Saw an advertisement on the back page of the food section of today's Daily Oklahoman. I skimmed it. The ad, "paid for by faithful members and area Churches of Christ," denounces a man named Mark Henderson as a "false teacher" and have placed him "outside of fellowship with God and the church."
I wondered who this guy was. Turns out that he is the senior minister at the "Family of God at Quail Springs" aka Quail Springs Church of Christ. Their web site doesn't give any details about his tenure. So I don't know much about him.
I googled him and found this article -
http://gospelnews.wordpress.com/2008/01/28/quail-springs-uses-instrument/
Looks like his crime is adding musical instruments to the worship service.
I went back and read the Oklahoma ad a little closer. It presents the COC's arguement about musical instruments. It spends a lot of time discussing the "Principle of Silence." Basically, if God's word is silent on a certain subject, we should be too. I agree with this. This allows us the freedom to be ourselves, not a bunch of cookie-cutter robots. They give 2 primary scriptures that forbid instruments, Ephesians 5:19 and Collossians 3:16. These do mention worship, but since neither one expressly forbids instruments, it seems like the "Principle of Silence" should apply to the "paid for by faithful members and area Churches of Christ" people and not to any local church body that wants to become more relevant and more effective at reaching today's culture.
Of all the corruption and liberal influence in today's church, this seems like a weak reason to kick someone out. I believe that God wants to reach us and bring us into his family with love. I don't believe that he is looking for reasons to exclude us.
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4 comments:
Just to clarify - those people don't speak for most members of the Churches of Christ, nor any of the large congregations of the Churches of Christ in the Metro area. We attend the largest CofC in the metro and the 2nd largest in the US - today we received a tersely worded global email from our elders (pastors) that specifically disavowed the ad.
Speaking personally and not for any church or eldership, I would have to say - Though I may completely disagree with Mark's stance and that of the Quail Springs church, I would never take such a divisive action as to put an ad in the paper. Furthermore, I would never take on the apostolic mantle and "mark" someone as though I had such authority.
Dan, thanks for your comments. I am not that familiar with COC things. The ad just made me mad. The church I attend is about reaching out and partnering with others in areas where we have agreement, but allowing others freedom to be different, especially in non-essentials. We look to do things a little differently, willingly breaking with some traditions to be more culturally relevant (think Paul at Mars Hill in Athens), Not changing the salvation message, but maybe presenting it in a new way, maybe in a different atmosphere.
This music thing has always bothered me. As a non COC person, it seems like such a small issue. Jesus wants us to be saved. He wants us as his disciples, he does not reqire us to be 100% doctrinally accurate all of the time.
As a COC guy, Do you have any insight into how this will play out? I have heard that Memorial Road COC does this also...
btw, the email speaks well for your elders (pastors).
Mountain Man -
I'm a member of Quail Springs CoC and a friend of Dan's. Those who wrote the ad believe that if the New Testament is silent, it should be construed as a prohibition. They are further convinced this is so because we are told to sing in worship to God. They believe if we were to play instruments, we would have been so instructed when we were told to sing. To them, this is a salvation issue because those who add to the Word are willfully sinning against God's law.
There are many other sub-issues that cannot readily be comprehended by those outside the CoC but that contribute to a heightened sense of passion on this issue. I can tell you, however, that most churches and friends have responded in the same way as Memorial Road and my friend Dan have. We disagree and we understand the source of our disagreement - but we DO agree that taking the matter to the public by way of censure is not Biblical.
We don't know how this will play out. You might want to buy stock in ulcer medications, though!
Thanks for your comments!
Thanks, Jan. As a COC outsider, there is no way I can fully understand this issue. And frankly, I have always attended semi-nontraditional churches, so these kind of things are not as important to me. I usually focus on the quality of the message, rather than, please don't take this the wrong way, non essential things.
You guys go with God and be blessed! I bet this is only the beginning of a great story.
Btw, Jesus didn't mention deodorant either... ;)
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