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What
kind of church is this?
Norwood Christian Church is an
independent Christian church of the brotherhood of independent
Christian churches/Churches of Christ. For those who are not
familiar with this type of church here is some helpful information.
Coming in the first quarter of 2009 we will be adding videos
explaining our beliefs in more detail.
The following article appeared
in The Christian Standard on December 1, 2002. It provides a good
explanation of the kind of church we are.
By LeRoy Lawson
One thing is certain–there is no shortage of churches. You can take
your pick among the hundreds of different kinds, from the proud old
denominations like the Episcopalian and Presbyterian to the newer,
more energetic Assembly of God or Seventh Day Adventists, to say
nothing of those amazingly numerous and various cults that keep
springing up.
In the midst of such diversity, what is special about our church?
What kind of a church is it, anyway?
We answer paradoxically. The distinctive about this Christian church
is that it has no distinctives. In fact we deliberately seek not to
be different, because our goal is unity, not division. Christianity
has suffered long enough from deep divisions separating denomination
from denomination, Christian from Christian. When Jesus prayed “that
all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in
you. May they also be in us” (John 17:21),* He had us in mind. In
the spirit of His prayer we seek unity with all others in Christ.
Obviously that desire is difficult to achieve. Human nature resists
oneness. We seem to believe with Robert Frost that “good fences make
good neighbors,” even though something within us “doesn’t love a
wall, [but] wants it down.” God desires unity, however, so it must
be possible.
Christian churches and churches of Christ trace their modern origins
to the early 19th-century American frontier, a period of militancy
among denominations. America’s pioneers brought their deeply rooted
religious convictions to the new land and perpetuated their old
animosities. Presbyterian squared off against Anglican who defended
himself against Baptist who had no toleration for Lutheran. A
reaction to this mutual animosity was inevitable.
Our Roots
When it came, the reaction was spontaneous. A group of New England
Christians broke out of denominationalism, announcing their
intention to follow the Bible only. Another group in Kentucky, and
still another in Pennsylvania, each independent of the others, felt
the spirit of unity moving them to stand with, not against, fellow
Christians. Under the leadership of minister Barton W. Stone, some
Presbyterian leaders in Kentucky published The Last Will and
Testament of the Springfield Presbytery, putting to death their
denominational connections. They said, “We will, that this body die,
be dissolved, and sink into union with the Body of Christ at large;
for there is but one body, and one Spirit . . .”
The early leaders of what later came to be called the Restoration
Movement believed unity in Christ was–and is–possible. To achieve it
required letting go of human traditions and loyalties to dynamic
personalities. Christ alone could be exalted. The ideal of the
church that emerges from the pages of the New Testament must be the
standard for today’s congregations.
While gratefully acknowledging their debt to great reformers like
Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Knox, and others, these “Christians
only” believed their reforms remained unfinished. The only way to
determine what the church should be and how Christians should behave
is to study New Testament documents in which the churches of Christ
are presented in splendor–and in shortcomings. While there is no
single church that we should imitate, the ideal of the church as the
body of Christ, the household of faith, the temple of the Holy
Spirit, and the people of God is clearly pictured.
In a unity effort initially separated from the Stone movement,
another Presbyterian minister, Thomas Campbell, published his now
famous Declaration and Address in 1809. He had earlier migrated to
Pennsylvania from his home in Ireland. While still there, he had
grown restless with the strictures of his denomination. The
Old-Light Anti-Burgher Seceder Presbyterian Church, a splinter of a
split of a division in the denomination.
When he found the divisions caused by local grievances in Scotland
separating Presbyterians in America, he rebelled. He would not
exclude nonmembers of his denomination from Communion in his church.
He was expelled from his presbytery. It was really a question of who
fired whom, for by this time Campbell could not carry out policies
he deplored.
His son Alexander, meanwhile, had reached similar conclusions in his
studies in Ireland and Scotland and, when father and son were
reunited in America in 1809, each embraced the other’s position. In
time, the son surpassed the father as the leader of their unity
movement.
In his Declaration, Thomas Campbell set forth principles that sound
as modern as today to New Testament Christians:
1. That the church of Christ upon earth is essentially,
intentionally, and constitutionally one; consisting of all those in
every place that profess their faith in Christ and obedience to him
in all things according to the Scriptures. . . .
2. That . . . there ought to be no schisms, no uncharitable
divisions among [local congregations].
3. That . . . nothing ought to be inculcated upon Christians as
articles of faith; nor required of them as terms of communion; but
what is expressly taught and enjoined upon them, in the Word of God.
4. That . . . the New Testament is as perfect a constitution for the
worship, discipline, and government of the New Testament church, and
as perfect a rule of the particular duties of its members, as the
Old Testament was for the worship, discipline, and government of the
Old Testament church. . . .
5. That . . . [no] human authority [has] power to impose new
commands or ordinances upon the church, which our Lord Jesus Christ
has not enjoined.
There are more propositions, but these are enough to show Campbell’s
unusual good judgment. From his day until now, millions of others
have decided they also wanted to be Christians only, without the
complications of denomination.
Our Position
How, then, shall we summarize what kind of church we are talking
about? Perhaps the following terms will help.
1. A Christian church
Our message is that “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living
God.” We require no other creed. He alone is Lord and Savior.
2. A church of Christ
The church belongs to Him. We have no authority to change the
teachings, rewrite the rules, alter membership requirements, or
usurp His place. The church is not a democracy.
3. A church seeking unity
Like the Campbells and Stone, members of this church seek to be one
in Christ with all others He calls His own.
4. A church seeking to restore
As much as possible, we imitate the New Testament precedents. That
is why our baptism is by immersion, our Communion is every Lord’s
Day, our leaders are called elders, our preaching is about Christ,
and our prayers are in Christ’s name. Even our church name is rooted
in the earliest days, when disciples were called Christians and
their congregations were often addressed as “churches of Christ.”
5. An apostolic church
The church, Ephesians 2:20 states, is “built on the foundation of
the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief
cornerstone.” Whatever we know about Christ and the church we
learned from Jesus’ closest companions, the apostles.
6. A thinking church
In the same Ephesian letter, Paul prays that God will give a “Spirit
of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. . . .”
Christian faith demands the best our minds can give, so we are a
studying church, seeking to apply biblical truth intelligently.
7. A feeling church
Ours is not a dryly intellectual approach to God, however. We
rejoice and praise and pray and love and serve from the heart. We
are unashamed of the gospel and not embarrassed to let our
excitement be seen.
8. A sharing church
We share our faith and love with as many as we can reach and our
possessions as persons who know that everything we have belongs to
God to be used for His purposes.
9. A free church
We have no bishops or superintendents or national headquarters to
determine local church policies. We elect our own leaders, call and
support our own ministers, and decide where our mission money will
go. We are not isolationists, though. Our congregations freely
associate with one another to accomplish tasks too big for one
church alone.
10. A growing church
We want to grow, because we are under Christ’s commission to
disciple the world. We haven’t completed the task yet, so Christian
churches and churches of Christ are renewing our commitment to go
unto the ends of the earth, preaching and baptizing and teaching,
until the whole world knows the one Lord of all.
LeRoy Lawson is the recently retired president of Hope International
University, Fullerton, California. Adapted from The Family of God
(Cincinnati: Standard Publishing, 1980).
Used with permission of Christian Standard, copyright December 1,
2002. The Standard Publishing Company, Cincinnati, Ohio. Visit us on
the Web at www.standardpub.com.
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