Ex-Church of Christ Support Board

Northside Church of Christ, Santa Ana merged with Irvine Christan in the 1990's. There was little difference other than the instrument. The elders at Northside made a decisive decision to make the merger work 2-years prior to the official move. Both ministers shared pulpits, Bible teachers were coached by the elders on teaching why we were merging. But, the most amazing event occurred during our 90th anniversary at Northside. One of our senior elders, slowly walked to the front and began by saying, "the Church of Christ non-instrumental has been sinning for over 200-years because we have divided the Church over the issue of the instrument. The Lord told us, "...thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." In heaven we know, stringed instruments are used to praise God. If the kingdom is to be on earth at it is in heaven, then praising God with stringed instrument is not a sin and, in fact, what we should be doing!" Despite Brother Smith's hermeneutic, he probably convinced more people at that service than anyone in history. It convinced my dad. Today, Journey Christian Church (it has been a journey), is reaching 700 members and we only lost about 7 families in the merger. I still remember Brother Smith's honest and loving heart and, his simple appeal to the Church of Christer.

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Hi. My bad! I'll be more careful with the thread title next time. Merry Christmas.

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Plan9 wrote: One of our senior elders, slowly walked to the front and began by saying, "the Church of Christ non-instrumental has been sinning for over 200-years because we have divided the Church over the issue of the instrument.

The majority of mainline CoC leaders appear to be fashioned from the same cookie-cutter; they use their office to suppress ANYTHING they deem subversive to their pet traditional beliefs. Many kudos to Mr Smith for his willingness to take a stand against - at least one - ridiculous and divisive church tradition.