Weak Diets Do Not Make Strong Churches
By reading some of the church bulletins one would be unable to tell whether or not it came from some digressive church or from a church of Christ were it not for the name on front. As a matter of fact, the absence of a piano or the presence of one as the case may be is about the only difference between some of them any more. A bulletin before me as I write contains these noteworthy items: "PINK AND BLUE SHOWER: Ladies, you are invited to attend a ... shower for ... in the church basement" . . . Fellowship meeting held last Monday night" . . . and "Cake Day was last Thursday."
If these brethren suppose that they can convert sinners and build a strong church on such a flimsy diet they will do well to consider their own record. In the same bulletin it is stated that their Bible study attendance has not grown even for a whole year, and their contributions are going to have to be brought up or they will have to quit some of the work they are now doing. Yet the town has not gone down; the population is more than it was a year ago.
Brethren, the gospel alone will build a strong church and it needs no props under it to hold it up. Sectarian churches must bolster their doctrines with feasts, fairs, fun and foolishness, but the church of the Lord has something that will stand alone. Churches that seek crowds by offering ... entertainment and suppers admit that they do not think that the gospel is enough; and this is an admission that they themselves are not converted to Christ. When we learn the book and get to work f or the Lord we will find that the church has no basement, that showers are home shows, that fellowship should be built around the Apostles' doctrine, and that "cake days" are among the ones that Paul condemned in Galatians 4:10-11. -- L. L. Geiger, via Greggton Messenger.
Truth Magazine I:2, p. 20
November 1956