Looking back on Division part II
From Gospel Advocate, June 21, 1906, found at: The Restoration Movement Pages.
In the determination of the question here involved, it must be borne in mind that this is a contest between two incorporated church organizations, and that the only question that this court can deal with is: in which corporation is the title to the church property which formerly belonged to the Sand Creek congregation now bested? From a careful examination of the record in this case, which contains over sixteen hundred pages, we have reached the conclusion that the learned chancellor who heard the case below rightfully reached the conclusion that the title to that property, at the commencement of this suit, was in the defendant in error the “Church of Christ of Sand Creek,” and not in the plaintiff in error the “Christian Church of Sand Creek,” and rightfully so decreed.
The decree of the Circuit Court will therefore be affirmed.
Paul, in First Corinthians, tells those in Corinth that he is writing to that they have already lost because they are filling lawsuits against one another. This was a sad day for our movement.
The thing that strikes me the most is that the division that occured between the Churches of Christ and the Disciples of Christ was well orchestrated. It was not just a “drifting away” from one another, not simply just a de facto seperation, but one that was well thought out. Those who wanted seperation between the two groups weren’t afraid to advocate their position. The Sand Creek Address and Decleration illustrates this well.
Unity must also be something well thought out and orchestrated. We will not just “drift towards” one another, we must advocate our own position that the unity of the Church is biblically correct and within God’s will. Nothing else will achieve this goal.
-Clarke
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June 16th, 2006 at 18:20
Clark,
I found your blog through your post on mine. Thank you so much for coming by and visiting. I have been looking around yours and really like what I am reading.
It is my prayer that we can get to know each other better and serve the king and his kingdom.
Shalom,
Bobby Valentine
Stoned-Campbell Disciple
June 16th, 2006 at 20:37
Thanks for visiting mine as well, I’m glad you checked it out.
The farther you go back, the less you’ll probably like it…When I started this blog a year ago I was much more sectarian than I am now…a lot has changed. I hope that we can get to know each other as well.
-Clarke
June 17th, 2006 at 5:46
“we must advocate our own position that the unity of the church is biblically correct and within God’s will.”
Your statement(quoted above)is already advocated by those who are disunited within the Restoration Movement. The problem becomes just what is biblically correct. We advocate what we honestly believe to be correct, but it’s also possible that
other groups separate from us also honestly believe they are within God’s will.
Most biblical differences within the many divisions of the RM churches are not impossible to overcome in our dreams for a united brotherhood.
Just because we differ in the number of cups we utilize for the Lord’s Supper, or whether or not we think Sunday Schools are scriptural should be no obstacle to unity…they are matters of opinion that should not disqualify anyone from fellowship.
Those of us within the COC group do not have perfect biblical interpretation, and neither do those in the Christian Church, nor any of the many splintered groups rooted in the RM. Since we all fail as perfect interpreters, unity will only occur when we are willing to fellowship each other because we love each other as God’s children, not because we are in perfect agreement on every detail of scripture.
June 17th, 2006 at 6:12
Clarke, beloved brother, we all are sectarians saved by his costly grace.
I did go “back” and found you had a picture of me and John Mark on your blog . . . now I did not need to see that . . . I am going on a diet asap
You are doing a good thing here and I ask our Abba to bless you.
Shalom,
Bobby Valentine
June 17th, 2006 at 6:59
Hey Clarke,
I really think the winds are blowing in our favor. There seems to be a trend away from drawing partisan lines over disputable matters. If we are sensitive and persistent in advocating reconciliation, I think we’ll find a growing number of people willing to participate. God is at work.
Alan
June 18th, 2006 at 11:49
Bobby:
Thanks for your kind comments. That helps alot.
Alan:
I think you are right as far as the “mainline” congregations go. I worry alot for our brothers and sisters in the non-institutional congregations, though. I’d like to see more unity within our group as well as between the rest of the movement…the NI preachers I know right now are so hung up on MDR that many of the NI congregations aren’t even talking to each other anymore.
-Clarke
June 22nd, 2006 at 9:18
Brother Clarke,
I do find the comments on this blog interesting. One’s perceptions of what other churches believe and why they are “doing” what they are (i.e. the “winds” that blow through them) may say more about our personal beliefs than theirs.
I, for one, am committed to building a biblical faith, one that is found through personal struggle with ones own heart and the word of God. That faith will be often perceived by others who have a “2nd-generation” faith as radical and even “hung-up.”
I do, however, agree that the comfortable distinctions and definitions of movements within “Churches of Christ” are not as easily made as new generations move upon the scene. Those movements are little more than a curiosity for me as compared to my working with those in my sphere of influence. When it comes to moral issues such as Marriage, Divorce and Remarriage, I will be true to my faith in the Lord, and stand upon what I clearly know. I will not hesitate to teach and influence those that I can on these and any other matter revealed by our Lord.
I fear that many are developing a faith that stands for nothing and as a result has no salt or light to influence others for the Lord.
Larry Rouse
www.cvillechurch.com