Madisonville Church of Christ

Many years ago, I was asked to write an article for what was then a new brotherhood publication called, The Paper Pulpit. Its editor, an old classmate of mine named Daniel Coe, Sr. wanted me to write a regular feature dealing with a variety of false teachings that were plaguing the church at the time. The very first one of these was to address the assertion that "There are faithful and devout Christians scattered among the denominations." At that time, the idea was hardly new. Today, it seems downright old. Still there are Christians (even some in our local area) who continue to espouse it and to lead many other souls to Hell with it.

The impetus of the notion that there are faithful and devout Christians scattered among the denominations was the century-old division between the churches of Christ and the Christian Church. From the time this division was officially recognized by the federal government, in 1906, many people on both sides of it have tried to bring about reconciliation between the two groups. But every attempt failed, because faithful members of the Lord's church would not compromise the Biblical pattern for doctrine and practice, and the Christian Church would not give up its false doctrines and practices, concerning things like the use of mechanical instruments of music in worship and the missionary society. In the 1950s and 60s, efforts to achieve unity between the churches of Christ and the Christian Church were relaxed, while the problem of "antiism" raged, but in the 1970s came the so-called "new unity movement," and the whole issue started up again. By that time, the Christian Church had splintered and fragmented upon itself and drifted further away from the Biblical pattern, making unity based upon agreement of doctrine and practice impossible. It was at that time that phrases like "unity in diversity," were bandied about by those who were still hopeful for some kind of compromise to be achieved between the two groups.

One great obstacle in the path of the new unity movement was the fact that members of the Christian Church had come to think of themselves as a denomination of Christianity. As far as they were concerned, the Christian Church is merely a small part of universal Christianity, and every religious group that calls itself a "church" is on equal footing with them. They applied a flawed method of interpretation to passages like John 15:5-8 and I Corinthians 12:4-14 to attempt to substantiate their claims. To get around this problem, members of the churches of Christ who sought unity with the Christian Church campaigned to advance the notion that these people are our brethren, because they believe some of the same things that we do. Carrying this notion a bit futher, by the mid 1980s and early 90s, some in our fellowship were beginning to claim that there are faithful Christians scattered among the denominations.

This notion was dealt a fatal blow, when faithful gospel preachers pointed out that, in John 15:5-8, Jesus said that He is the vine and His disciples are the branches, making it clear that the branches of the vine do not represent the different churches. Also, people were exposed to the fact that I Corinthians 12:4-14 is actually a discussion of diversity among the people who are members of the body of Christ and not the denominations themselves (I Cor. 12:27). Denominationalism is a sin unto itself! Jesus promised to build only one church (Mat. 16:18). He shed His blood for only

Among the Denominations