The Old School Song
In the Fall, 1970, issue of The Lipscomb Review (quarterly bulletin of David Lipscomb College) thirteen principle streams of revenue for Christian education at Lipscomb were named. One of them was CONGREGATIONS — Since 1891 congregations of the church of Christ have supported David Lipscomb College.
On May 29, 1971, a huge display ad appeared in the Nashville Tennessean and Banner: An Appeal to Churches of Christ by Batsell Barrett Baxter, Herald of Truth speaker; for more than $ 363,000. per year contribution from churches to the college. The Charlotte Ave. church, Nashville, was the advertiser; and announced that they would give their entire collection of May 30, to the college.
July 16, 1971, David Lipscomb College sent to churches a letter signed by Baxter, which said (in part): The most important thing that we do at David Lipscomb College is teach the Bible as the inspired word of God. If this is to continue, the congregations of the church must be willing to support this Bible teaching on a regular and substantial basis.... The students pay about half of the total cost of nearly $700,000 each year, and we are asking the churches to pay the other half which is more than $350,000 each year.
With the letter was a large copy of the earlier church display ad, and Baxter urges The Elders (so addressed) to read especially my letter of appeal to the churches of Christ. Coordination of the college and Charlotte Ave. church efforts are obvious, and intended to make a point along this line. Baxters letter says further: For over half a century this great Nashville church has contributed each year to our program of teaching the Bible. They have done this under the scriptural authority of Titus 3: 1, which admonishes Christians to be ready unto every good work.
Watch this closely, you folk who seek to justify your own pet project with its a good work and/or the Bible authorizes a Christian to do this — therefore the church can do it out of its treasury. You have used these two fallacies to open the door for church support of general welfare institutions and social institutions; now the same errors are used to prop open the door for church support of the schools.
In the spring of 1964 bro. Baxter published a tract Questions and Issues of the Day which said: If it is a good work and God wants it done, then the church can support it out of its treasury. .. . If the individual Christian should give to make such schools possible, the church has the same responsibility, for it is a good work and the church is the people. (Pp. 30)
Apparently the leaders of todays digressive movement think the time is now ripe to press for church support of the schools. I do not expect all institutional churches to like it. Neither do I expect many of them to do much to combat it. Maybe they can just send a $5. token offering — to avoid being called Anti!!