West Cocoa Chat

“Who ya for?” This was a question poised to me many moons ago when I attended my first NASCAR (Darlington courtesy of my good friend Bob) Race after several years away from the sport. I was raised on Stock Car racing, both the local variety and NASCAR. When my Dad died my love and interest in Stock Car racing went away.

So there I was, getting into a car with Bob as we left for Darlington. The gentleman driving, a friend of Bob’s brother-in-law asked me, “So who ya for?” My mind drew a blank until there was a re-direct of the question, “Who ya for, Ford, Chevy, or Dodge?” You see, the automaker you support defines who you are as a fan for NASCAR enthusiasts.

Thus (and this may be a bit of a reach) I come to you, with a similar question that may define who we are as followers and fellow disciples of Christ. Are we a denomination? “We” being the Churches of Christ of the “mainstream” variety, what ever that is and I won’t appeal to Dr. Mac Lynn’s guide on all the different varieties of Churches of Christ.

As you ponder that question, let me throw out a couple of definitions of “Denomination” –

· a denomination is an organization that is Christian that has a number of local churches under its auspices. In order to qualify as a denomination, the organization must believe that salvation comes through faith in Jesus Christ and have some sort of authority over more than one local church. a denomination is an organization that is Christian that has a number of local churches under its auspices. In order to qualify as a denomination, the organization must believe that salvation comes through faith in Jesus Christ and have some sort of authority over more than one local church.

· a group of religious congregations having its own organization and a distinctive faith

· A religious organization uniting local congregations in a single, legal and administrative body.

Back to our question, “Are we a denomination?” As I think about my church I would say there was a time when the answer to that question based on how we operated was “Yes.” In fact, there is no doubt in my mind that we “were” part of a denomination. A denomination enforces a strict adherence to it’s rules, mode of operation, and interpretations of Scripture. Those who are brought up under the auspices of a denomination adhere to the denominations rules and “regs” either out of love for said model or a fear of what will happen if obedience isn’t rendered.

It is my opinion that for the most part, many of our churches who claim to be autonomous bodies of believers are members of a denomination either out of love or fear. I know from a personal standpoint as well as a member of our church, that the “Church of Christ denomination” will enforce strict discipline on it’s “member” churches and individuals should there be a perception that the accepted model is not being followed according to the Denomination’s guidelines. For many years I operated out of fear of what the Denomination might do to me and to our church should be cross one of their lines. I suppose many of you might be in the same boat. I know many of you are on the same journey – a journey away from denominationalism and towards New Testament autonomous Christianity, for both the individual believer as well as churches.

Let me say this – for those of you who are in fear of what the Denomination or individual members of the Denomination might do to you, believe this – let it come! For when and individual or a church makes the journey from fear to freedom in Christ, it is well worth the any and I mean any consequences the Denomination might hurl your way.

Although I miss my association with some of the Denomination’s organizations and events that were near and dear to my heart, some of which I gave many years of service to I would never go back to where I was as an individual and where we were as a church a little over a year ago. This was brought back to me this past Sunday.

We had a former member worshipping with us this past Sunday. He himself has felt the wrath of the Denomination. After he worshiped with us, he told us that there was no feeling like the one he had where he felt free to Praise the God of the Universe. Free to praise without fear of repercussion or someone holding up the Denomination’s established “model of worship” and forcing him to conform to it.

I don’t know how you answered my question. Your answer might be “no” and that’s O.K. I’m willing to admit that I might be wrong. I do know this, whether real or imagined, living and worshipping in fear is a miserable experience. When one pushes or rather allows the Spirit to push them into freedom, you’ll never ever want to go back to being a member of a denomination.

When Jesus said in John 4:
²¹Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ²²You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. ²³Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. ²⁴God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."

Jesus says that worship will no longer be confined to a place such as the Temple or a mountain. He also talks about “worshipping in spirit and truth.” The Hebrew concept of worshipping in “truth” has nothing to do with worshipping in any order or in compliance to any denominational rules. “Truth” is me taking off my mask before God, coming clean before God and family, when you can worship without fear and in freedom, you can truly worship in truth.

// posted by cwinwc @ 6:37 PM