Anti churches

[longdistancerunner]

When I was growing up in the 60's my parents told me about "anti" CoC's. They were opposed to things like Sunday school and eating in the church building as I remember. I think reading protestant history that they were a part of the overall protestant anti missionary movement. You see black churches, particularly baptists with the name "Missionary" used quite commonly, which I think is part of that movement.

I never actually knew of a church that was "anti". I wonder if anyone else knows about this sect, more about their beliefs, and if any still exist? Thanks!

[Ivy]

When I was growing up in the 60's my parents told me about "anti" CoC's. They were opposed to things like Sunday school and eating in the church building as I remember. I think reading protestant history that they were a part of the overall protestant anti missionary movement. You see black churches, particularly baptists with the name "Missionary" used quite commonly, which I think is part of that movement.

I never actually knew of a church that was "anti". I wonder if anyone else knows about this sect, more about their beliefs, and if any still exist? Thanks!

Yes, I grew up in one, and a few others here did as well. "Anti" was a derogatory term used by so-called liberal cofcs to poke a little fun at us. The "antis" preferred to call themselves "conservatives". They were not part of a protestant anti-missionary movement, but rather what is known as a "Restoration Movement"; i.e., they believed they were restoring the first century church as it was then. They were not opposed to Sunday school (that was the group we called the "one cuppers"; perhaps someone else will share on that one), but they were opposed to eating or having kitchens in the church building, use of instrumental music in the church building / worship, giving from the church treasury to orphanages, giving from the church treasury to cofc colleges, etc. They did not fellowship with any other denominations or sects, nor did they cooperate with any other churches in the community unless said church was exactly the same as they. If you have other questions, I'll be glad to try to answer them based on my experience. And yes, they do still exist, although they are struggling to maintain any kind of relevance.

[longdistancerunner]

Ivy: Thanks, I had forgotten the thing about common communion cup use. I heard the ones opposed to Sunday schools as anti's. I had never heard the term one supper, but knew some believed in that. Where was the one you went and do you know where they exist?

[Ivy]

Ivy: Thanks, I had forgotten the thing about common communion cup use. I heard the ones opposed to Sunday schools as anti's. I had never heard the term one supper, but knew some believed in that. Where was the one you went and do you know where they exist?

Well, if I told you where it was I might out myself, and would rather not do that. Let's just say it was somewhere in Texas. There are quite a few of them still here in TX, but it seems like their numbers are decreasing daily.

The "one cuppers" were the ones who were opposed to Sunday schools. They didn't have classes; everything was done in the main assembly, I believe. They used a single cup for communion, but the antis felt it was ok to use the multiple cup trays because of basic hygiene.

[Lerk]

The "anti" churches refer to themselves as "non-institutional". But there are also, as Ivy said, "one cup" churches where they literally all drink from the same cup for the Lord's Supper. Except I heard of a "one cup" church in Lufkin, Texas that, in the 1950s, had two cups, one to pass down each side. Um, sure, okay. A preacher friend who grew up in that church told me that story. No idea whether it's still there. ​I've never stumbled upon a one-cup church, but my son and his wife did while on vacation back when they were first married. Yuk!

I have, however, been to a three different "no-Bible-class / no located preacher" Churches of Christ. There aren't a lot of them, but there are at least 5 that I know of in the Houston, Texas area. I've been to three of them, and they seem to know people in the "NI" congregations.

The "mainline" churches (whom we anti's used to call "liberals") and the "anti" churches rarely visited each other from the 1960s through the 80s, but since they had all been together until the late 50s or early 60s, the older folks knew each other.

Sometime in the 90s, some mainline churches started doing things that a few members felt uncomfortable with (sometimes instrumental music, but often just something simple like clapping after a baptism, or in one case I know of, the congregation sang happy birthday to the minister during the announcements). Some of those people moved over to NI churches and the men were even made elders.

And a lot of younger CoC people will visit the "other" group. But for older people, it's really hard to go to a church that does something you've been told your entire life is "wrong" or "sinful" or "not the work of the church." My wife and I for the last few years have been visiting several different churches, including a Presbyterian church, an Episcopal church, two different Mainline CoCs, and a no-Bible-class/located preacher CoC.

I'm not a believer anymore, but I go with her just for appearances sake. I have a son who would probably not have anything to do with me if he knew I was a non-believer, so I tell him lies. Anyway, I was hoping we'd wind up in something that was not CoC at all, or at the very worst a mainline CoC, but no, her conscience just bothered her too much. The mainline CoC we would have been most interested in sent money an orphan's home, and it's just too engrained in her that the church shouldn't do that, so we wound up placing membership a few weeks ago at another NI church. *sigh*

But at least I'm not going to have to pretend to be hardcore. I'm not going to volunteer to participate in the service, and since my wife is often not well enough to go, there'll be plenty of times when I don't go. Hopefully the elders will just learn that I'm not the type to get involved.

The ironic thing there is that my son wouldn't mind at all if we went to an entirely different denomination! He's changed a lot over the years -- doesn't object to instrumental music or anything else that sets the NI churches apart. He would've gone to that same mainline church except he was unhappy with the kids Bible classes, and the NI churches are definitely more serious about that. Can't say I blame him -- if I were a believer I'd definitely want my kids to actually learn things in class, rather than just have a short discussion then go to the gym.

Anyway, I got off on a long tangent there! But there really are probably 5 different denominations calling themselves Church of Christ:
1) Mainline, the largest group, and ultra-conservative denomination whom the NI folks refer to as liberal.
2) NI (non-institutional), who split from the mainlines in the 50s/60s, ultra-ultra conservative. If you divorce your husband or wife for some reason other than that they cheated on you, you get kicked out.
3) Truly liberal churches, sort-of new (since the late 70s maybe, but growing in number), having instrumental music, female ministers, women waiting on the Lord's Table, or at least some of those things.
4) No Bible Class / No Located Preacher (that is, different members preach every week, and they don't pay a preacher except for "gospel meetings."
5) The very rare "one cup" churches.

While they all (as far as I know) still claim to be non-denominational, they all have enough in common that you can group them -- therefore, they're denominations! Maybe some of them don't make that claim anymore.

[Ivy]

An aside. I remember my parents kind of joking about attending one cup churches; apparently these were more common back during their earlier life. (1930s, 1940s, maybe? Early 50s?). They would tell anecdotes about old brother so-in-so with snuff dripping out of his mouth taking his sip before the cup got to them. Things like that. LOL!! I guess people would try to be the first one to be "served" so the cup would be clean. I think this helped them along in determining that using "one cup" wasn't a salvation issue. And boom!! A split, for which the cofcs are well known.

[Moogy]

I grew up anti and I was familiar with the other small splinter groups. My sister went to a no-classes church for a while, because it was the only COC in that small town. Later, her family moved to a mainline COC. A few years ago, she and her husband made the big jump to the Disciples of Christ.

[SolaDude]

Did the NICOC congregations generally condemn the other types of CofC to hell?

[Ivy]

Did the NICOC congregations generally condemn the other types of CofC to hell?

Well, from my experience it varied with whether or not you had relatives in a "lib'rel" church. Mama was careful not to diss the liberals too hard because her parents and sister went to one in their small town. But she was definitely not ok with them going there. I think she was glad the church at least had "cofc" over the door and that hopefully that would get them to heaven. Sometimes you have to be happy with what you can get.

[agricola]

I was a young child when a conservative CoC in town split over the institutional issue - the original church opposed using contribution money for the support of orphanages, preferring that individuals use their money to support individual deserving widows and orphans (I'm pretty sure, that
deserving' part meant actual widows, not single mothers of any description).

My family was part of the 'split' group, and we formed a NEW CoC congregation in the early 1950's which grew pretty rapidly, as a lot of churches did in the 50s and 60s (baby boomers had a lot of babies).

But my uncle and aunt - my mother's older sister and her husband - remained in the 'anti-institutional' branch, and when they visited our family, they were very cordial - but would drive ten miles away to attend a 'sound' congregation on Sundays, rather than go with us to our nearby 'unsound' CofC.

Whatever other differences there were that led to the original split, I don't know. Both congregations still exist, as far as I know, although the non-institutional one never got very large. But whatever the other disagreements were, the way it was always explained to me was that it was mostly about the 'don't use contributions for organized orphanages' one.

We had Sunday school, VBS, no instrumental music, and although there WAS a kitchen in the building, we typically used it mostly to store grape juice for the Lord's Supper, or koolaid for the VBS kids, and not for cooking. Most community meals were 'dinner on the grounds' - outdoor potlucks.

My brief understanding of the dynamics of the Restoration movement include two major periods of 'splitting' post Civil War -
the first was around 1880-1900 and involved instrumental music - this led to the CC/DoC. The second was around 1950, and was the institutional/non-institutional division, and this split occurred only in the CoC movement, and not in the CC/DoC branch (the earlier split).

I am not aware of any LATER splits, except the formation and later near-demise of the Discipling group, which is after my time with the CoC.

Over to someone who knows more

Also, I think this thread should maybe go to New Paths?
MOOGY - what do you think?