It Never Was Your Grandfather's Church

Recently, a news article reported how a church that formerly identified as a "Church of Christ" abandoned this designation, adopting instead a generic name akin to the numerous evangelical community churches that dot the denominational landscape of the United States.^[1] With this change in branding came other changes to bring the church in line both with other aspects of the community church model and other demands of the “new generation,” including the adoption of instrumental music in worship, women worship leaders, “shepherding couples” instead of elders, and status as a satellite campus of a larger church. The news article seemingly celebrates these changes (along with some observers on social media); before an edit was made to the published article, the author opened by saying, "It's not your grandfather's Church of Christ."

Though the revised article now reads instead that the church “is not a traditional Church of Christ,” the point being made is the same: the previous generation of restorationists had it wrong when they upheld male leadership in worship (1 Timothy 2:8-15), acapella singing (Ephesians 5:18-19; Colossians 3:16-17), and a host of other aspects of the Biblical pattern for the church. It seems that while perhaps no one would say that they were sinful for how they chose to worship or exercise leadership, at best their practices represented how they wanted their church to function. Now that a “new generation” has come along and the previous generation’s church is now theirs, they are free to make what they perceive to be needed changes.

Before I address the very real issue this mindset presents, I want to point out something: tradition isn’t something to be abandoned lightly. Most Christians are aware that manmade traditions represent a clear danger to Biblical faith (Mark 7:1-13). What some Christians don’t seem to realize though is that New Testament teaching was originally described as a tradition, and adherence to this tradition was demanded by the apostles who taught it. Paul said, “But we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to the tradition which he received from us” (2 Thessalonians 3:6).^[2] It’s definitely not a good thing to seek to be non-traditional as relates to Biblical traditions!

Returning to the topic at hand, the issue with thinking of the church as “theirs” or “ours” is simple: the church belongs to Jesus Christ. Before Jesus died, He promised, “I will build My church” (Matthew 16:18). The term ecclesia or “church” is not unique to Jesus; the word ecclesia is even used in the New Testament to refer to groups other than Jesus’ church (e.g., “assembly” in Acts 19:32, 39, 41 is the word ecclesia). What is unique is this church’s ownership; Jesus built His church by purchasing it outright “with His own blood” (Acts 20:28). If your grandfather or any member of the previous generation is/was a faithful member of the church that belongs to Jesus Christ, he/she would never perceive of the church as being his/hers as it belongs exclusively to Jesus.

The article I cited above reports that the new church it is advertising "grew out of" a church of Christ. With all due respect to its author, that simply isn't possible. By God’s decree, trees grow fruit that produces seed. According to Moses, this “seed is in itself according to its kind” (Genesis 1:12). In other words, the seed of a plant will only yield a new plant of the same kind when planted.

To borrow an illustration from one of Jesus’ parables, what happens when “the seed” you plant “is the word of God” (Luke 8:11)? If that word is Jesus’ New Testament, which like any testament presents the dying wishes of Jesus (Hebrews 9:16) for the church He purchased with His dying blood (Acts 20:28), it will yield none other than the church of Jesus Christ. The church of Christ is defined and differentiated from other churches by allowing all of its distinguishing beliefs and practices be determined not by a generation’s whims, not by personal preference, not by a community church model, but by apostolic teaching, the tradition which men like Paul “received of the Lord” and then “delivered,” teaching the same thing “everywhere in every church” (1 Corinthians 4:17; 11:23). A different kind of church can’t grow out of Jesus’ church; a different seed must have been planted.  
 
My closing appeal to this new church, the many churches like it, and the many who have embraced a mindset like the one on display here is something that I got from Paul himself: “Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment” (1 Corinthians 1:10). To be clear, the mind and judgment Paul desired for the Corinthians and the one I desire for you is simply the mind of Christ (cf. Philippians 2:5).

-Patrick Swayne  
patrick@tftw.org