I have been a member of the Church of Christ for 35 years and I am very grateful for its heritage and its emphasis on biblical authority. I still maintain that it is a biblical priority to make sure we have a valid biblical authority for our practices. However, I have come to the conclusion that when it comes to our worship gatherings as the church that we have very little biblical authority for practices and things that we hold to so strongly. I am referring to practices that we will allow churches to split over or that we will argue vehemently in favor of.
I find myself surprised that in a movement that has as one of its highest values, the idea of biblical authority, that we have very little of it for things that have become a great source of division among us. I am not trying to be progressive or contentious. I am just upset about brothers and sisters getting so upset about one of the things God has given to us as a source of and a display of unity, worship.
Let me challenge you with some things that have challenged me and that have caused to me change my mind about our times of public worship as His Church. Here are some things that I find that we regard as integral in our practice that I do not find mentioned or alluded to in scripture. 4 part harmonies, in fact any singing with a vocal
melody, Sunday School (or Bible School), pulpits, song leaders, prayer leaders, opening prayers, closing prayers, calling our gatherings "worship". Church buildings, pews, song books (psalms are mentioned but not the psalm book as a song book in worship). The place of public worship being called a "sanctuary". An authorized order of worship. In fact there is no full account of a worship service in the New Testament. In fact there is no reference to the public gatherings of the church being called "services". The offering of an "invitation" at the end of the sermon. In fact the word "sermon" doesn't occur anywhere in the Bible (in the NIV at least). And this is only the beginning of the list.
I am only referring to things in our heritage. If I would got outside our heritage the list would expand greatly. What's my point? It is simply this. Why do we fight so strongly over things that aren't even on the agenda in scripture? I am not saying for one minute that we should cease these practices. I am saying that we should treat them as what they are; traditions that we have. Traditions have their value as long as they are treated as such. When we elevate them to "must do" practices then we go too far. Our faithfulness to God has never been based on our faithfulness to tradition. It has always been based on our faithfulness to Jesus through His word.
More on this later.
