Just finished a course on the documents of the Stone-Campbell Movement at Lipscomb. It is totally amazing how many of the current practices of my fellowship date back to those early writings and the thoughts of Alexander Campbell and Thomas Campbell. And how many we no longer follow because those writings were written for their time, and we must live in ours. For example, unpaid ministers....neither Campbell was fond of paying men and women to preach the gospel. Nor was A. Campbell fond of attaching music to the words of hymns. He preferred, and indeed did in his hymnals, print only the words to be sung to popular tunes of the day. He believed that the music and wrestling with harmony and rhythm might detract from the words.
Both believed in the unity of the church above all else, and actually believed that it could happen, if all would follow the Scripture. Trouble is, there were and are different interpretations of the Scripture which led to and lead to today many divisions.
I wonder what contemporary writings will those church history students of the future read to see how things developed? Is there anything being written which will change the course of our history as a fellowship????
No comments:
Post a Comment