Ex-Church of Christ Support Board

I’m at my mom’s and was looking through the Christmas music in the piano bench. In the “Winter Wonderland” music, I found the most Church of Christ thing ever:
(I don’t know why it’s sideways.) If you can’t see it — “Parson” (in “we’ll pretend that he is Parson Brown”) is marked out and “Mr.” is written. I suspect my sister did that since it was her music first, but it’s just so typical of the way we were taught. My parents would never have told us to do that, yet the message from church was loud and clear to kids.

Funnier: I remember singing “we’ll pretend that he is Ardie Brown”, the preacher and family friend who eventually performed all 3 of our weddings.

Is parson not an acceptable CofC word? I thought that was just an archaic word for a preacher. That is so dumb—like saying nativity scenes are bad.

Honestly, I don’t know. It seems like a title. It isn’t “Reverend”, though, which I believe they have a Bible verse for condemning. But as a kid, I would have assumed it to be an unacceptable title. Now “Brother Brown” would’ve been just fine! To be honest, when I was a kid everyone was referred to as Brother- or Sister so-and-so, but especially the preacher.

Anyway, this music is from the late 60s.

Y'all, do some Googling of the word "parson". You will get a better idea of why the cofc would want to ban that word from their lips!!

Also, let me know when you find the link on a place called "Parson's Pleasure". HAHAHA!!!

"Parson" was acceptable, although not preferred in our particular faction.
"Reverend" was considered sinful, and anyone who used it was sharply corrected. "Pastor" was also wrong and merited correction, but not quite as sharply.
We often heard, "No man should be ashamed to be called 'Mr.'"

But - but - the ELDERS were the pastors!

My version of cofc (NICOC) would not have been ok with "parson". It was "Brother So-and-So"; no special titles permitted.

When I was attending a United Pentecostal Church for a while (UPC), I noted their preacher was to be called "Brother So-and-So" too.

More on the word "parson" from the web:

par·son
/ˈpärs(ə)n/
Learn to pronounce
noun
a beneficed member of the clergy; a rector or a vicar.
Similar:
vicar
rector
clergyman
member of the clergy
cleric
chaplain
pastor
curate
churchman
man of the cloth
man of God
ecclesiastic
minister
priest
preacher
divine
curé
reverend
padre
Holy Joe
sky pilot
josser
INFORMAL
any member of the clergy, especially a Protestant one.
Similar:
vicar
rector
clergyman
member of the clergy
cleric

Aren't the terms "vicar" and "rector" from the Episcopal Church? Not sure. And "beneficed"

ben·e·fice
/ˈbenəfəs/
Learn to pronounce
noun
a permanent Church appointment, typically that of a rector or vicar, for which property and income are provided in respect of pastoral duties.

Also, if I remember correctly, I was made to understand that we were not "Protestant". I assume that's because to cofc we existed before the Catholic Church, so we weren't protesting anything; we were just restoring the original church.

Anyone have thoughts on this? By that I mean, what you were told the church believed on these things.

There was a well-known tract called "Neither, Catholic, Protestant, Nor Jew." I think it was written by Batsell Barrett Baxter.

I often heard people being corrected if they called the minister "pastor." My father would just say, "Yes, I'm the minister." Others would attempt to preach at people and "correct" them. Of course, in some churches, "minister" and "evangelist" were pushing the envelope. "Preacher" was their preferred term. You might occasionally hear an elder referred to as a "shepherd," but rarely "pastor" or "bishop," and never "presbyter."

Oh yeah - the preacher was the PREACHER. You could say 'minister' only if you were talking to NON members, so they'd understand you. And the man who led the singing was the SONGLEADER and not any other term. The Elders were the elders, but they were 'shepherds' and also 'pastors' because shepherds are pastors, right?
Deacons were just deacons.

Everybody was brother and sister, whether preacher, elder, deacon or ordinary person in the pews.

LDS uses similar terminology - everybody is brother/sister. Boys are 'elders' at age 13, and the LDS church also uses 'bishops' as well as 'prophets'.

A lot of it runs on volunteer (unpaid) labor.

The biggest difference besides actual theology between LDS and the Church of Christ, is that the LDS is by god ORGANIZED to the nth degree at every level from birth to death, and the CoC never got the knack of it.