Friends,
After a wonderful experience at the ACU lectureship over the past three days, we returned home last evening. We were able to visit with friends from other parts of Texas, as well as the Northwest. The keynote speakers and classes were exceptional...considering the subject matter was Micah (?) ;-). One of our two favorite messages was presented by Landon Saunders, Monday evening -- it was powerful; Jeff Walling also had a tremendous lesson last evening. I was able to reconnect with an old (as far as long ago...not his age
:-), professor from my days at Columbia Christian College. Tom Sibley founded and leads a Bible institute in Zagreb, Croatia and I was able to sit in on his class on "the glory of God" and what the Lord is doing in Croatia. It was fun to reconnect and remind him that he pulled a young, freshman "counseling" major into his office and said, "Don, you need to be a Bible major." I thanked him for that and said, "25 years later, I am still a Bible major, thanks in part to the Lord working through you. " These spiritually enlightening lectureship experiences are an excellent time for learning and fellowship. If you have opportunity, I would encourage you to come to ACU next year for the lectureship, the third week of September 2008. God bless.
Don
3 comments:
Various schools supported by liberal churches of Christ are known to be promoting the Community Church, these are Abilene Christian University, Harding University, Oklahoma Christian University, Lipscomb University, and Pepperdine University. The Downtown Church, the joint world of the Highland Church of Christ, and Harding Graduate School of Religion, has borrowed from denominationalism by employing the use of a praise team to replace the song leader, the clapping of hands during the singing; the presence of icons in worship, and testimonials from the congregation. Other practices that are usually associated with the movement in liberal churches are, drama presentations, observing religious holidays, dedicating babies, children’s worship, and the adoption of instrumental music in worship.
I choose to disagree with the positions stated in these two articles, although I respect the opinions offered. I have chosen to remove the first because I will not allow any particular person to be degraded or slandered for his (or her) positions. I do believe that we have been set free from "ritualistic religion" to worship our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ "in Spirit and in truth" (John 4:24). We Christians today have frequently fallen into the same trap as other religious groups by formulating our law books, creeds or codes (a Christian Mishnah of sorts) to "try to help explain the Word of God." Jesus shared concerning how well this worked for the Pharisees and other religious leaders of His day (Matthew 15). "It is for freedom that we have been set free to worship, to live, to bless, and yes even to obey (Galatians 5:1) -- but not "some form of religion." This was a distinct problem with the Galatian churches...read. As we have said, historically, in our fellowship, we desire to "speak where the Bible speaks, be silent where the Bible is silent". This is a noble concept, but one that has been tarnished by some who have chosen "to speak where the Bible is silent." In relationship to the first comment (which was deleted), concerning a certain individual's view on the singing acappella/instrumental music issue, we are authorized to sing according to the New Testament". It says nothing about "using instruments in worship." Some have said such a practice would be "a sin," because all such matters "have to be black and white". I do not believe that this the case. Let silence be what it is -- if someone wants to call it "gray area" it is their business. What each of us do with respect to interpretation concerning "the gray area" is of an individual's own choosing, is it not? We have authority to sing
-- concerning this, I respect the authority of the Word and make my practice abide by such. But some need to "quit speaking where the Bible is silent;" this would be helpful to all who truly seek to discern in a manner and spirit that is proactive and not reactive.
I attended the lecturship as well and agree with your assessment. It was awesome!
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