Observations on Ed Harrell's New Book

In his new book, The Churches of Christ in the 20th Century: Homer Hailey's Personal Journey of Faith, Ed Harrell has produced a work that stirs thoughts on several important topics. While the book is a historical work, the author infuses it with writings from some of the more prominent ""brotherhood papers"" of the day as he tells the story of the many controversies which have dogged the churches and, in many ways, defined their combative heritage in America. The use of those papers, as well as the novel approach of offering simultaneously the history as well as Hailey's biography, make the book a worthwhile read for Christians interested in the struggles of this movement.

A number of things stand out in Harrell's historical record, but there are at least three observations which can be made which relate to a growing movement toward denominationalism. In fact, for a short course on the same subject, Harrell also penned, several years ago, a pamphlet called, ""The Emergence of 'The Church of Christ' Denomination.""

Follow the Money. During the Watergate investigation, the phrase ""Follow the money"" came to mean that if the payoffs for illegal actions were traced far enough, the source of the wrongdoing would become clear. In Harrell's book, much of what is now a full-blown effort to embrace denominationalism is shown to be rooted in a growing affluence among third (and subsequent) generation church members. To oversimplify, the first generation, having separated themselves from the Disciples of Christ movement, grew up relatively poor and with less emphasis on higher education. They were grounded in Biblical teaching. Having grown up with such teaching, the second generation generally held to the tenets of their parents. But by the third generation, having caught up with America's prosperity boom, those who had already ""accomplished something important"" (winning World War 2) were ready for their churches to ""do something big"" as well, something to impress their bankers and business associates. Elaborate buildings became the order of the day, and a noble goal, worldwide evangelism, was exploited to ignoble results. ""Brotherhood"" programs, involving the pooling of funds from several churches were immensely popular, especially just after the war. Thus, the churches, once enamored with separation from the world, now embraced it, much as Israel sought a king, so that they might ""be like all the nations"" (1 Sam. 8:19-20). It seems ironic that a generation with more financial means than those previous would concoct programs they couldn't afford.

Lack of Autonomy. For many years, those of us who call ourselves ""conservative"" have chided the ""liberals"" (rightly so) for their failure to understand and practice autonomy in local churches. Certainly these ""brotherhood"" programs, with one church or an organization taking oversight of money contributed by other churches, fit the bill when we discuss a lack of autonomy. Unfortunately, Harrell's book produces the observation that many who are ""on our side"" don't really believe in autonomy either. They prove so when they try to force brethren from all over to adopt their views on pet issues. In the book, Harrell documents the practice of B.C. Goodpasture and the Gospel Advocate of ""quarantining"" those who spoke out against the growing institutionalism. This practice effectively divided the brotherhood into liberal (institutional) and conservative (non-institutional) camps. (It should be noted that the Lord's church cannot be divided. Division is wrong, and when it occurs, one or both of the parties is wrong, but the Lord's church, however few members remain committed to what is right, goes on.) Even today, many would make every issue a test of fellowship, further quarantining and ending all possible hope of reasonable discussion of differences. This either shows a misguided (some would say wrong-headed) approach to fellowship, or a deliberate attempt to establish a creedal system, where churches could check off certain items to prove their worth to God. Harrell quotes Robert Turner's important plea for unity: ""In reality, the bond of 'Christian' fellowship among saints is not so much the uniformity of practice, or even of doctrinal conclusions per se (these being the fruits), but it is rather the spirit and attitude that produces such fruits. For example, two men who do the same thing religiously-one because he sincerely believes God wants it that way, and the other because he likes it that way and has no intention of changing, regardless of God's word-may be less unified than two men whose practice is different, but who are sincerely searching for truth and are willing to conform to all truth found. The first two will drift further apart; the second two will be drawn together in the paths of God . . . Biblical unity is not a goal achieved and placed on our trophy shelf, but is an open-ended way of life . . ."" (Harrell, pp. 363-364). In defending truth, we must be careful to remember that it is Jesus, not men, who has the ability to ""remove a church's candlestick"" (Rev. 2:5).

Historic Tradition or God? A final observation from Harrell's book is related to the last, and it is that many seem far more concerned with belonging to a ""Restoration Heritage"" than to God. A growing trend, particularly among the most liberal of the institutional churches, is to reach out toward the denominations while making a claim to ""our own branch of the Restoration movement."" Again, such practice is steeped in irony. The early pioneers of the Restoration movement were of a mind to be ""just Christians,"" escaping the creeds and trappings of denominationalism. Thus, a desire to be ""a part of this movement,"" without denouncing denominationalism makes little sense. What we need, rather than identification with a movement, is identification with God. We are not who we are because of some unbroken line of history from the apostles to us, or even from the early restorers to us. We are who we are because we have fellowship with God (through the blood of Jesus and our faith and obedience to His word) and strive to please Him. Any other attempts at identification will have us chasing the praise of men, longing to be ""like all the nations.""

Harrell's book is thought-provoking and it should give us pause as we begin to raise what amounts to the third generation since the 50's digression. It is only strict adherence to God's will (as expressed in His word) which will prevent us from following the same tragic paths.