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Division In The Churches of Christ in The 1900's Introduction: This lesson is not intended to be an exhaustive study of all the divisions among the Lord's people in the 20th Century. Many are unaware of the things I am about ready to talk about. We look around at all the church buildings and think that is just the way it has always been. We talk about denominationalism as a departure from first century Christianity. Jesus prayed for unity about His people, John 17.20-21. We may look at all the buildings with "church of Christ" on them and think they are all the same but they are not. There are various reasons for these different congregations: some started because none existed before, some started because they grew and decided to start a new congregation, others started because of doctrinal issues. Brethren decided they could no longer worship together due to different convictions. Let us go back to the Restoration Movement and notice what happened in the 1900's. I) Restoration Movement A) Based on leaving behind denominationalism and human creeds, 1 Peter 4.11 1. The word of God makes Christians and only Christians, Luke 8.11. 2. Unity was possible because everyone was claiming to respect the authority of the Bible. B) Division eventually crept in over two issues. 1. The Missionary Society, in 1849 The American Missionary Society was formed. a. Creating an organization separate from the local church to evangelize. Such an organization is unknown to the word of God. b. Arguments for the society was: it is a good work, and the Bible does not condemn the society. 2. Instrumental Music (the organ) 1859 at Midway, Kentucky. a. Many liked instrumental music and justified it on the basis of it sounds good, and the Bible does not say you cannot play and instrument. b. This created a division. C) Keep in mind the society and instrument were symptoms of a deeper problem. 1. A general difference in attitude toward how to establish the word of God. a. Those not willing to abide in the doctrine of Christ, 2 John9 b. Those that wanted to be like all the denominations around them 2. Those wanting to have the society and instrument were not willing to put them aside. They made it a point of having to and thus fellowship. II) Churches of Christ A) great growth in the early to late 1900's. 1. Great emphasis on preaching the word of God, 1Peter 4.11 2. Each congregation autonomous, no creeds 3) Still the temptation of wanting to be like those around them B) Premillennialism 1. In the late 1800's Premillennialism and the "Last Days" became very popular in the denominations. 2. Robert Henry (RH) Boll came out of Nashville Bible School. a. 1909 became the front page editor of the Gospel Advocate. b. Started preaching for the Portland Avenue Church of Christ in Louisville, KY. c. Started writing and teaching Premillennialism. He interpreted Revelation to teach that Christ would return to set up a physical kingdom, the restoration of the Jews to Palestine, and the personal reign of Christ on the throne of David for 1000 years. d. He was forced off the staff but edited "Word and Work" starting in 1916. 3. Two mile stones in the premillennial controversy. a. A written debate with R.H. Boll and H. Leo Boles in 1928. b. An oral debate between Foy E. Wallace and Charles M. Neal (1933). C) Colleges and Orphan Homes supported by local congregations 1. During the 1920's and 1930 the church was growing. It also during the "Great Depression". 2. Brethren started up a number of colleges to teach the Bible. David Limpscomb College, Abeline Christian College, Pepperdine in California, Freed--Hardeman, a. For years congregations would just send some money to help those "brotherhood" colleges. No one asked for the authority to do such a thing it was simply a "good work". b. 1931 G.C. Brewer at the Abilene Christian College lectureship made the plea for congregations to include ACC in their budgets. He began actively going asking congregations to do this. c. G.C. Brewer then made it a point of churches having to do this, "any church not helping ACC has the wrong preacher" d. In the 1930's and early 40's it did not have too much of an affect. 3. Church support of orphan homes. a. During the time of the 1920's and 30's a number of orphan homes were started by brethren: Boles Orphan Home in Greenville, TX, Tipton Orphan Home in Tipton, OK, Tennessee Orphan Home in Columbia, TN, Potter Orphan Home in Bowling Green, KY. b. Some congregations sent money to help these "orphans" on the basis of it being a good work. c. Eventually those connected to the home wanted congregations to have the homes in the budget. It became a very emotional argument. Those questioning the home were labeled as heartless and orphan haters. 4. Eventually many accepted the orphan homes in the church budget. Then the argument was made that the colleges and the homes stood or fell together. The same principle that allowed one would allow the other. 5. What this did was take the emphasis away from the churches work and putting it on outside institutions. It also linked congregations together in these outside organizations. D) Sponsoring Church Arrangement 1. Keep in mind that after World War II the Lord's church was really growing. New buildings were being built. a. Reported in 1956 in The Church is Building, by Norvel Young and james Marvin Powell, Churches of Christ had built 1000 buildings representing assets of more than 147million dollars between 1940 and 1956 (Hughes, p. 248) b. After the depression brethren were making good money as our country was growing. Thus congregations had more money in the treasury to do more things. 2. G.C. Brewer and others turned their attention to evangelism. 3. 1943 "Evangelizing the World in the Post War Period" by Brewer; the Broadway Church of Christ in Lubbock, Texas would "sponsor" the evangelism of Europe. This became known as the "Broadway Plan." a. Cled Wallace in Bible Banner wrote, "Just what authority does...[the Broadway congregation] have to 'sponsor' a 'Plan' for somebody else?" b. "If the Broadway elders at Lubbock can supervise the 'mission' work in Germany for two congregations could they not supervise it for two hundred? Or for all the churches throughout the world? Why don't we just elect them our 'missionary society'... and let Lubbock be our denominational headquarters? -- Roy Cogdill 4. Herald of Truth radio program. James Walter Nichols and James D. Willeford wanted to a national radio program. This would be sponsored by churches of Christ. a. Began in 1952 and expanded to television in 1954. b. Highland Church of Christ in Abilene, TX assumed oversight of the project. III) The Division A) Numerous publications devoted great deal of time on these issues 1. Gospel Guardian (1950), Preceptor (1951), Truth Magazine (1956) questioned the authority for institutionalism and the sponsoring church arrangement. 2. Gospel advocate (1855), Firm Foundation (1884), Spiritual Sword (1958) advocated institutionalism and the sponsoring church arrangement. B) Numerous debates were held on the issues C) Call for a quarantine 1. 1954 B.C. Goodpasture the editor of Gospel Advocate called for a quarantine of all preachers of the anti-institutional persuasion. 2. This effectively ended the study on this issue and caused brethren to split. 1954 B.C. Goodpasture the editor of Gospel Advocate called for a quarantine of all preachers of the anti-institutional persuasion. IV) Understanding the Issues A) The issues were not--Whether we needed to preach, help the needy, or if brethren were sincere. B) The issues were: 1. Whether we have authority to have one church receiving funds from other congregations to do the collective work of those congregations. 2. Whether you can create an institution larger than the local congregation to do the work of those congregations. 3. Whether it is the work of the church to show benevolence to non-Christians. Conclusion: This lesson has not been heavy on scriptures but we need to learn why not all "churches of Christ" are not the same. The doctrinal issues that divided brethren emerged due to the different attitudes toward authority and the work of the church. If we do not learn about the differences between us we are doomed to repeat those mistakes.
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