Campus CrossWalk Magazine: 2006 Spring Issue -- The Shocking Way I Came to Understand Unity

THE ONLY CHRISTIANS?

I will never forget the day I first came across a book about Christian denominations. It had authors from each group write about their denomination so the book would accurately reflect that group’s ideas. I eagerly picked it up and turned to see if I could find, “Church of Christ.” I wasn’t sure we would be in there since I was always taught that we were not a denomination.

I don’t recall the author’s name, but I sure was shocked by what he wrote. While he admitted he could not speak for all Churches of Christ or for any other Christian besides himself for that matter, he had the audacity to say that we were “Christians only, but not the only Christians!”

That certainly didn’t represent what I believed at the time! I had come to the conclusion that not only were we “Christians only,” but we were the “only Christians.” I had understood from a young age that belonging to any other church or religious group was wrong and those stuck in denominationalism were not true Christians and still needed salvation. We were the only ones with the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. We had unlocked the secret formula of salvation and eagerly sought to give it out to anybody who would listen.

Thus, to read a description of the Church of Christ as a unity movement was quite a shock. And yet, it was a relief too. While I professed my conviction that we alone were right, I secretly had a hard time really believing it.

THE BAPTISTS

An additional shock came when I was in High School. Tom Smith*, a friend of mine, was an active member of a Baptist church. His father was a deacon. Tom would invite me to his church and I would occasionally go, curious and listening, but also hoping to learn how to convince him of the errors of his ways. Once, on the way home from a Wednesday evening class, his father asked me (knowing that I attended the local Church of Christ) if I thought baptism was a work necessary for salvation. When I responded, “Yes, I do, we have to be baptized to be saved,” he quoted Ephesians 2:8-9 (KJV) by heart. I was dumb-founded! I had never heard those verses before. I claimed he twisted my words and took the Scriptures out of context, but in my heart I knew I needed to study those things some more. The shock of his quote made me think. My whole understanding of grace was first opened up to me by a Baptist deacon!

THE SALVATION ARMY

Another friend in High School, Rob Johnson*, also invited me to go with him to his church; the Salvation Army. Again I went with curiosity and a listening ear. I had long admired the Salvation Army’s commitment to helping those in need. But I also went with a mind to see what needed to be set right. As I entered their building, I saw my target of opportunity right away: a 1972 flower poster proclaiming, of all things, “God is Love!”

How preposterous! How “hippy-like” could you get? Everyone knows God is the creator, the sustainer of life. He is holy and above all and narrow is the way to him. Then I read the fine print: 1 John 4:8. That was in the Bible? I couldn’t recall ever hearing a lesson on that before! How could I be learning Bible from Baptists and the Salvation Army?

Besides the shock of this poster, I was also amazed by the “purity” of their concern for the poor and downtrodden. I discovered that was not only their focus on the outside, it was their focus on the inside! I later learned the Bible talks about this as well (James 1:27), and wondered why we didn’t do more of that sort of thing. Why didn’t the tracts I had read stress that as one of the “marks” of the true people of God?

THE MILITARY

Later, while in the military, I visited chapels and churches as I had opportunity. Being far from home and not finding one like where I grew up, I rejected them all and decided I could be a Christian on my own. That was a big mistake. Despite the fact that my family and the church of my youth had given me a strong base of faith and a desire to please God, I found that my faith was soon just coasting, then barely floating, and finally going down the drain. It was only by mercy that God reclaimed me (Titus 3:5) at a Church of Christ near my next duty station.

I was astonished that God would take me back. I thought that if he would, won’t he also take in many others who struggle in all areas of life? If I could believe that God forgave my sins, a shocking thought occurred to me: “Is it not possible that God could find it in his heart to forgive others as well, even if it were in “doctrinal” areas rather than “moral” areas?” (Such a distinction seems almost silly to me now – aren’t morals part of our doctrine? – but at the time it helped clarify my thinking.)

EYE-OPENING CLASSES

Soon, I took my first college level Bible class. It was on Romans and Galatians. What a place to start! Of course, I was shocked by the message of Paul that I was beginning to understand for the first time. I had memorized many verses in my youth, but almost none of the ones I was reading and studying in this class (for example, I had memorized Romans 3:23, but didn’t know 3:22). My eyes were opened in many ways and I continued to learn about faith, grace and mercy. Maybe I was just slow, or maybe I just wasn’t listening very well as I was growing up, but the words of those letters seemed absolutely new to me.

Much later, in graduate school, I took my first official “Restoration History” class. Although I had learned some of this history during my teens and early twenties, I again was shocked as I learned what the early leaders of this movement had to say. They called for Christians to reject the denominations they were in and to come together with the Bible as their authority. They insisted that it is the image of Christ that counts, not just being exact or correct in a few items. One said that he believed no one duty can be made the standard of Christian state or character, not even immersion. He said that Christians are those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God, repent from their sins, and obey God in all things according to the measure of their knowledge of his will. (See the Lunenberg Letter of Alexander Campbell.)

This was a concession beyond what I could fathom. I was in turmoil for a long time. I wondered, “How could there possibly be Christians in other groups who didn’t think and do things exactly like me?” Getting a glimpse of a wider, grander picture than I had ever known helped me grow in grace and truth. I knew my salvation didn’t depend on being right in every detail of doctrine and neither did my unity with others. Salvation was not a work I could accomplish, no matter how “right” I might be (Romans 5:1-2,8-9; Galatians 3:26-29; Philippians 3:8-9), and therefore, neither was unity.

GROWING IN GRACE

I once thought of unity as having everyone come join us. They needed to think like us and practice religion exactly like us for us to be one. But now, instead of assuming that everyone else must be like us, I realize we can have unity without complete uniformity. Those early leaders had a better understanding of grace and mercy than I had yet known, but I was growing.

After graduate school, I became a Chaplain in the United States Army. I worked in a pluralistic environment with ordained ministers from every known denomination. Suddenly those “heretical leaders who should know better” were no longer “those people out there,” but close friends; people who, like me, loved the Lord. I was shocked again! I learned that people very different from me were just as intent as I was in trying to please God.

For most of my life I had assumed that a real love for the Lord would lead to the exact same understanding that I had in every detail. But now I realized that was just not true. Slowly I changed my attitudes and thoughts about the church and Christian unity as I began to know and work with others who loved the Lord as I did, and yet were different from me. And, I began to understand more clearly that I am not the judge – God is (Acts 17:31)!

Over time I have become convinced that God’s kingdom is far greater than the “Yellow Pages” Church of Christ. This was quite a change for me, and a development that not all people in our heritage yet accept. The influence of the Scriptures, some great teachers, great churches, and a great ministry in the military all worked together to help me overcome a sectarian attitude and heart. As a result of multiple eye-opening events, each one preparing me for the next, a new understanding of God’s word began to unfold, an understanding that looks to grace and mercy before judgment (James 2:12-13).

BIBLICAL AND FREE!

There are things that curtail fellowship and unity to be sure, but far less than what I thought before. The lines of fellowship and unity I now follow are only those clearly and explicitly stated in Scripture itself. They are not based on my deductions or on side issues or on slight differences in understanding or practice, nor are they based on convictions I may have on matters not directly proclaimed in the Bible. I may believe and practice some things differently from other Christians and try to convince others of my view, but I now understand that our unity is not based on our ability to be uniform or even “right” in every detail. Instead, I believe that unity, like our salvation, is a gift offered to us by God based on who Jesus is and what he has done for us on the cross. We are told to “keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3), not to try and create unity through our religious systems. Being Christians only but recognizing we are not the only Christians may be a shocking way to understand unity, but it is a biblical and freeing belief!

The names have been changed, but the stories are real.

Mark Henry is a retired US Army Chaplain now serving as the preaching minister for the TurnAgain Church of Christ in Anchorage, Alaska. He and his wife, Lezlie, have two children in high school. Mark has a Bachelor of Science degree from West Point and the Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry degrees from Abilene Christian University.