In This Edition:
A Plea For Unity
What’s New On The West Side? Jesus At Home
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A Plea For Unity
“I am in prison because I belong to the Lord. Therefore I urge you who have been chosen by God to live up to the life to which God called you. Always be humble, gentle, and patient, accepting each other in love. You are joined together with peace through the Spirit, so make every effort to continue together in this way. There is one body and one Spirit, and God called you to have one hope. There is one Lord, one faith, and one baptism. There is one God and Father of everything. He rules everything and is everywhere and is in everything” (Ephesians 4:1-6 NCV)
The American Restoration Movement began as a unity movement.
It was part of what historians call the “Second Great Awakening.”
America’s first camp meeting was held in 1802 at the Cane Ridge meeting house in Kentucky. A presbyterian preacher by the name of Barton W. Stone was interested in unity. So he put on a service. He invited other presbyterian, baptist, and methodist ministers to join him. Some say as many as 20,000 people showed up, which would have been 10% of Kentucky’s population.
A revival broke out. So strong, so powerful, so meaningful was this event, that it spawned numerous smaller camp meetings on the frontier. The call for unity was intoxicating.
Not everyone approved of this. Stone and others were seen as suspicious; a call for unity meant that someone was willing to overlook the creeds and councils that served as dividing walls between differing groups. Someone had to check their doctrinal soundness, and the Kentucky Synod of the Presbyterian Church of the United States sprung into action with their questionnaires and tribunals. But the call for unity was intoxicating.
So in 1804, Stone and his fellow church leaders decided to put their money where their mouth was. Unity demands a change. They gathered together members of their presbytery in Bourbon county, Kentucky, and decided to have a funeral of sorts.
They wrote up a “Last Will and Testament” for themselves, writing the following:
“In perfect soundness and composure of mind…We will, that this body die, be dissolved, and sink into union with the Body of Christ at large. For there is one body, and one Spirit, even as we are called in one hope of our calling.”
The Testament called for no distinctions in the body, for local congregational autonomy, and this:
“We will, that the people henceforth take the Bible as the only sure guide to heaven; and as many as are offended with other books, which stand in competition with it, may cast them into the fire if they choose.”
And that’s not all.
“We will, that preachers and people cultivate a spirit of mutual forbearance; pray more and dispute less; and while they behold the signs of the times, look up, and confidently expect that redemption draweth nigh.”
“Finally, we will, that all our sister bodies read their Bibles carefully, that they may see their fate there determined, and prepare for death before it is too late.”
Witnesses to this meeting said the reason they decided their own presbytery should die was this:
“With deep concern they viewed the divisions, and party spirit among professing Christians…While they were united under the name of a Presbytery, they endeavored to cultivate a spirit of love and unity with all Christians; but found it extremely difficult to suppress the idea that they themselves were a party separate from others.”
The witnesses declared that all they wanted to do was to “seek the divine blessing—unite with all Christians—commune together, and strengthen each other’s hands in the work of the Lord.”
A pioneer project is, by definition, green. The first to attempt something often struggle, make false starts, go down unpromising paths. That’s the nature of discovery. They knew that. But they also knew they were guided by their North Star. “We candidly acknowledge,” wrote the witnesses,
“that in some things we may err, through human infirmity; but he will correct our wanderings, and preserve his church. Let all Christians join with us, in crying to God day and night, to remove the obstacles which stand in the way of his work, and give him no rest till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. We heartily unite with our Christian brethren of every name, in thanksgiving to God for the display of his goodness in the glorious work he is carrying out in our Western country, which we hope will terminate in the universal spread of the gospel, and the unity of the church.”
A movement birthed in unity. And, oh my, unity was intoxicating. This movement grew and grew and grew. The Christian churches, the Churches of Christ, the Disciples of Christ, the Evangelical Christian Church in Canada, and many other groups can trace their heritage to the principles of this moment and movement.
Today, there are believers all over the world, in a wide variety of churches, who live out of this spirit, and earnestly desire the unity for which Jesus prayed. I am captivated by the dream that we would care only about one name—the name of Christ—and live as one body, as the Lord does the adding. That we would “pray more and dispute less.” That we would join with all our sisters and brothers “in thankgiving to God for the display of his goodness in the glorious work he is carrying out,” which “we hope will terminate in the universal spread of the gospel, and the unity of the church.”
Amen.
What’s New On The West Side? “Jesus At Home: Parenting In His Presence”
Parenting is hard. Really hard. But Jesus said his yoke was easy, and his burden light. How can raising children in the presence of Jesus offer hope and comfort in a confusing world? Join us May 12 - June 16 as we explore a Christ-centered approach to family life in our upcoming series.
May 12 Defending Motherhood
May 19 Death To Self(ies)
May 26 The Battle of Normal-dy
June 2 Raising New Life
June 9 Mutual Submission
June 16 Defending Fatherhood
Stream our lessons Sundays at 9 AM (CST) on facebook or YouTube or on our website. If you are in the middle Arkansas area, we would love to have you join us in person. I’ll save a seat for you.
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My name is Nathan Guy, and I serve as the preaching minister for the West Side Church of Christ in Searcy, Arkansas. In my spare time, I teach classes as an adjunct instructor for St. Louis University and Harding University. I also serve as chairman of the board for the Center for Christian Studies. I am happily married to Katie and am the proud father of little Grace (who is 2) and baby Henry (who is new). We are fair weather Dodgers fans (because if you lived near LA in 1988, how could you not be?). You can find more resources on my website over at nathanguy.com. You can follow me on social media: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter (X), Threads, and YouTube.