| This thought-provoking article from the pen of brother W. E. Brightwell (appearing in this issue) is like
the faint rumbling of thunder in the distance heralding an impending storm. It points up the fact that the
congregational sponsoring and promoting of big schemes is not entirely new in the church of our Lord. They
have merely grown in proportion. But it also indicates that there have been critics and objectors to such
programs right from their beginning. And, as such promoters have also multiplied and waxed warmer in their
opposition, until we have now reached the present crisis which is upon us.
But there seems nothing in this article to suggest that brethren disfellowship one another about these matters twenty-five years ago. Each seems to have regarded the other as honest, sincere and fervent in his desire to serve God, and no effort was made to restrict his liberty to teach among the churches what he believed to be in harmony with the will of God. Thus, unity prevailed. But such is not true today. Some brethren have learned first-handedly the cost of refusing to "beat the drum" for some of the big schemes that are being pressed upon brethren by promoters with the zeal, insistence and tactics of "magazine salesmen working their way through college." Despite the fact that it is contended that these big programs simply involve "means and methods" with no principle of truth necessarily at stake, they still urge them to the alienation of brethren and the disturbing of churches. Preachers are expected to at least endorse their programs or else be branded as "antis," and thus regarded with suspicion and whenever possible be eliminated from use by the churches. We pray that the day will soon come when elders and churches will be left free to plan and pursue their own work without so much pressure from efficiency experts and financial wizards. When these pressures are diminished then opposition will proportionately diminish, thus producing an atmosphere favorable to a more objective and fruitful discussion of the points in dispute. If this can be done, then the church mav well be spared a major disaster. May all of us consider the entreaty which Paul wrote to the Ephesians and seek to apply it to ourselves; he said: "I therefore . . . beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all lowliness and meekness, with patience, forbearing one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Eph. 4:1-3 RSV). Truth Magazine IV:1, p. 1 |