On The Plain Of One
The Henry County Weekly-Advertiser of McDonough, Ga., in its May 29, 75 issue, had an article with this heading: CHRISTS CHURCH CONGREGATION TO FORM IN MCDONOUGH. The first paragraph of the article follows:
Two groups of similar religious approaches and theological background have come together in McDonough to form the communitys first ecumenical effort. The new group, made up of members of the Church of Christ and the Christian Church, will meet in the building formerly housing the McDonough Presbyterian Church. First worship services will be held Sunday, June 1st. The worshipping body will be known as Christs Church.
About nine months prior to this event a unity Seminar was held at Crossroads church, Gainesville, Fla., and the Griffin, Ga. preacher was present and enthusiastic about such meetings. Now the Griffin, Ga. church of Christ has apparently joined hands with the Morrow Christian Church and the Christian Evangelical Association to begin an ecumenical denomination in McDonough, Ga. Winfred Clark, minister at a church in Bremen, Ga. comments: Now, brethren, this is exactly what Mission Messenger and other like magazines have been begging for. They have talked of unity in diversity. Now if you wondered what they meant, you need not wonder any longer. Further details I can not give. Above is taken from photo-copies of the paper mentioned, and from material in Contending for the Faith.
The whole indicates the in-fighting, and extent to which digression has gone among brethren who thought we were radicals when we spoke out against liberal attitudes that produced institutionalism.
A card from San Antonio, says Roy Osborn, Sunset Ridge preacher, invited Carl Ketcherside to meet with all interested church leaders and ministers from the Churches of Christ, the Disciples, Christian Churches, and various other groups which have their heritage in the Restoration Movement. Hopefully this meeting will serve as a planning session for some future activity by which the possibility of unity can be attained.
If there were any indications that these were genuine Bible study sessions, where points of difference could be examined by men who accepted a divinely inspired pattern, in an effort to truly become one in Christ, we would have been present. Past performance, published articles, personal contacts — all indicate these meetings are headed away from Christ.