christians relied on the authority of their governing bodies, but now we live in an information-driven age where

May 17, 2020

Megan Rawlings

Megan Rawlings

A Restoration Movement for Everyone

By Megan Rawlings In 1962, while NASA was taking its first feverish steps to land a man on the moon (and bring him home safely) by the end of the decade, President John F. Kennedy visited the NASA Space Center for the first time. While touring the premises, he observed a janitor mopping the floor. Kennedy started a conversation with the janitor by asking what he was doing. Much to the commander-in-chief’s surprise, the custodian replied, “I’m helping put a man on the moon.” Everyone who worked for NASA—astronauts, engineers, mathematicians, janitors—shared the same vision and knew they had a

May 17, 2020

Brian Sevits

We Began as an Inviting Movement

By Brian Sevits When I stepped onto the campus of Central Christian College of the Bible in the fall of 2005, I could not have told you anythingabout the roots of the Restoration Movement or its principles. Like many of my peers, I had grown up in a denomination and chose to come to CCCB because of its proximity to home and affordability. Just two years later, I had been hired at the Restoration Movement church around the corner. Many of the members and leaders at that church share a similar story—we come from various backgrounds and have been welcomed

May 17, 2020

Jerry Harris

10 Foundation Stones of the Church—No. 2: Authority

By Jerry Harris A 2019 Pew Research Center study reveals that Americans’ attitudes about institutional authority are dropping like a rock. People are losing their trust in government, elected officials, education, journalism, health care, business, law enforcement, science, the military, and yes, religion. The younger we are, the less trust in institutions we have. This lack of trust bleeds down into its most basic form . . . trust in each other. Interestingly, most everyone knows this needs to be reversed and believes it can be reversed—they just don’t know how. The thing is, authority is essential for anything to

May 17, 2020

Jeremy Jernigan

Building Bridges

By Jeremy Jernigan The church landscape in America is different than ever before. Most formal denominational groupings seem to be on the decline. At the same time, the rise of multisite churches creates opportunities for mini denominations. It begs the question: What truly makes a denomination? Said differently, What truly unites us? Is it a shared history, a shared creed (or set of distinctives), a shared leadership structure, or something else? No matter how we or others feel about denominations, many of them started with a pursuit for greater unity. I’m a second-generation preacher who grew up in the Christian

May 1, 2020

Christian Standard

SPOTLIGHT: South Union Christian Church, Bloomington, Indiana

Prayer as a Way of Life . . . and Ministry By Melissa Wuske From the outside, it seems South Union Christian Church caught a lucky break—but minister Jim Cain and his church know different. The church was outgrowing its building, unsure what to do next, when it received a donation of 83 acres right off the highway in December 2018. Location has always been a challenge for the church, which is still waiting to move to its new site. “We are currently four miles off the highway, out in the country next to a stone quarry,” said Cain, who

April 29, 2020

Christian Standard

Ministers Sharing Knowledge Amid COVID-19 Outbreak (Plus News Briefs)

Compiled by Jim Nieman and Chris Moon The Intentional Churches website is a good source of helpful information on various strategies and initiatives churches are employing during the COVID-19 crisis. Video discussions featuring ministers from across the country are being posted about every week at the IC website. Here’s a sampling of thoughts from the April 17 conference: “We’re taking our . . . folks who worked in the lobby as greeters . . . and inviting them to be online greeters. . . . Not giving them a lot of moderating responsibilities, but really just looking to reengage them

April 19, 2020

David Faust

Application for April 26: We Come from Different Places

(This “Application“ column goes with the Bible lesson for April 26, 2020: “His Chosen People.“) By David Faust My wife, Candy, volunteers with a ministry in our church called English Talk Time. Neighbors from Japan, Korea, Brazil, China, and other nations come to our church building each Wednesday morning to learn conversational English. It’s a practical way to assist our neighbors, but it leads to some humorous verbal exchanges. When your friends speak little English, how do you explain to them the difference between “aisle,” “isle,” and “I’ll”? Why can you read the same book today that you read yesterday,

April 16, 2020

Christian Standard

“Vitamins Club” Revisited

A comprehensive indexing of Christian Standard upon our magazine’s 100th anniversary in 1966 failed to chronicle a recurring one-page feature called “Vitamins Club”—a hodgepodge of sermon outlines, memory verse listings, random poetry, original and submitted items, and also snippets gleaned from other sources. All of these had one thing in common: brevity. Today we will feature a few of these items from early in 1935 . . . 85 years ago. _ _ _ DEFINITION OF A DENOMINATION April 6, 1935; p. 6 A. E. Sterrett, of Leipsic, O., sends the following definition of a denomination, that he says he

March 19, 2020

Jerry Harris

When Good Gifts Are Wrapped in Ugly Paper: How We Can Be Bright Lights in Dark Circumstances

By Jerry Harris Sometimes our greatest gifts and opportunities come wrapped in ugly paper. With our hearts and lives in distress because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it would be easy to cave in to our fears and get lost in this “lower” story. Consider Joseph in the Old Testament. He had plenty of reasons to give in to selfish emotions, but he instead chose to see his circumstances from a “higher” story point of view. This was Joseph’s attitude: “Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what

January 22, 2020

David Roadcup

What Does God Want from Elders of His Church?

By David Roadcup My 23 years of coaching and consulting with churches and their leaders has led me to conclude, As go the leaders, so goes the church. Leaders set the example, tone, faith, and practice for believers in the church they serve.   So we, as leaders, need to ask ourselves, What does our Father want from us, and how do we accomplish his ultimate task? Using Scripture as our guideline, here is an overview of what the Lord wants from the primary leaders in his church. 1. A Healthy and Growing Spiritual Life God wants all church leadership

January 16, 2020

Christian Standard

Plainspoken Advice from a Veteran Minister, Circa 1900

We focus today on two short articles by J. M. Land, a man who preached several decades on either side of the Ohio-Indiana line, up until his death in 1905. Land usually shared obituaries or news items during the time he wrote for Christian Standard, spanning from 1873 to 1901, but he also wrote more than a dozen mainly shorter articles like the two we share today. The first piece by Land offers observations on how older ministers and younger ministers should relate with one another, and the second shares advice for how an incoming minister can resolve an inherited

January 3, 2020

Michael C. Mack

Recapturing a 'Phenomenal' Vision for Our Churches

By Michael C. Mack January 2020 seems like an excellent time to think about vision. The articles in this issue focus on significant church strategiesfundraising, assessing, training, neighboring, church planting, and reaching men, for examplethat can help churches fulfill Jesus’ vision and carry out his mission. But I want to make sure we don’t confuse strategiesthough they may be biblical and beneficialwith the church’s vision and mission. Strategies must never supplant our mission. I did a quick topical search of the bookshelves in my office: The Five-Star Church, The Seven-Day-a-Week Church, The Emotionally Healthy Church, Becoming a Healthy Church, Building

November 7, 2019

Christian Standard

“The Sovereignty of Jesus” (Keynote Sermon at the Centennial Convention)

The signature gathering marking the 100th anniversary of Thomas Campbell’s Declaration and Address took place in Pittsburgh in October 1909. It was called the Centennial Convention of the Disciples of Christ. Here is a summary of the keynote sermon from Oct. 11, opening night of the convention. I. J. Spencer, minister with Central Christian Church in Lexington, Ky., preached on “Centralization in Christ; or, The Sovereignty of Jesus.” _ _ _ The Keynote Sermon By I. J. Spencer;Oct. 16, 1909; p. 11 I thought at first of love as a fitting theme for a “keynote sermon,” but Christ is greater

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