When Ministers Attack

Several weeks ago, I was invited to take part in a roundtable discussion involving ministers from a variety of religious groups. Present at the meeting were representatives from the Lutheran, Catholic, Baptist, and Assemblies of God churches.

As a Church of Christ minister, such an invitation was suprising, given the poor relations churches of Christ have maintained with other religious groups. So I embraced the opportunity to take part in the discussion. After all, the churches of Christ are part of a unity movement. Unfortunately, more churches of Christ are influenced by recent history than by the ideals forged on the American frontier.

One major topic at the meeting was unity. Religious division is an obvious sore to all people. Instead of seeking to repair the breach, we have (despite claims to the contrary) widened the breach. We have exchanged humility for arrogance, truth for personal interpretation, and love for a pugnacious spirit. And we have done all of this to each other in the churches of Christ.

The other day, I was severely criticized by a church of Christ minister for making the following statement at the roundtable (as reported in the newspaper): "What unites us is far greater than what divides us. I'm part of a group that has been horribly divisive in the past and has kind of shut our doors to anyone who has a different name on the sign out front. We're trying to change that and it's a process."

The criticism was directed at the first statement. His comments contained claims such as: "people in the denominations have not obeyed the gospel and are lost;" "only people in the church of Christ are going to heaven."

Why the harsh rhetoric? He has mistakenly bought into the lie that unity and uniformity are one and the same. My refusal to buy into that false notion led him to label me an "erring brother" who is teaching "false doctrine."

My head hung in disappointment. My heart ached over the divisive words. And I realized that the churches of Christ in the area where I live may never experience unity.

I asked him what it would take to have unity between our congregations. He said that I would have to publicly say that the use of instrumental music is "intrinsically sinful" and people who worship in such a way are going to hell. I refused to say that then and I refuse to say it now.

The Spirit of Christ is not seen in perfect law-keeping, but in grace. The Spirit of Christ is seen in the unity shared between two brothers who disagree, but accept one another just the same. The unity does not consist in me keeping all your rules or you keeping all mine, rather unity consists in having the attitude of Christ.

I had agreed to meet with this minister hoping that we could embrace and celebrate our unity in spite of our different opinions. I left realizing that there was never any unity in the first place in his eyes. I left with a broken heart.

God, forgive us, for we have lost our way.

By the way, what does unite us? Tune in next time ...
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