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Boy, I’m having serious flashbacks going on here.
On one hand, it seems like 1979 all over again, with Kip “Calling out the Remnant” from the ICOC now, just like he did with the COC shortly after taking the reigns at the Boston Church of Christ (then the Lexington COC). I wasn’t around at that time, although I joined the ICOC in the middle of the ‘reconstruction of COC’s” phase in the late 80’s and remember the transition shortly after to the “plant new churches” phase. I came to Columbus on one of those church plantings, after two unsuccessful attempts to reconstruct local COC’s. In each of those cases, the ‘sold out’ were called to Boston or Cincinnati and the churches left wounded. Years later we marched into town to save the city. Now the roles are reversed and it’s my church that is threatened. It’s a humbling feeling that creates a rock in the pit of my stomach when I think about it.
On the other hand it seems like 2003, in the months after the Henry Kriete letter (HKL). In those days there were letters, papers and opinions flying on what we should and shouldn’t do or believe and what it all meant. Talk about deja-vu. First it was Kip, then the LA Statement, then the Boston COC elders respond to Kip, then Alan Rouse (an elder in Atlanta) responds to LA and John Engler, former ICOC leader in Denver and the guy behind the Barnabas Ministry has posted his comments about it all. All of this has sparked a revival in the long dormant ICOCNews, the place to go in 2003 for links and commentary on all that was happening.
It’s a bit overwhelming on a lot of levels. It’s sad, it makes me angry and it makes me afraid of what will happen next.
Time to take a breath.
A couple of things have helped put things in perspective for me.
First, my wife has asked me a couple of questions and cautioned me to be careful in my criticism, specifically of Kip. I need that. It’s easy as the words fly across the internet to forget that there are real men behind these words. Men that I don’t know personally, in some cases I haven’t even met them. They believe that they are doing their best for God. I must act and speak with respect for the men, even if I consider their ideas and doctrine to wrong. It’s frankly not hard to keep from personally attacking them with words, I’m not the name calling kind of guy in general. But to stop the slide in my mind from disdain for their ideas to disdain for them is much harder. I must pray more and try harder to maintain my respect. After all, many of those things that they profess that I disagree with now, I wholeheartedly endorsed at one time. Humility goes a long way.
Second was a reminder from my friend Pinakidion from this post (and the comments) that there is much more to life than the state of the ICOC family of church. Much, much more important things to be focused on. Like my amazing wife of 12 years, my 6, 8 and 10 year old girls who started school today, my and my wife’s families, my local church family and my friends. This too will pass, although perhaps with a fair bit of pain.
Don’t get me wrong, there are things that should be, and will be, said and actions to take to care for the flock here in Columbus during this time. But all of this must be done with the proper perspective. Lord help me maintain that.