The following is a portion of the material that was passed out to students in the ‘Newcomer Class’ at an area congregation. It is basically a part of the core beliefs of the elders.
“Kingdom and Unity
We believe God’s kingdom is made up of all who believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of God’s son Jesus Christ and accept him as Lord and King. We acknowledge that our local church and our background of the Church of Christ is only a portion of God’s kingdom and not the extent of it. Therefore, we will work together in unity with other Christians in our community and worldwide. We believe that this picture of unity is one of the ways the world will identify that we are disciples of Christ.”
You need to read the contents of this paragraph very slowly to understand what is taught by these brethren. Here are some of my takes from what is believed and taught by this congregation.
1. That the church of Jesus is only a part but not the whole of the kingdom of God.
2. That the kingdom of God is comprised of all religious organizations that teach and believe that all you have to do to be members of the kingdom is to “believe in the death, burial and resurrection of God’s son Jesus Christ and accept him as Lord and king.” That, my brethren, is the false doctrine of ‘faith only’.
3. This statement teaches that it doesn’t matter how one is ‘saved’ which would include the ‘mourner’s bench’; just simply saying, “Lord Jesus, come into my heart”; saved by grace only; the sinner’s prayer; that one is saved by the direct working of the Holy Spirit in one’s heart; it would also include those who were baptized believing that they were saved before baptism which had nothing to do with their ‘salvation’, etc.
4. Also implied in this statement is the acceptance of the doctrine, ‘Unity in the diversity of doctrine’.
This congregation practices what it teaches. Recently, a friend of mine attended the ‘Newcomer’s Class’ at this congregation and reported that the teacher talked about Valentine Day and made one reference to the Bible in Matthew 22 and spoke about love. He then asked for the class members to speak of their relationship with those they love. Following the class my friend introduced himself to the teacher. The gentleman replied that he was not “a member of this church or the church of Christ but that he was a Baptist.”
Brethren have been highly criticized in years past for saying “that members of the church of Christ are the only ones going to heaven.” And this was an unfortunate statement made to non-members that usually caused much prejudice. But these brethren are now passing judgment in saying that all religious people are “Christians” when they assert, “We believe God’s kingdom is made up of all who believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of God’s son Jesus Christ and accept him as Lord and King.”
The practice by brethren of ‘open fellowship’ is not new in the church. In fact, it was one of the teachings that contributed to the division in the body of Christ approximately 100 years ago. Here is a quotation taken from an article by Matthew W. Morine in the March, 2016, issue of the Gospel Advocate, page 36: “Once again the liberal Pinkerton influenced the Restoration Movement in a negative way. Remember that Pinkerton was the first to introduce instrumental music into the movement. In early 1869, he began to advocate the acceptance of open fellowship in Midway, Ky.” (to be continued)
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