Liberal Churches of Christ (

1
Liberal Churches of Christ( Institutional
)?Conservative Churches of Christ(
Non-institutional )

• What is the difference?

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What do these terms mean?

• These terms have been used since the 1950s
• Liberal is in reference to how some brethren
  use the scriptures not strictly following the
  pattern of the Bible allowing unauthorized
  changes to be made (progressives)
• Institutional refers to human institutions
  (businesses) built and maintained by some local
  churches to do the work of the local church

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What do these terms mean?

• Liberal brethren appeal to scripture but they
• misuse the scriptures
• misunderstand expediency
• apply passages concerning individuals to local
  churches
• invent good works without authority

4
What do these terms mean?

• Conservative refers to the commitment of some
  brethren to strictly follow, protect and preserve
  the Bible pattern without changing its
  instructions (Col. 317 2 Tim. 113 Heb. 85 2
  Jn. 9-11 Rev. 2218-19) (non-progressives)
• Non-institutional refers to the refusal to
  build and maintain human institutions
  (businesses) through which the local church will
  do its work
• Anti is the term liberal brethren use to
  describe conservative brethren. We are not
  anti in the way they use it (like
  anti-cooperation or anti-orphan). We are
  against (anti) acting without Bible authority!

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Local Church Organization

• Liberal brethren
• send funds
• from the
• local church
• Human Institutions
• Missionary Society (evangelism)
• College (edification)
• Orphan Home (benevolence)
• to do work

• Conservative brethren
• use funds
• from the
• local church
• to do work
• Acts 1126 (edification)
• Acts 1129-30 (benevolence)
• Acts 131-3 (evangelism)

A human institution is added to the NT pattern
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Local Church Organizationa search for authority

• Liberal brethren appeal to
• Expediency the Bible does not say how we are
  not given the exact method of how to do local
  church work
• Answer
• We are not told exactly how, but we are told who
  (the local church) is to do the work we are told
  the organization which is to do the work (the
  local church) - its who, not how
• The local church, not a human institution, does
  its own work and uses expediencies to do its work

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Local Church Organizationa search for authority

• Liberal brethren appeal to
• In loco parentis (the orphan home is in place of
  the parents, a restored home)
• Answer
• a family is a home
• a human institution (board of directors) is not a
  home
• a facility or dwelling place is not a home

8
Local Church Organizationa search for authority

• Liberal brethren appeal to James 127 and brand
  the conservative brethren as anti-orphan or
  anti pure religion
• the church can do what individuals can do
• the church is not excluded
• the church can practice pure religion

9
Local Church Organizationa search for authority

• Answer (James 127)
• the immediate context applies to the individual,
  not the local church collectively (begin in verse
  23 and note the singular nouns and pronouns)
• liberal brethren are not consistent may
  churches own a business (1 Thess. 411-12)?
• the local church is excluded if the passage is
  silent about the church
• the local church (collectively) must first be
  given authority to care for orphans

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Local Church Benevolence

• Liberal brethren
• give church funds
• to needy saints
• and to
• non-saints
• 2 Corinthians 913
• Galatians 610

• Conservative brethren
• give church funds
• to needy saints
• only
• Acts 244 432 61ff 1129
• Romans 1526
• 1 Corinthians 161-2
• 2 Corinthians 91ff
• 1 Timothy 516

General benevolence to all people is added to the
NT pattern
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Local Church Benevolencea search for authority

• Liberal brethren appeal to 2 Corinthians 913
• Answer
• the word men is italicized and added
• the context refers to all Christians
  (82-4 91,12 Rom. 1526)
• Liberal brethren appeal to Galatians 610
• Answer
• the immediate context refers to individuals
• was Paul a church?
• good is defined by Gods word (Eph. 210)

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Local Church Cooperation

• Liberal brethren
• send funds
• from many local churches
• to one sponsoring
• church eldership
• Herald of Truth, Foreign Evan.
• One Nation Under God
• disaster relief
• start other churches
• to do work

• Conservative brethren
• send funds
• from one
• local church
• directly to do work

C
C
C
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A sponsoring church organization is added to the
NT pattern
Benevolence Acts 1129 Rom. 1525 Acts 2417
Evangelism 2 Cor. 118 Phil. 415ff
13
Local Church Cooperationa search for authority

• Liberal brethren appeal to the one sponsoring
  church eldership i.e. the elders are in control,
  not a board of directors (human institution)
• Answer
• Yes, but the sponsoring church elders have been
  placed in an unscriptural role i.e. overseeing
  the money and work of many churches instead of
  one (Acts 2028 1 Pet. 52)
  this is centralized control

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Local Church Cooperationa search for authority

• Liberal brethren appeal to the need for
  cooperation they brand the conservative brethren
  as anti-cooperation (anti brethren dont want
  to cooperate against cooperating in preaching)
• Answer
• We cooperate, but the NT pattern is concurrent
  cooperation (each church sending directly to the
  need), not collective cooperation (many churches
  sending to one church who then sends out money to
  the need)

15
Local Church Cooperationa search for authority

• Liberal brethren appeal to the great commission
  of Matthew 2819-20 without some sort of
  cooperative effort this cannot be carried out
• Answer
• Yes, we preach the gospel to every creation, but
  we must follow the pattern
• No sponsoring church is found in the NT did
  those Christians carry out the great commission?
  Yes, without a sponsoring church

16
Local Church Cooperationa search for authority

• Liberal brethren appeal to 2 Corinthians
  819-23
• Answer
• The messengers took the money from the churches
  directly to the need
• The messengers exercised no centralized control
  as the sponsoring church elders do

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Local Church Cooperationa search for authority

• Liberal brethren appeal to Acts 1129-30 money
  was sent to the elders who then forwarded it to
  the needy brethren (from one church, to another
  church, then distributed to the needy
  individuals)
• Answer
• The elders that received the money were the
  elders among the needy brethren

18
Local Church Cooperationa search for authority

• Liberal brethren appeal to no specific
  directive (an exclusive pattern) for how
  preachers are to be supported
• Answer
• The specific pattern of sending directly to the
  preacher is found in scripture all other
  arrangements are excluded

19
Local Church Cooperationa search for authority

• Liberal brethren say that they are still in
  control when they voluntarily turn the money over
  to the sponsoring church elders
• Answer
• Oversight and autonomy is lost
• Voluntarily turning over control does not make
  the new arrangement authorized (consider parents
  turning over their children to another, or
  husband turning over his wife to another)

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Local Church Fellowship

• Liberal brethren
• use church funds
• to build and maintain
• Fellowship Halls
• kitchens
• used for social
• and recreational use

• Conservative brethren
• use church funds
• to build and maintain
• a place to assemble
• for worship
• Acts 207
• 1 Cor. 1133
• Hebrews 1025

Social and recreational uses of the building are
added to the NT pattern
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Local Church Fellowshipa search for authority

• Liberal brethren appeal to Acts 207-11 Paul
  ate a fellowship meal
• Answer
• Paul ate, but we are not told anything else
• Where is the Fellowship Hall built and
  maintained by the church treasury in this passage?

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Local Church Fellowshipa search for authority

• Liberal brethren appeal to 1 Corinthians
  1122ff and say the problem was selfishness and
  worldliness during the Lords supper keeping the
  worship spiritual
• Answer
• Liberal brethren do not eat a common meal during
  the Lords supper this is not the issue
• The assembly in the building is for spiritual
  worship purposes this excludes social purposes

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Local Church Fellowshipa search for authority

• Liberal brethren appeal to love feasts
  (2 Pet. 213 Jude 12) these love feasts
  are the same as fellowship meals today
• Answer
• The love feasts were meals, but there is no
  evidence concerning (1) what the meals were, (2)
  who ate the meals, or (3) whether a church, from
  its treasury, planned and purchased the meal and
  the place to eat it

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Local Church Fellowshipa search for authority

• Liberal brethren appeal to fellowship meals
  are one way Christians have fellowship together
• Answer
• The word fellowship (Gr. koinonia), when used
  of churches, always refers to spiritual communion
  or join-participation in spiritual activities
• If Christians want to eat together fine they do
  it at home (Acts 246 1 Cor. 1122,34)
• The fellowship meal is the Lords supper
  (1 Cor. 1016), and the fellowship hall is the
  auditorium where we worship (1 John 16-7)

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Local Church Fellowshipa search for authority

• Liberal brethren appeal to early Christians
  meeting in homes they also ate in those homes
• Answer
• There is no evidence that these early Christians
  took money from the church treasury to buy a
  social meal for the church or build a fellowship
  hall onto the house that they were meeting in

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Local Church Fellowshipa search for authority

• Liberal brethren appeal to the church building
  not being holy or sacred
• Answer
• Yes, the building is not holy or sacred (the
  materials), but its use must be limited to the
  purpose authorized in the NT (Col. 317)
• The time spent in the assembly for spiritual
  purposes is a sacred occasion

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Local Church Fellowshipa search for authority

• Liberal brethren appeal to the water fountain
  if you cant eat in the building, you cant drink
  in it either
• Answer
• The building may contain anything necessary to
  carry out the command to assemble for spiritual
  worship (water fountain, restrooms,
  heating/cooling, lights, etc.)

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Local Church Fellowshipa search for authority

• Liberal brethren appeal to the preachers
  house anti brethren say you can eat in the
  preachers house bought by the church, but not
  the building anti brethren are silly and
  ridiculous
• Answer
• the preacher, supported by the church, may do
  what is right to do in his own home including
  eating

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Local Church Work

• Liberal brethren
• use church funds
• to do social and
• recreational works
• social reform
• recreational activities
• business operations
• secular education
• domestic services

• Conservative brethren
• use church funds
• for authorized
• works only
• Evangelism
• (Matthew 2819-20)
• Edification
• (Ephesians 411-16)
• Benevolence
• (Acts 244-45 432-35 61-6)

Social and recreational works are added to the
NT pattern
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Local Church Worka search for authority

• Liberal brethren appeal to individual action
  what the individual Christian can do, the local
  church can do
• Answer
• the individual and the local church can do only
  what each one is authorized to do
• the individual and the local church do not always
  do the same things (1 Tim. 516)
• may churches vote, start a business?

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Local Church Worka search for authority

• Liberal brethren social and recreational
  activities are used to reach people for
  evangelism and edification
• Answer
• the gospel is used for evangelism (2 Tim. 42,5)
• the gospel is used to edify people (Acts 2032)
• Jesus did not use social and recreational
  activities to draw people (Jn. 627,44-45)
  neither did the first NT church (Acts 214ff)
  neither should we!

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Local Church Worka search for authority

• Liberal brethren appeal to the good works
  they are doing
• Answer
• good works are defined by God in His word, not
  by man (Eph. 210)
• a work can be good, but not authorized for the
  local church

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What is next?
Mid-1800s to Present Day (digression)
Mid-1800s to early 1900s
1950s and 60s
1960s and 70s
1980s and 90s
Missionary Society Colleges Orphan Homes
General Benevolence and Sponsoring Church
Fellowship Halls Social Recreational Activities
Instrumental Music Baptism Not E. Unity
with Denominations
Some shall fall away from the faith 1 Timothy
41-2 Acting without Bible authority leads to
further digression Whats next? How far will you
go?
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What do we need today?

• A Plea For Honest Study
• Respect Bible Authority
• Handle Aright the Bible
• Keep an Open Mind
• Resolve to Follow Truth
• Stand for Truth without Carnal Fighting
  Bitterness

• Teach on Authority
• Generic and Specific Authority
• Proper use of Expediencies
• Respect the Silence of the Scriptures
• NT Commands, Approved Examples and Inferences
• Follow the Pattern