An article appeared on DisciplesToday called the New Frontier asking for feedback. I am going to post what I wrote back, but before I do, I felt like some explanation is in order.

You’d probably expect that I would dive in guns blazing going after these folks like I do others. However, I did not do any such thing and I want to explain why.

There is a difference between a threat and an invitation. A threat is our divisive brother in Portland demanding discipling. It is his way or the highway. He has already sought to reconstruct other churches and create division between evangelists and elders in Atlanta. His writings are intended to show that God is on his side, but not on yours, so get in line.

An invitation is something like what Roger wrote. It explains the problem as he sees it and asks for feedback in the way ahead. This is constructive and positive. We can be civil and talk about what we need to do. I think we need to do a lot, but there’s no sense in blasting an invitation, even if I disagree with Roger in certain matters. This is the kind of invitation I have been longing to see because I still have hope that the former ICoC can be something good. As it is, there is not much good in the ICoC subculture at all, but I believe that can change.

So here is my letter:

Dear Dtoday Staff,

God’s Discipline: Hebrews 12:4-13

God has disciplined our fellowship of churches and there is yet a great opportunity laid before us to repent. As stated in the introduction, discipline has its root in love and not retribution. As God holds our leaders and teachers to a higher standard (James 3:1), the leaders were disciplined first, but all of us were discipline in one way or another. I honestly believe that the discipline we are enduring is God pleading for us, his children, to honor Him first above all. Much work still lies before us.

However, in looking for parallels to our situation, there is some encouragement. God has also disciplined the Worldwide Church of God with a similar shaking of core convictions. Reading their history at the following link has been encouraging to find that there is a way out of the turmoil and still address various issues.

In light of God disciplining us to draw closer to Him and Him only, the following quote from their history gives me encouragement:

Something unexpected also happened: Many members, after struggling to understand the doctrinal change, began to experience a new sense of peace and joy through a renewed faith in Jesus Christ. Their identity was in him, not in the particular laws they kept. The Sabbath doctrine was changed in order to be more biblical; the result was that members became more spiritual. Members focused more on their relationship with Jesus Christ; they also had an increased interest in worship. Organizationally, this doctrinal change had catastrophic results. But spiritually, it was the best thing that ever happened to the WCG.

As God has disciplined the WCG, He has also brought about a time of refreshing for many. (Acts 3:19) How wonderful to know that God is merciful to us when we sin! As one person has said recently, let us not pout or rebel against a merciful God, instead we should repent.

Satan’s Attack: James 1:13-15

When God moves, hearts are revealed. I believe it is fair to say that as events unfolded in 2003 until now, the hearts of many were revealed. Many chose to give in to their sinful desires in various ways.

Again, I find comfort in others that have faced similar circumstances. In a commentary of their church’s history, the following passage best describes how people are feeling while being truthful and showing grace to all.

In our recent history, we have both good things and bad things, and we have found it difficult to deal with this mixture. When we mention the good, some members get angry. When we mention the bad, others get angry. It seems that these events are so recent that the emotional level is very high.
Some members suffered because of the church’s doctrinal errors. These people often have an emotional desire to emphasize the bad so that it not be done again. Other members found the church to be a spiritually energizing fellowship despite our doctrinal errors. These people often do not like it when the problems are mentioned. We receive letters from both kinds of people regularly. It is helpful for each group to know that the other exists: not everyone had the same kind of experiences in the same church, even in the same congregation.

Many members had a few negative experiences and hundreds of positive experiences with the church. In most people, of course, it takes dozens of good experiences to outweigh each hurtful experience. As doctrines and practices are changed, people react with mixed emotions. They may rejoice at one change and be irritated by another. They may be happy one day and discouraged the next. Many members have mixed feelings about their own personal history as well as the history of the church.

Because of the wide range of emotions concerning Mr. A r mstrong and our history, and the intensity of those emotions, we have found it difficult to discuss our history. For many matters, we have chosen to ignore our history, since the truth of a matter does not rest on what we have done in the past, or who taught it. We have attempted to analyze issues based on Scripture and our present circumstances. Yet, in order to effectively explain a doctrinal change, we sometimes have to deal with some of the reasons why we used to believe something different. In all this, we strive to show errors in the teachings, not the persons who promoted the teachings.

In looking for where Satan attacked it is important to know that many of us had wildly different experiences. There are some in our churches that see an emphasis on the bad elements of our past as negative and critical. There are also some in our churches that see an emphasis on the positive as naïve and dishonest. It would do our churches a lot of good if we could see that both perspectives can come from a good heart. For the former, it is a heart to prevent others from being hurt again. For the latter, it is an expression of the glory of God. Both perspectives are needed.

Wisdom To Discern The Difference: Isa 1:18

By the mercy of God, there is at least one way to work through are issues moving forward. We need to sit down and talk. I’m suggesting that there is more than sermons and feel-good conferences. If we are going to mature and act like adults, we need to reason together as adults. The heart motivations will become quite clear once a discussion begins. Even Jesus said that the mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart. (Luke 6:45) We should be able to talk about matters of doctrine. We should be able to bind the hearts of the brokenhearted within our own fellowship of churches. We should be able to discuss ways to help each other and yes, even ways to seek and save the lost. This is the principle of Matt 18 in action, that we can come together, speak as equals, and work through our difference.

Discussing the Premise

1. God has blessed our movement with the knowledge and ability of how to plant and grow churches in hundreds of countries and cultures around the world.

Our first step would be the humility to see that we have much to learn about planting and growing churches all over the world. The Bethany House of Prayer has planted more churches faster than we ever did. We would do well to learn some things from them.

In 2003 Bethany [house of prayer] planted 800 churches around the world through the Global 12 Project (an international church-planting venture) and over 1,200 churches in 35 nations since 2001.

2. We need to learn how to water and grow mature churches.

Again, other churches outside our fellowship have found ways to mature their churches. I humbly suggest that as we listen to God in faith, we hear what he has already taught others in maturing their congregations. According to census data, the Churches of Christ grew from 1,769,000 to 2,593,000 from 1990 to 2001 in the United States. (Turns out this is statistical data, not official US Census data. Sorry for the confusion.) At the same times, our churches in the US went from growth to decline, some churches even folded altogether. Overall, we went from about 25,000 to 134,260 (www.icocinfo.org), but some of our older churches were already into double-digit decline. (NOTE: I was wrong in my figures, these are worldwide and the Church of Christ stats were for the US. The US Stats for the ICoC are 35,000 (est.) in 1990 to 56,677 in 2001.)

We have churches that are asking for spiritual help, it seems right to help them to heal instead of focusing on aggressively building more churches. If we do not know how to mature a church very well, we should figure out what we are doing before we duplicate the same issues all over again. Planting new churches will not help us to learn how to mature our existing churches.

In conclusion, this is indeed a moment of truth for our fellowship of churches. We have the capacity to change and grow and draw close to God like never before. To do this, we need to learn to accept each other in love and trust that there is a good heart behind the actions that hurt us. We also need to learn from others with humility and respect.