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Category: Stone-Campbell History (Page 1 of 2)

Presbyterian Blood

November 23, 2025 / / 0 Comments

Presbyterian pastor Thomas Campbell got himself in trouble in 1809 for preaching fiery sermons about Christian unity. His continuing call to discard denominational labels for unity with all who call on the name of the Lord got him censured by his presbytery and then fired by his synod in western Pennsylvania. At about the same time, another Presbyterian preacher in Kentucky named Barton Stone dissolved his presbytery to unite with everyone who would simply be known as Christians.

Stone and Campbell had met each other earlier at the Cane Ridge Revival, a Presbyterian communion meeting in Kentucky. Then, in September of 1809, Campbell wrote the Declaration and Address of the Christian Association of Washington County, Pennsylvania. It was a call to Christian unity based on Jesus’ prayer in John 17 and the whole of Scripture that presents complete unity among all disciples of Christ as the holy will of God. Here is an excerpt from the opening lines:

The Church of Christ upon earth is essentially, intentionally, and constitutionally one, consisting of all those in every place that profess their faith in Christ and obedience to him in all things according to the Scriptures… All that are enabled, thro’ grace, to make the Christian confession, and to manifest the reality of it in their tempers and conduct, should consider each other as the precious saints of God, should love each other as brethren, children of the same family and Father, temples of the same Spirit, members of the same Body, subjects of the same grace, objects of the same divine love, bought with the same price, and joint heirs of the same inheritance. Whom God hath thus joined together no man should dare to put asunder.

Towards the end of that great document, Campbell wrote, “What? Shall we pray for a thing and not strive to obtain it?”

The Declaration and Address became a founding document for the American Restoration Movement, a Christian unity movement that produced the Churches of Christ. See, everybody in the Churches of Christ have a little Presbyterian blood in us. We all owe a debt of gratitude to the good Presbyterians who refused to let denominational differences separate them from other followers of Jesus.

It is in that spirit of unity and fellowship with all disciples of Christ that the 4 Midland churches come together on this Sunday before Thanksgiving.

I am preaching at First Presbyterian Church in Midland this morning while my brother and friend Steve Schorr, the pastor at First Presbyterian, is preaching at GCR. Steve Brooks, the preacher at First Methodist, and Darin Wood, the pastor at First Baptist, are also swapping pulpits as part of our annual 4 Midland Sunday. Then this evening, we are hosting our annual Thanksgiving service at GCR. Cory is leading a combined choir made up of singers from all four churches, Steve Brooks is bringing the message, and we’re all going to sing and pray and hear the Word together in the presence of our God who calls us to be one. Christian unity is God’s will, it is Christ’s prayer, and it is the reconciling work of the Holy Spirit. And our four churches are leaning in.

I feel so very honored and privileged and blessed by God for our friendships and partnerships in the Gospel. And exceedingly thankful. Thankful to the Lord, thankful to my colleagues in these other three churches, and thankful for the people in our congregations who are committed to closer fellowship and deeper unity in Christ. And exceedingly thankful for those good Presbyterians who more than 200 years ago committed to Christian unity with all who call on the name of our Lord and gave us the tradition that first instilled the faith in me.

Peace,
Allan

Our CofC Heritage to Embrace

November 19, 2024 / / 0 Comments

The Cowboys ushered in the experimental phase of the 2024 season last night by getting blown out at home. Again. Among the miscues and missed opportunities against the Texans, the mass of penalties and the highly questionable play calls, double-fumbles, a boinked field goal, and a botched fake punt, Mike McCarthy’s biggest post-game regret was that he didn’t give Trey Lance a couple of series at the end. The roof fell down on the Cowboys last night, both figuratively and literally. Forget the Lombardi Trophy, this team can’t even compete for the Governor’s Cup. I’m reminded of the immortal words of Bum Phillips after his Houston Oilers dismantled the Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day in 1978, “I’d rather be Texas’ Team than America’s Team any day.”

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My gifted and talented brother, Keith Stanglin, the executive director of Center for Christian Studies in Austin, has written a brilliant article on the new Apple Intelligence commercials that are airing multiple times during almost all college and NFL football games. You’ve seen the spots: the mom making an AI generated video for her husband after she forgets his birthday, the guy in the boardroom who uses AI to generate a report after being called on the carpet for not doing his work, the employee sending an AI email to his boss that hides the fact he’s a disengaged slob at work. Keith points out the obvious. These commercials don’t try to hide what AI is all about; the ads emphasize it as the selling point. Laziness and deception. Cheating. Hiding. The old vices are the new virtues. AI calls evil good and good evil. And most of our world embraces it giddily. Thank you, Keith, for your words of wisdom and warning. This is a great read.

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In advance of our first annual “4 Midland” Thanksgiving service this Sunday at First Baptist, I’m writing this week about Christian unity. Yesterday I posted about Christian unity among all disciples of Jesus across all denominations as a gift from God to receive. Today, I’d like to present Christian unity as our Church of Christ heritage to embrace.

215 years ago, Thomas Campbell was preaching fiery sermons about Christian unity in western Pennsylvania. His convictions about the unity of all Christians and those sermons got him censured by his presbytery and then fired by his synod. At the same time, another Presbyterian preacher in Kentucky, Barton Stone, dissolved his presbytery to unite with everyone who desired to move away from denominational labels and just be known as Christians. In September of 1809, Campbell wrote what he called the Declaration and Address of the Christian Association of Washington County. It was a call to Christian unity based on Jesus’ prayer in John 17 and on the whole of Scripture that presents complete unity as God’s holy will for his people.

Some of the Declaration and Address is tough sledding; it was written over two centuries ago. But I love reading it. It’s our founding document in Churches of Christ. This document is where we get, “Speak where the Bible speaks and be silent where the Bible is silent,” although I’m afraid we’ve become a people who speak where the Bible speaks and, where the Bible is silent, we have even more to say. Our foundational Church of Christ creeds come from the Declaration and Address. “Christians only, but not the only Christians.” “No creed but Christ,” which, ironically, is a creed. I can’t find, “guide, guard, and direct” in this document, but I know it must be in there.

The Declaration and Address reminds us in Churches of Christ that we began as a Christian unity movement with a deep conviction that all Christians are one. All Christians are together. Our unity in Christ transcends all denominational differences and it should be demonstrated in visible and public ways for the sake of an unbelieving world.

I’ll share just a couple of passages:

Proposition 1 – That the church of Christ upon earth is essentially, intentionally, and constitutionally one; consisting of all those in every place that profess their faith in Christ and obedience to him in all things according to the scriptures, and that manifest the same by their tempers and conduct.

Proposition 2 – They ought to receive each other as Christ Jesus hath also received them to the glory of God. And for this purpose, they ought to all walk by the same rule, to mind and speak the same thing; and to be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

Proposition 9 – That all that are enabled, thro’ grace, to make the Christian confession and to manifest the reality of it in their tempers and conduct, should consider each other as the precious saints of God, should love each other as brethren, children of the same family and Father, temples of the same Spirit, members of the same Body, subjects of the same grace, objects of the same divine love, bought with the same price, and joint heirs of the same inheritance. Whom God has thus joined together no man should dare to put asunder.

Introduction, pages 9-10 – Not that we judge ourselves competent to effect such a thing; we utterly disclaim the thought. But we judge it our bounded duty to make the attempt, by using all due means in our power to promote it; and also, that we have sufficient reason to rest assured that our humble and well meant endeavors shall not be in vain in the Lord. The cause that we advocate is not our own peculiar; it is a common cause, the cause of Christ and our brethren of all denominations. All that we presume to do, then, is to do what we conceive to be our duty, in connexion with our brethren; to each of whom it equally belongs, as to us, to exert themselves for this blessed purpose.

It was a radical, mind-blowing vision. Christians only. Unity in Christ. For the sake of the world. Putting aside personal preferences and tearing down denominational walls. Campbell and Stone dreamed and prayed for the one Church we read about in our Bibles, the one Church Jesus prayed for at that last supper, the physical and tangible unity of Christ’s Church that proves to the world he really is Lord.

It was risky. Dangerous. It cost them their jobs. It cost them relationships with family and friends and professional colleagues. But Campbell and Stone valued the sound doctrine of Christian unity more than they valued their own church’s distinctions that divided them.

A couple of times in the Declaration and Address, Campbell writes, “What? Shall we pray for a thing and not strive to obtain it?”

Peace,

Allan

More Love to Him

October 9, 2023 / / 0 Comments

 

 

 

 

 

The Texas Rangers scored more runs yesterday than the Cowboys scored points. The Rangers have won four straight playoff games on the road against the AL’s top two winningest teams and are one win away from advancing to the ALCS for the first time since the heartbreak of 2011. In the meantime, can we all stop putting the Cowboys in the same category as the Eagles and 49ers in the NFC? Clearly, it’s not even close.

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In preparing for this weekend’s GCR 60th Anniversary and Homecoming, I’ve been reading old bulletins from the North A CofC that planted GCR back in 1963. Greg Fleming, the preacher at the North A / Downtown Church, has been a valuable resource as I piece together all that shared history. More than half the North A congregation moved to GCR when it opened. When the first GCR elders were ordained, there were shepherds and representatives from North A, Fairmont, Cherry Lane, and a couple other Midland CofCs present in a show of unity and support. One gets the sense that the Churches of Christ in this town used to demonstrate a strong unity. We once believed in and felt our common bonds and purpose.

I asked Greg what it would take to re-ignite that kind of unity here in our immediate local context. Never mind the broader picture of Churches of Christ, what about just here in Midland-Odessa? Could we remember our common past and come together for the sake of the Kingdom to which we all belong? Is it possible? Could our Lord work through our two congregations to foster some holy reconciliation in a spirit of Christian love? I’m up for anything when it comes to breaking down walls and uniting in Christ. As you know, I’m working hard toward ecumenical worship and service partnerships between GCR and our brothers and sisters at First Baptist, First Pres, and First Methodist. What about our own CofCs?

Greg responded with this paragraph from Elisha E. Sewell, published in the old Gospel Advocate in 1923:

“We tell others that we can all see the Bible alike; that trouble is, we differ, not on what it says, but on the inferences we draw therefrom… Yet, while preaching the truth to others, we are continually differing among ourselves, not on what the Bible says, but on the inferences we draw therefrom. We draw inferences concerning Bible colleges, the second coming of Christ, Bible-school literature, individual communion cups, and numerous other things; and instead of discussing these matters in a spirit of love and forbearance, we accuse each other of disloyalty to the Book, and we want to withdraw fellowship from each other. The remedy for this and the only one, is to change our emphases from that of loyalty to the cause (meaning ‘our plea’) to loyalty to Christ. More love to him will mean more love for each other. Love is the great principle of unity. It succeeds where others fail, and without it all others must fail.”

The Church of Christ “cause” Sewell mentions, our “plea,” is the misguided restoration of the first century Church, the deadly shift we made from starting as a bold Christian unity movement that accepted all who claimed Christ Jesus as Lord to becoming a church restoration movement that drew lines and wrote policies that divided and excluded followers of Jesus. Yuk.

More love to him would mean more love for one another. A better grasp of God’s grace for us would result in more grace for one another across denominational lines and within our own Christian heritage in CofCs. Is it too late?

The time is coming — it’s already here in many ways — in which we will not have the luxury of calling ourselves Baptists, Methodists, Disciples, or Churches of Christ. In the near future, we won’t be divided along denominational lines, we’ll just be thrilled to find another Christian. Period. We’re going to need each other much more than we realize. Someday soon, how we feel about musical instruments and women’s roles will take a backseat to adherence to the rule of faith and a stand for the non-negotiables of the Apostles’ Creed, which has been our Lord’s will all along. I say we lean into it right now. A good way to start would be to reconcile with our own CofC brothers and sisters and our churches in Midland.

Peace,

Allan

An Invitation to Ash Wednesday

February 23, 2022 / / 2 Comments

This post is mainly for all us Church of Christ lifers.

Our resistance to liturgy is ironic; we are a highly liturgical people. We are comforted by the words “separate and apart,” we draw strength from “guide, guard, and direct,” and we believe the sermon will be better if God will only give the preacher a “ready recollection.” We must hear Acts 2:38 in church at least monthly. We must eat and drink the Lord’s Supper every Sunday. And we have our hard-held creeds. We “do Bible things in Bible ways and call Bible things by Bible names.” We know “the church is not the building, it’s the people.” We have our five steps of salvation. We know 728B. Three songs and a prayer, to us, feels like church. I could go on and on and so could you. We have a liturgy. We have our creeds. Yet, we’re so uncomfortable with liturgy. And creeds.

It’s nothing to be ashamed of. We come by it naturally. Our movement has traditionally and, largely uncritically, rejected almost all forms of Christian liturgy as symbols of religious excess and tools for clerical abuse. As non-Scriptural innovations. As rote formulas and meaningless ritual. Most of us can’t help the way a memorized creed or a written prayer makes us feel. We were raised to believe it wasn’t real, it didn’t come from the heart, unless you made it up on the spot.

Let me invite you to participate in an Ash Wednesday service somewhere next week.

Ash Wednesday marks the first day of Lent, the season of repentance and prayer and fasting before Easter. In the early decades of Christianity, this 40-day period was observed by candidates for baptism, which was typically reserved for Easter Sunday. In the third and fourth centuries, people who were separated from the Church because of sin – the early “backsliders” – observed a season of Lent as they were restored to fellowship. Then, over time, the Church recognized that it would be good for all Christians to practice regular seasons of repentance, prayer, and fasting. All Christians need to be reminded that repentance is a daily exercise, not a one time event. Every day is a dying and a rising, a dying to self and a rising to new life in Christ. All Christians need the assurance of the forgiveness and salvation that is promised in the Good News, that was accomplished in the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus. So, I would encourage you to find an Ash Wednesday service next Wednesday and go.

It might be a brand new thing for you. It might be a little strange. It might be really beautiful. You might learn something, you might see something, you might hear something or experience something that could really bless you and increase your faith.

They’re going to put ashes on your forehead. Let them. Be open to it. See what happens.

The ashes serve as a physical reminder of the Gospel. They remind us that we are human – ashes to ashes and dust to dust. We are fallen and frail, we are sinful creatures in dire need of a Savior. They also serve as a physical manifestation of the repentance and sorrow we feel in our hearts because of our sin. In the Bible and throughout world history, ashes have always symbolized repentance. Why not participate in that godly practice? The ashes also remind us of the centuries of burnt offerings sacrificed by God’s people and point us to the Promised One of Israel whose once-for-all sacrifice on the cross surpasses in glory anything ever offered by a priest. The ashes are merely a physical representation, a practical proclamation of everything we believe in our heads and hold dear in our hearts.

Here in Midland, our Church of Christ at Golf Course Road is partnering with our brothers and sisters at First Presbyterian Church in a joint Ash Wednesday service next week. As it turns out, their pastor Steve Schorr and that congregation are just as passionate about tearing down the walls between Christian denominations as I am and we are at GCR! (I’ll write more about this in the next day or so.)

If you’re a CofC’er out here in West Texas, I’m inviting you to join us for the Ash Wednesday service at First Pres. If you’re reading this from somewhere else, I’m inviting you to find a church in your town that observes Ash Wednesday and join them. Go with a group of people so you can process it together afterward. Ask God to speak to you during the service, to reveal himself to you, to grow your faith in him, and to strengthen the bond you have with all disciples of Christ throughout all Christian denominations. And as you leave the assembly, be resolved to remain in the Word, to continually self reflect, and to be in constant prayer.

Nothing will be off the cuff. It will all be carefully scripted. And maybe, just maybe, by God’s grace and power of his Spirit, it might be exactly what you need.

Peace,

Allan

The Mistake

March 29, 2019 / / 0 Comments

“I have tried the pharisaic plan and the monastic. I was once so straight that, like the Indian’s tree, I leaned a little the other way. And, however much I may be slandered now as seeking ‘popularity’ or a popular course, I have to rejoice that to my own satisfaction, as well as to others, I proved that truth, and not popularity, was my object; for I once was so strict a Separatist that I would neither pray nor sing praises with any one who was not as perfect as I supposed myself. In this most unpopular course I persisted until I discovered the mistake and saw that on the principle embraced in my conduct, there could never be a congregation or church upon the earth.”

~Alexander Campbell, 1827

Retrieval Theology

April 28, 2016 / / 1 Comment

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If, as we have noted in this space this week, the Church cannot escape its past and if the Church is influenced in both negative and positive ways by its history and tradition, it seems like we ought to embrace this history in order to examine it. It’s ours anyway; we belong to it. Why not learn from it? Why not study the things we find misguided so we can avoid them in our time today and incorporate the things that might actually benefit our spiritual formation and our passing on of the faith?

I’ll conclude my thoughts on Dr. Keith Stanglin’s article “Restorationism and Church History: Strange Bedfellows?” with today’s post. Honestly, this has been much more a re-hash of his work — not too much original thought from me.

Keith suggests we engage in what a lot of people call “retrieval theology.”

“This is not a call to re-create or ape the faith and practice of a specific time or place from the past; not every thought or practice in church history is equally good or relevant for us. It means learning from the wisdom of our ancestors and appropriating the best that it has to offer for the sake of the church today.”

There are many valid and good reasons for embracing all of church history. One, it gives us our identity; knowing our past helps us know who we are and from where we came. Two, it gives us wisdom; most of the questions and debates we face today have been handled or anticipated at some point in the church’s history. Third, we could gain some needed perspective from the study of church history; the history calls us to a holy balance. Knowing the history of our practices and traditions will help us recognize the swing of the pendulum over time. Then we can start to get a good idea of the pendulum’s position and direction and momentum. Then we’ll be better equipped to take the pendulum where it needs to go or, as Keith puts it, “to stand in its way and push back before it goes too far.”

Studying church history can confirm or challenge our interpretations of Scripture. Maybe this is one of the main reasons we resist it. We like to think our interpretation and practices are pure and strictly biblical and come from an un-biased heart. I know that’s what a lot of us have thought. I remember being told at an early age that if everybody in the world would just read the Bible with clear eyes and an open, honest heart, without any preconceived notions, then everybody would believe and worship just like we do. I still occasionally hear versions of that today! When will we admit that a lot of our “distinctives” in Churches of Christ are not born of slam-dunk biblical arguments or unambiguous passages of Scripture? Most of our distinctive practices are not wrong — I think I’d argue they are all faithful and good and beneficial to a life of discipleship to Jesus. But our arguments come from history, not from Scripture. Every Sunday communion and acappella worship and baptism for the forgiveness of sins comes from what our own guy Everett Ferguson calls “historical foreground.” It’s the historical norm that confirms no baptizing for the dead AND observing the Lord’s Meal every Lord’s Day.

Finally, this concluding section from Keith’s article, with which I strongly agree and advocate:

“Restorationism and church history need not be an odd couple, but can be more like the dynamic duo. I personally applaud and support the genius of Thomas Campbell’s restoration vision: The unity of all Christians by means of restoration based on Scripture. Thus articulated, I stand behind the restoration vision. But I must take leave of any interpretation and application of Scripture in the church that seeks to bypass nearly two millennia of church history, or tries to read the Bible as if no one has read it before, or tries to do theology and worship as if they have not been done for the last 1,900 years. The “Bible only,” in this sense, has never worked.”

Retrieval theology is about embracing and knowing our past — all of it —in order to benefit the Church today and into the future. It requires the discipline of learning from our mistakes, the stamina to refuse to repeat bad decisions and bad practices, and the hard work of incorporating the good and faithful from our past into our present. It also demands a humility in the knowledge that we’re not the first ones to attempt to follow Jesus, we’re not the only ones, we’re not the only ones who have done some really good work by God’s grace, and we’re not the only ones who need God’s grace to cover us in the things we’ve really messed up.

Peace,

Allan

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