What the Liberals Have Wrong
Yes, Yes, I know the title is pretty out there. It makes people want to read the post. I guess that means it is a good title. Of course you can argue over what liberal-conservative mean in Christianity or in the churches of Christ, and of course that is fruitless. So let us move on to the point of the post. The liberals claim to be right on numerous topics, sometimes they are right and sometimes they are wrong. I never liked it when one party claims all truth, and never believed it. But on this one issue, or point, the good conservative brothers and sisters are right on. Therefore, I stand with the conservatives.
What are they right about? It is a big one on this issue. Something that we do not typically address and if we do, we sometimes do not address it in the best fashion. In fact, the conservative brothers do, but maybe sometimes in some old school terminology. We have called it “why I am a member of the churches of Christ,” “the distinctive nature of the church,” and “the identifying marks of the church.” And sometimes we have caused people to throw up with this verbiage. But we are not wrong in highlighting the special nature of the churches of Christ. Yes, our faith is built on Jesus Christ, but we also belong to his church. This is special and must not be forgotten. As a church we stand for something that is special, we have particular tastes and traditions. We have a special culture in the church. The conservatives are being healthy in creating an identity for the next generation. There is nothing wrong in creating loyalty to the churches of Christ. In a culture where young people are searching for identity, some people are afraid to highlight the identifying features of the church. Distinctiveness creates identity. So yes, yes, I am proud to belong to the churches of Christ. This provides more identity for me. It helps create who I am.
Related posts:
- Being Wrong
- Wrong Questions
- Establishing An Identity
- Struggle for Existence–Part 1
- Future of Churches of Christ
About The Author
Of course my faith in on Jesus, but the churches provides an expression of this faith.
Oh I don’t know if the conservatives (as you are using the terms) have it any more right than the liberals. What is distinctive about the Churches of Christ from other groups. Any religious and Christian fellowship, denomination, and local church can point to what makes it distinct from another group, church, etc… That is exactly what the Jewish Christians wanted to claim against the Gentiles and Paul would have nothing to do with it. Instead he he rooted both groups identity in what God has done in Christ (see the letter to the Ephesians).
While Christians and churches are certainly obligated to profess and practice a church polity they believe is biblical, to ground loyalty to such polity only reproduces the same worn-out wheel that results in Church-ianity rather than Christ-ianity. It destroys Christian unity in exchange for secterian uniformity. Such practice does not produce loyalty based on love, community, and choice but instead is a result of cowering people into submission through means (often rhetoric) that are, at best, well-inentioned but still wrong and, at worst, manipulative and demoralizing.
Grace and peace,
Rex
BTW…recently I listened to a great sermon from Lee C. Camp preached at the Otter Creek CoC titled “Neither Liberal nor Conservative.” His sermon addresses more the relationship of the church to culture/society but I think it makes a great point…we don’t need liberal or conservative churches…we need gospel-oriented, discipleship seeking, biblical churches.
If you want the link, I will send it to you but I did not want to post a link on your blog.
Grace and peace,
Rex
I believe it was somewhat done wrong before, but the point is the marks help create identity and identity for this culture is important.
Yes…but I am saying that it create the wrong identity. Our culture need to see churches infested with Christ and not what makes them different from another church. The former wins people to Christ…the later wins them to our unique distinctives.
Any ways…I think we can disagree and still be brothers in Christ.
Grace and peace,
Re
Matthew,
Let me provide some push back.
I’m with you on on your post. In a postmodern culture that denies overarching narratives that give them identity, Christianity has something to offer…an absolute narrative that shouldn’t be denied.
But I question where we find our identity. I want to root my identity solely in the person, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. While we might just be arguing over semantics (few in Churches of Christ would want to hold on to distinctives that are not Christ-like…I hope), I do not want my identity rooted in any particulars that aren’t core issues to Jesus Christ (i.e. instrumental music, sectarian worldviews, etc.).
Now, we need an identity in an age of relatavism, but I refuse to find my identity in any core values that are not the weightier or core matters of Jesus Christ. I want the God’s inbreaking of the kingdom of God to be the root of my identity. I want my identity rooted in taking care of the poor and oppressed. I want my identity to be found in God’s dream that the entire world would be reconciled to him.
Btw, Lee Camp’s sermon at Otter Creek did a great job of pointing this out!
I am not sure just what the terms liberal and conservative mean any more. I just know we have God’s word on what to do to be saved and when we do that we are added to the church. I don’t have to have man’s approval or vote to be in it and it will have the identifying marks of God’s people.
Thank you everyone for the comments.
Matthew,
Just so you know that even though I occasionally disagree, I appreciate your blog and ministry. Further, I know there are many people who are being blessed by God because of your willingness to be God’s servant.
Grace and peace,
Rex
Matt,
Hey–hope you’re doing well. i’m mostly with you i think. i do get annoyed when people start sounding embarassed of their own church for the various “markers.”
But i do think we should probably focus more of our time and energy on distinguishing ourselves from the world rather than from other denominations.
Best,
Guy
I am not opposed to churches saying we practice believer’s baptism because we believe that such practice is biblical, or we have an established eldership to shepherd this church because we believe that this is part of the leadership form instructed in the New Testament, or…
What I don’t want to do is say that we are Christians because we hold to such practices. Instead, we are Christians because of what God has done for us in Christ -grace- through faith (cf. Eph 2.8). The former roots our identity in our practice while the later roots our identity in God’s gift of grace to us in Christ.
I hope that explains the difference I am trying to point out. I am certainly for churches upholding practices that our biblical but I don’t want to root my identity in such practices because that, it seems, would be unbiblical.
Grace and peace,
Rex
Rex,
i’m not sure identity is so centralized. i’m thinking of an ethnic identity and what it consists of. There may be a plethora of customs, cuisines, clothing, daily rituals etc. all of which constitute an ethnic identity. i suppose that person can say their ethnic identity consists mainly in having been born in their particular country of origin. But really i think their identity is constituted more or less by all the parts, perhaps some more than others, but all nonetheless. If you start removing the little customs or peculiar clothing or whatever, you’re still wearing away at an identity.
Matt,
i was also thinking that there’s an important distinction between being embarassed of the markers themselves, and being embarassed over how people have treated each other on account of those markers. i think there are “liberals” who are not at all embarassed to sing a capella or have male elderships etc. i think there are plenty who are ashamed of how brethren have treated each other over those issues though. And there are even some i think that confuse feeling embarassed over the latter with feeling embarassed over the former (throw the baby out with the bath water).
–Guy
Respectfully and fondly, Matthew, I disagree. I’ve expressed my reasons in a blog post last October called Distinctiveness.
Our identity, as we all know and understand, must be defined by our relationship with Jesus Christ. Not a denomination, sect, fellowship, individual church, gathering of believers, set of convictions, or fill-in-the-blank.
I attend and work at a congregation of the churches of Christ. I disagree with my minister that the story of Nadab and Abihu has anything whatsoever to do with instrumental music in worship. I disagree with my elders, individually and as a group, on a number of items. I’m a member and staffer there – and have been a member there for a total of twenty years, staffer for almost five – because I love and respect them, and the entire body of the saints there, and the folks who drop by to visit and see Whom we’re all about. It is my church home.
But it’s not my identity. My identity is disciple; follower of Christ. My allegiance is to Him. My home is His kingdom, and it is far larger than one gathering, fellowship, alliance, denomination or set of convictions. Trying to live the life of Christ – among those whom I love and sometimes disagree and among others who have never really known Him – is my identity.
Nothing less is acceptable.
Thank you for the comments everyone. I am really shocked at the amount of comments and good discussion from this post. Also, on Facebook, people have commented a lot. One thing for sure, we are struggling with identity.
I visited three times at this congregation. The Lords Supper is vey inportant to me and has been for 75 years. I was added to the church at age 14. For the bread offered in communion was something never seen in all those 75 years. It was a substance sorta soft and spungy, had to be pinched off with fingernails. I tried, but I did not have the stomach for this substance. What can be the reason for changing something that has worked for so long.? I gagged the first time , the second and third time. This is so sad!
I would love to have this explained,Please.