The Quarterly Sunday Evening Worship Assembly
A few months ago, Brother Carter and I were approached by two elders from Mt. Dora, who were meeting with churches of Christ within a radius of 45 minutes of them to explain an idea to promote unity among brethren in this region. Of course, any such idea would be welcome—if it could actually achieve unity, but the fact is that many congregations in the Orlando area do not respect Biblical authority, and we cannot conscientiously have fellowship with them, which is the subject of this article.
As our guests began explaining about the program they had devised, they lamented that brethren in this area have few opportunities to fellowship outside their own congregation except for events such as the Spiritual Growth Workshop. I commented that we could not fellowship that effort because of its liberalism that has been well-documented. [For those who have not read it, go to spiritualperspectives.org and look up three articles: June 4, 2006, June 11, 2006, and April 11, 2010. For this reason, we never publicize the Workshop (or a program for youth, Sonquest). Some long-time supporters of the Workshop have quit contributing to it.] The elders made no response concerning what I said; they continued with their presentation.
The idea is to have brethren from various locations meet one Sunday evening a quarter for a combined worship. The elders at Mt. Dora will choose the congregation that will be in charge of each quarter's program. There would be more singing than usual and a message, but the worship would probably last 1½ hours. They have selected a place which seats about 500 plus, and they are beginning in October.
Aside from not being able to fellowship liberal congregations, we said that we could not participate in such a gathering if there was to be handclapping. It was clear they had not thought about such a possibility, but to their credit, they said they would make an announcement at the outset so that everyone would know not to do so. We also said we could not dismiss our evening service because—except for, perhaps, two or three times a year—we have members present on Sunday evening who could not worship with us on Sunday morning due to work or illness. We also frequently have visitors with us then. The more we thought about this situation, the less we could approve of it.
We have decided not to recommend it or encourage members to go, and we believe we stand on firm Scriptural ground in taking this stance. The main reason is that congregations we cannot and do not fellowship have been invited to participate. In order for everyone to have sufficient information, we are going to name two participating churches. We do not have anything personal against either of these congregations, but they engage in unscriptural practices.
The Southside Church of Christ
This congregation in Orlando was one of those cited as quite enthusiastic toward the combined Sunday evening worship event. A check of their website reveals that they do not meet at that time. They meet on Sunday morning and on Wednesday night; so, yes, the members are free to attend elsewhere on any given Sunday evening.
However, for many years this group has clapped hands during worship. What is the difference between using a drum and clapping hands? The practice lacks authority from the Scriptures (Col. 3:17). Clapping hands, like instrumental music, makes their worship vain; so why would we want to participate with such brethren—even if they give up the practice for that evening? They once had on their website pictures of their worship where they were waving their hands in the air and swaying, but they are no longer there.
Holly Hill
Another congregation that had agreed to support this new joint-worship project was Holly Hill. From 1994 to 2010, Larry Cline was the preacher at this congregation and was also one of the planners of the Spiritual Growth Workshop. This means he endorsed the speakers.
Most congregations in this area know that Holly Hill is "loose" and has been for years. If they have changed, the news has yet to be communicated to brethren so that they might rejoice. How can any serious effort at unity be achieved with congregations that faithful brethren would not worship with or recommend to anyone? If we would not fellowship them individually, why should we fellowship them collectively? They are not continuing steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine.
We do not know how many other congregations in the area (similar to these two) are being asked to join in this event, but the list included 15 congregations at the time we spoke to the elders, and they had several more to contact; so it is a reasonable guess that several liberal churches are being asked to participate besides those already mentioned.
The Spiritual Growth Workshop
Although it has already been recommended that the reader peruse the three articles referenced earlier, it would be appropriate to refresh our memories with facts about the Workshop that some may have forgotten. In order to achieve certainty as to what is meant by liberalism and looseness, references to these articles will help to explain. This is necessary because some may overuse those concepts, and the reader needs to know precisely what is meant.
1. John Clayton has been invited to speak a number of times—twice within the past decade. He is a theistic evolutionist—a position that the Bible does not sustain. Furthermore, he recommends the book by Edward Fudge, The Fire That Consumes, which denies that hell is eternal.
2. Randall Harris co-wrote The Second Incarnation with Rubel Shelly, who has been at the forefront of apostasy for 35 years. Randy Harris has been invited to speak several times, and he is currently a professor at Abilene Christian University. He formerly taught at Lipscomb. If someone being a professor at ACU does not speak loudly enough concerning one's liberal credentials, then few other words would suffice.
3. Ray Fulenwider has degrees from Abilene Christian University and has taught classes at Harding, ACU, Pepperdine, Oklahoma Christian University, and David Lipscomb. He made it plain that the use of instrumental music was not a matter of fellowship: "There is no way I could look these people in the face and say it's a salvation issue. I just can't do it. I think they're gonna be in heaven." What Fulenwider cannot bring himself to do, a few thousand of us can: "The use of instrumental music is a salvation issue, and those who use it (despite the fact that they have no authority to do so from the Word of God) will be lost."
4. Harold Hazelip not only questioned the inspiration of the Scriptures but also misapplied John 16:13 as a promise made to all Christians rather than just the apostles. This is incredible ignorance for anyone claiming to be a preacher. The Holy Spirit guided the apostles into all truth. He is not guiding us personally and directly into all truth today.
5. Prentice Meador serves as "a member of the Board of Trustees of Abilene Christian University and on the Chancellor's Council of Pepperdine University," according to a Website about him. Enough said? Much more could be furnished about his views.
6. David Lane, at the time he spoke, was from the Marsalis Church of Christ in Dallas, Texas. He was taped saying that baptism is equal to a marriage ceremony, a la F. LaGard Smith, which implies that a person is saved when he believes, rather than when he is baptized.
These are just a few beliefs of some of the speakers who have appeared over the years at the Spiritual Growth Workshop. Holly Hill has had no problem fellowshipping these heretics over several decades. Imagine congregations agreeing and fellowshipping those who have traveled from such corrupt institutions as ACU and Pepperdine. Some area churches believe so strongly that instrumental music is not a fellowship issue that they currently have it as part of their worship (which has now become vain). These are not insignificant disagreements—but actual matters of fellowship.
Fellowship
Having shown the unscriptural beliefs of several of the Spiritual Growth Workshop speakers and the congregations in the area that promote and continue this endeavor, surely no one would think that this is an issue of, "Well, they practice a few things that we would not, but we're still brethren; so why not join in the Combined Worship Service? Maybe we will be a positive influence on them." The problem is that this is not the attitude of Jesus or His apostles. Jesus told His disciples to beware of the leaven of the Sadducees and the Pharisees. They were a little slow on the uptake, but eventually they realized He was speaking about their doctrine (Matt. 16:6-12). He did not want them to be caught unaware and be influenced by their false teaching.
Just a little prior to this incident, Jesus had called many of the Pharisees and scribes, "Hypocrites!" (Matt. 15:7). Why? Their hearts were far from God, and they were teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. Some of their erroneous teachings may have come from sincere efforts—trying to apply properly the Law of Moses. But when they accused Jesus' disciples of breaking the Sabbath, they went too far. They had not violated the Law of Moses—only some of their traditions. The Pharisees thought that their interpretations were law, but they were not. In fact, they purposely tried to get around the Law of Moses (Matt. 15:1-9). When men either attempt to invent or circumvent God's Law, it makes their worship vain. Why should brethren in this area gather together to worship collectively with those who are, as individual congregations, worshiping in error?
Therefore, the elders here do not recommend that anyone participate in this event. It will not be the time or the place to try to change anyone's thinking or behavior. We would be worshiping with many who neither believe nor practice the truth, and we cannot convince ourselves that God authorizes such joint worship. Brethren in the church that was established on Pentecost continued steadfastly in fellowship, but they all followed the apostles' doctrine (Acts 2:42). Clearly, such is not the case now. Both individuals and congregations are not following the teaching in the Scriptures.
All Christians have a responsibility to walk in the light (1 John 1:6-10). Those who believe in theistic evolution instead of what the Scriptures teach (Ps. 33:6-9) or do not believe in the Bible doctrine of hell are not walking in the light. If they do not understand the need for Bible authority as it applies to instrumental music and hand clapping, they do not understand a fundamental concept taught throughout the Bible. If they are fuzzy about the inspiration of the Scriptures and even the fundamental question, "How is a person saved from sin?" why are they calling themselves Christians?
John said not to fellowship or help in any way those who do not abide in the doctrine of Christ (2 John 9-11), yet many of the churches at this Combined Service have done that very thing—for decades! If unity is our goal, we need to find a better way to achieve it.