We Have Received a letter which deserves wider exposure. As we fellowship this summer at Bible schools and other gatherings, critical discussions will occur over the NASU (North American Statement of Understanding) and the opportunity it affords for greater unity within the brotherhood on this continent. In the course of these discussions, elders in particular need to remember the degree of hurt that separation is causing our brothers and sisters. Following are excerpts of the letter we received:
“I am writing today to thank you for your editorial on ‘Unity Matters’ (April, 2002)…I’ve been involved with the Christadelphian community my whole life and until the last few years the division never really hurt me. Well, now, I’m crying inside.
“I share an apartment with brethren from both fellowships. We are all leaders in our CYC. We do the readings together every day; we study and discuss the word without end; we pray together, worship together, have fun together. We are all involved in teaching CYC, our gatherings, preaching, giving classes, but on Sunday morning something is different. Or is it? We all believe the same thing (as do most in the fellowships), but on Sunday morning we can’t remember the Lord together. If one of the brothers did, he’d be fellowship by his meeting. At a gathering we’re organizing, 40% will sing, study and participate but can’t break bread. For the last two years it’s been like this and I cry every time.
“The other weekend all the CYC’s in our area, both Amended and Unamended, got together for a fellowship day. We gave devotions, led the readings discussions, and organized the activities. We prayed together, studied together and learned together, but then, on Sunday morning, we went our separate ways…
“I’m having a real hard time with this all because it’s so hypocritical and backwards. When I went to Bible school, we were having a discussion on some things related to this and my ecclesia’s interaction. Do you know they told me they’d rather belong to a Protestant church than one of the other fellowships…So many brethren have been living under a rock and presume that they know what’s on the other side when they haven’t even been there to find out.
“It’s not OUR TABLE! It’s the table of the Lord. How can we presume to say someone CLEARLY in Christ is not worthy of his emblems because of a political name. ‘If ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.’ People call each other their brethren, but deny it by their actions. I don’t know how much more hurt it can be than when on Sunday morning, after a weekend of study and fellowship and worship together, I have to watch 50 pairs of crying eyes sit there with their hands folded as they watch the bread and wine pass them by…
“I’m so scared that when Jesus returns to take his own, some are still going to be so prideful that they will question, ‘How is HE here?’ What a sad and sorrowful day when the Lord may say, ‘You could have done so much more for me if you were together, but from the pride of your heart you divided my house.’ …We’re not divided in God’s eyes, only in OUR eyes…”
A fourth generation Christadelphian
Fear, not pride
Our correspondent’s analysis is that the division exists because of human pride. He could be right as “dissension, party spirit” are two works of the flesh (Gal. 5:20 RSV). And to the divisive Corinthians Paul said: “While there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving like ordinary men? For when one says, ‘I belong to Paul,’ and another, ‘I belong to Apollos,’ are you not merely men?” (I Cor. 3:3-4).
In our own experience, however, the greater problem is fear — fear of starting down the road to losing the truth.
The fear is not without reason. It seems like no sooner was an ecclesia established in the first century that a struggle commenced against false teachers. Judaizers, skeptics, gnostics and others all made inroads, even as some apostles were alive, to lure away the faithful after false teaching. In recent years, as we have learned from the history of the brethren in Christ in more recent centuries, we are struck with how often the truth of the gospel was found and then gradually lost. Our fear is that it will happen again if we don’t hold tenaciously to our fellowship’s traditions and culture.
We’re afraid if there is any movement on one point, someone else will insist on movement on another matter, and another. This fear was reflected in our correspondent’s experience at a Bible school and in another letter we received: “The next thing, we’ll be fellow shipping Catholics.”
This fear is aggravated when unfamiliar terms are used in Bible exposition. One of the problems of two groups remaining apart is that catch phrases become popular in one community which are not used in the other. Of course, this happens in the same fellowship in different parts of the world or in various parts of the same country. When the unfamiliar wording comes from someone in our own group, we make our inquiry in gentle tones assuming the brother is sound and just needs time to explain himself. If unfamiliar wording comes from the “other” group, however, we’re more likely to suspect deeper error exists and our fears of losing the truth are reinforced.
An honest look at our long histories, however, reveals neither community has strayed anywhere. The supposed “error” has not led to more false doctrine until the truth has been lost beyond recognition. The statements of faith (nearly identical to begin with) have remained the same and mutual association reveals the truth has not been lost.
What is interesting is that our young correspondent’s discovery is identical to that of mature overseas brethren who have circulated in both fellowships. “You are all brethren,” they have said, “You have in North America a division in the one household of faith.”
It’s good to fear losing the truth, but we can become so paranoid about it, that we sacrifice the unity of the body to unreasonable fear. Remember, the “one body” is the first, first principle listed in the Ephesian statement of faith. And it is a principle introduced with the exhortation: “with all lowliness and meekness, with patience, forbearing one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:2-6).
Real harm
Our correspondent is clearly a younger person seeking fellowship with other young people of like faith and ideals. Every one of us has been young once and we can remember the struggle (or we may be living it) to stay separate from the world and the enormous benefit of having the strength that comes from association with enthusiastic fellow believers. If unfounded fears, and perhaps human pride, are causing us to keep our young people apart, we are doing them real harm.
Those of us who have raised children to adulthood, know the yearning we have for them to find partners in the truth. From our own marriages, we know that being equally yoked in this regard makes marriage and family life far more pleasant and productive. From the sound of it, the elders in our correspondent’s life would have him keep separate from those in the other fellowship thus, perhaps greatly, narrowing his ability to find a wife in the faith. This could be doing much harm to our correspondent, his future children and any ecclesia to which his family belongs.
Another area of concern is the one mentioned in the letter: if we are refusing to minister to Christ’s brethren because of unreasonable fear, or perhaps pride, we could be faced with the charge: “I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me” (Matt. 25:41-45). These words dramatically apply Christ’s fundamental principle of discipleship: “Even as I have loved you, love one another.”
While some have countered by saying, “Love may cost us the truth;” we would caution now that, fear may be costing us the truth, which truth includes the unity of the body.
As our correspondent has expressed, separation hurts. Let’s not permit unreasonable fears to perpetuate this painful separation.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One