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The Church in Crisis By Edward O.
Bragwell, Sr.
The Reflector - June 2008
I have a sermon titled “Crises in the Jerusalem Church” that I
preach from time to time. It is based on notes that I took on a
sermon I heard brother Clinton Hamilton preach many years ago. It
points to several crises faced by the first congregation of
Christians ever. The purpose of that sermon is threefold: 1) to show
that even the Lord’s church under the personal guidance of the
apostles had problems and 2) churches of Christ in every generation
have had problems to solve and overcome and 3) that by studying how
Jerusalem weathered its crises we can learn to deal with the crises
as they come to churches today.
A study of church history, from its beginning until the present will
reveal that the Lord’s church has never flourished for any extended
length of time without facing a serious crisis. The results of each
major crisis has been that a large segment of brethren (individuals
and congregations) have gone into apostasy. At times apostasy has
been so widespread that the New Testament church has all but
disappeared from the radar screen of recorded history for many
years.
Before the death of the first generation of Christians, “the mystery
of lawlessness” (2 Thess. 2:7) was already at work that led to the
great apostasy following the death of the Apostles that ultimately
evolved into Catholicism. For the most part the church of recorded
history from about the middle of the second century until the
“Reformation” was that of the apostate church. That does not
necessarily mean that there were no local churches after the New
Testament order in existence during that period. In fact, I have
read over the years of some evidence that seems to indicate that
there may have been some isolated instances of such congregations
existing. I tend to believe that that may have been the case, but
they would not have been noted by secular and ecclesiastical
historians.
Whether or not that is the case there have been many successful
efforts to “restore” New Testament Christianity around the world
from the time of the “Reformation” to the present time. It is not
necessary to establish historical succession back to the first
century for the New Testament church to exist today. As long as we
have the “seed of the kingdom,” the word of God, we can teach and
practice it anywhere in the world and produce Christians and
churches belonging to and following Christ at any given time and
place in the world. We are assured that the word will not pass away
(Matt. 24:35; 1 Pet. 1:23-25) and that the kingdom shall never be
destroyed (Dan. 2:44).
The “Restoration Movement” in the U.S. that began early in the
nineteenth century (although early seeds of it date back into the
eighteenth century) produced a widespread return to the New
Testament order. The “back to Bible” message spread rapidly
throughout the nation. Evangelistic fervor was high. Many believers
were baptized for the remission of their sins and local churches
were started without any denominational affiliation. The sense of
brotherhood with those of like precious faith was deep and genuine.
There was again an identifiable remnant of God’s people at work. The
ancient gospel message rang loud and clear from the pulpits of local
churches meeting in school houses, under brush arbors, in private
homes and in modest buildings they had bought or built.
But, by the middle of the century the church was in crisis again.
There was a sizable segment of the brotherhood that had come to
believe that the great work of evangelizing the world would not be
accomplished without brethren’s combining their efforts and
resources into some kind of working arrangement larger than a local
church. Various co-operative arrangements began to be formed around
the country into which individual Christians and local churches
pooled their moneys. This movement ultimately evolved into a
nationwide organization known as the American Christian Missionary
Society in 1849. From the beginning there were brethren who opposed
these arrangements and societies insisting that the local church was
the only scriptural functioning organization to do the work of the
church.
The controversy occupied much of the attention of brethren for the
rest of the nineteenth century. Sermons were preached, papers were
published, and debates conducted about the issue. During that period
the issue over mechanical instrumental music in worship was thrown
into the mix. As had been the case in the great apostasy that
followed the death of the Apostles, a vast majority of the church
went with the innovators – leaving a remnant adhering to the ancient
order. The American Religious census of 1906 recognized the
“churches of Christ” and the “Disciples of Christ” (Christian
Church) as separate movements. After that, for the most part members
of churches of Christ looked upon the Christian Church as another
Protestant denomination.
For the most part the churches that did not go with the
society/instrumental music movement were not as affluent as those
who did. Thus in the early days of the twentieth century very few of
the churches were able to support full-time preachers to work with
them. The majority of the preachers made their living at farming or
some trade during the week preaching on Sundays and in gospel
meetings barely being supported enough to meet their expenses. Yet,
hundreds were baptized and the churches grew in leaps and bounds
during the first half of the century. It was rare for a gospel
meeting to close without several being baptized into Christ.
By the end of WWII the “remnant” had grown and prospered. Most
churches in cities and towns had full-time preachers and many
country congregations had preaching every Sunday. The cause of New
Testament Christianity was on the march. There were some
controversies during this period that ultimately proved to be no
more than a small speed bump in the road.
Then came the 50's and 60's and another major crisis. It revolved
around efforts once again to activate the church universal in the
form of “sponsoring church” and various institutions designed to do
the work of the church. As in past crises the “issues” were
discussed in papers, pulpits and debates until ultimately the lines
were drawn between conservative/non-institutional and the
liberal/institutional churches. As in the past, the majority of the
brethren went with the innovators and have become more and more
liberal in doctrine and practice with time. But, in spite of the
dire predictions of the more liberal brethren, the
conservative/non-institutional brethren not only survived but grew
and prospered across the nation. Hence, New Testament Christianity
is still alive and well in this country and in many places around
the world.
Now in these early years of the twenty-first century, I believe that
the church is once again in a crisis of major proportions. While I
am optimistic and confident that the church in the long term will
weather the storm and a remnant will once again persevere, in the
short term I am far from optimistic. I believe we have some rough
waters ahead in the immediate future that will try the faith of us
all. This time the crisis is not as focused on one or two
well-defined issues, but is caused by several seemingly unrelated
matters that threaten the very fiber of the church.
Some of these matters have been around for years, but not nearly to
the degree that they are now and because they were mostly confined
to a few relatively isolated cases – but each has grown in the
number of influential advocates and practitioners of each position.
All these issues combined constitute a major crisis for the church
that in my judgment could easily fuel the need for another
“restoration movement” in many areas of the country.
1. The quality of preaching emanating from our pulpits. Much of the
preaching in our pulpits is like cotton candy – a lot of fluff and
very little nourishment. Too many gospel meetings are filled with
sermons(?) that are mostly anecdotal sprinkled lightly with
scripture to give them a mild religious flavor. Very little real
Bible teaching finds it way into the modern presentation/performance
(I refuse to call such a sermon) of some of the more popular and
used preachers among us.
This is not just the subjective opinion of an old tired preacher, I
have heard the same concerns expressed by faithful gospel preachers
of all ages in recent months. There are still a goodly number of
preachers who take the Bible in hand and “preach the word.” but I
fear that their tribe is decreasing rather than increasing. Churches
fed on this kind of preaching can only grow weaker in the “knowledge
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.”
The situation is not likely to improve as long as “the people love
to have it so.” (Cf. Jer. 5:31). Until brethren in the pew rise up
and say “enough already” to the leadership that continues to invite
such shallowness into the pulpits, things will not likely improve.
2. Corporate style leadership managing churches. One of the great
needs among the churches is that of qualifying and appointing
faithful men to the eldership. I can name sizeable churches that
have operated for years without an eldership. This ought not to be.
Having said that, there is a grave problem among many of those
churches that do have elderships. The elders and the congregations
they serve view their position and work to be much like corporate
boards in the business world.
This is especially true of the larger and more affluent churches in
urban areas and this mentality is fast spreading to smaller churches
in more suburban and rural areas. Often they are chosen and
appointed not because they have proven themselves capable of “ruling
their houses (families) well,” and of “convicting the gainsayer,”
but because they have proven themselves to be successful in the
corporate world. They approach their work as corporate managers
rather that shepherds of the flock of God.
Their prime concern is to see that the church has show-case
facilities and programs that will attract the most “customers” or
“clients” possible from the community and to ensure that a budget is
maintained that will pay for those facilities, their upkeep and
future expansions. They often will look for a preacher whom they
believe will facilitate that objective. He must be charismatic with
the charisma to be a great P. R. man for the corporation, excuse me,
I mean church. When a personnel problem arises the best solution is
the one that will minimize the loss of “customer base” and revenue
rather than what the scriptures demand of shepherds who truly care
for each sheep in the flock of God over which they are supposed to
be overseers.
As long as these conditions exist churches will continue to be
spiritually malnourished and ripe for every wind of doctrine that
comes along. Things will not get better until churches come to
realize what real elders are like and that their work is that of
tending God’s sheep and going before them setting examples for them
to follow and not bosses nor lords demanding their subjects to
blindly follow their lead.
Also, as part of the corporate mentality, elders are more concerned
with running a well oiled corporate machine than they are with
watching for the souls of those over which they have been made
overseers. They are good at drawing up corporate plans that organize
and departmentalize a maze of activities that really belong to the
Christian’s work as an individual. All of this gives the appearance
on paper that this church is really on the ball and has every base
covered. As a result many congregations are top heavy with
organization leaving little room for individual initiative.
Christians come to feel that in order to do the Lord’s work that
they need to be assigned a place on the organizational chart. A
Methodist friend once told me that his church was so
organizationally minded that if two of their preachers were to fall
out of an airplane they would have to organize a landing committee
before they could hit the ground. Brethren seem to forget that the
bulk of the Lord’s work is to be done by individual Christians as
they go about their daily lives. Again, this condition will not get
much better as long as “the people love to have it so.” ~
(To be continued. More of Ed’s sermons and articles are available on
his very helpful website:
www.edssermonsandthings.com)
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