ClarkeComments.com

Hello all:

I received my copy of the Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement today.

I’ve not had a lot of time to look at it, as I still having a never ceasing flow of homework coming at me, but I had time to check out the entries on the Exodus Movement and the Ottumwa Brethern.

I looked for the Ottumwa article because I had heard of them before but knew nothing about them. I found a pleasant surprise - many of the leaders of this conservative movement of the Disciples/Independents lived and worked right here in Portland. Northwest College of the Bible was a school started by members of the movement, and they have a small publishing company here that I didn’t even know about. When I have time I’m going to do some more research on this group.

If you don’t have a copy of the Encylopedia, I highly recommend it. Quite a bit of the Stone-Campbell Symposium was about the Encyclopedia, since the speakers there were the three editors of it. It has tons of interesting information about our movement and the churches that make it up. I can’t wait to sit down and read it cover-to-cover.

-Clarke

Hello all:

Well, I was supposed to talk about Christianity in North America in class today, but people went so slow that they didn’t get to me, so I am going next week.

However, we’ve now been assigned a final project. We are supposed to select an individual from Church History, and offer some sort of presentation on that person. What the contents of that presentation is is pretty much up to us. The professor likes creativity, and encouraged monologues (or dialogues if you can find someone to work with).

I talked with my instructor about my idea and she approved it.

I selected Thomas Campbell. I will be reading Campbell’s Decleration and Address to the class as if I am Campbell himself. I’m very excited about this, because this gives me the chance to present the Restoration Plea to the people that I’ve been in class with for all these weeks. The majority of my classmates are already believers, and only one person there besides me knows anything about the RM, and he is a member of an Independent Christian Church congregation.

I think one of the things we need to do as members of Restoration churches is to reclaim our claim and appeal for unity, not just inside our movement, but outside. More and more I think the social and religous climate around us is ready for a message of Christian love, discipleship, and unity. We need to take advantage of this climate and renew our plea of the restoration of Christian Unity through going back to Bible basics…this time being more tolerant of those who come to different conclusions on periphial issues.

I hope that this is one such opportunity to do so.

-Clarke

Hello all:

My congregation is having some serious financial difficulties. The phone at the building has been shut off, the preacher went out and got a part time job so that he could reduce the amount of money he accepts from the church, and our natural gas almost got shut off a couple of weeks ago.

If you could take a moment and pray for us. Pray for wisdom for us, for us to make the right decisions when we have our business meeting in a couple of weeks, for our giving to increase, and for me when I call our minister later today to talk about some options…

My wife and I stopped by the home of a family who are members at our congregation to pick something up, and we ended up staying there two and a half hours talking, mostly about the budget and financial issues. We came away with this laying heavy on our hearts.

We came up with an idea on how to cut some expenditures, but I’m not very excited about how. We support two indigenous “missionary” preachers in Zimbabwe. These two both have their own congregations, and as far as I know, work full time evangelizing their areas. Between these two men I think we send a measley $350 a month. Some want to cut them out of the budget entirely, but I want to make an effort to “replace” our funds for them because these two men and their families are about as desperate as we are for funding.

So, this is my appeal for help. If your congregation would be interested in sponsoring some indigenous missionaries who are doing good work in Zimbabwe, leave a comment or email me. I don’t care if the sign above your door says Church of Christ, Christian Church, Disciples of Christ, or International Church of Christ. If your congregation wants to support some missionaries, let me know.

And finally, please forgive me for posting this. I feel like a televagelist now. I won’t be using my blog for fund raising purposes.

-Clarke

Hello all:

I’m taking a break from homework. I figured I’d write a quick blog post to let everyone know I’m still alive.

I have to give a 20 minute presentation on Christianity in North America to my History of Christianity class. I got assigned North America because I went to the Pepperdine Lectures and the Stone-Campbell Symposium, missing two weeks of class. My professor decided that since I have such an interest in the Restoration Movement that I would be good fit for North America.

The text we are using A World History of Christianity, mentions the Restoration Movement twice. It mentions Cain Ridge and the emotional excesses of the revival, and it mentions Alexander Campbell and the Christian Association of Washington, Pennsylvania.

On page 430, it says this about our movement: “The Christian Association, spearheaded by Alexander Campbell (1788-1866), attempted to recapture the unity of the Christian Community through a form of radical restorationism. Arguing that the New Testament was the only true guide for the Church, they offered as their maxim ‘where the scriptures speak, we speak; where the scriptures are silent, we are silent’. Such movements, however, rather than overcoming the divisions, contributed to them.”

What do you think?

-Clarke