POLARIZING THE PEOPLE OF GOD

Raymond Elliott

It was during my second ‘full time’ work with a congregation that I heard a brother say concerning a church in a small town where he preached on occasions that it should either be a “rich church or a poor church.”  That statement made approximately forty-seven years ago has remained in my thoughts.  Just a few years ago I had a young brother to say that the congregation he was a member of used to be a “young people’s church but now it is an old person’s church.”  I have considered these statements made by two different brothers in Christ and I have often wondered why the church of Jesus Christ should be a rich or poor church or a young person’s church or an older person’s church.  These statements have also motivated me to think more seriously concerning the probability that we do have a tendency in the body of our Lord to separate one another as members of a congregation.  One definition given in Webster’s New World Dictionary of polarize is “to separate into diametrically opposed, often antagonistic, groups, viewpoints.”  Here are some of my thoughts regarding this problem that exist in various congregations.

You can simply observe in church bulletins the listing of various gatherings by differing age groups in the congregation.  There is the Golden Agers, the Youth Group, the Young Adults, the Over Fifty Group, etc. having social gatherings and/or taking trips somewhere.  While such is not inherently wrong within itself, there is the probability of dividing the church into various groups to the point where there is not the togetherness as there should be among the local membership.  I can’t help but to think of what Luke wrote concerning  the church in Jerusalem during its infancy, “Now all who believed were together, and had all things common” (Acts 2:44).  There is a tendency to separate rather than bringing all members, regardless of age, social standing, racial background, educational level, etc.  closer together.  In Jesus Christ we are all one  The apostle Paul expressed it in this manner, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).  We should avoid having continuing group separations that might foster a spirit of divisiveness rather than one of closeness.  While I am in favor of our class system, I am not in favor of separating older adults from younger adults all the time.  There is a definite need for the two to be together.  The zeal of youth needs to influence the aged saints and the wisdom and experience of the older Christians should be shared with the younger members.  Personally as one who has passed the “three score and ten” mark by a couple of years I do not desire to live in a community where there are no children.  Being around young folk makes me feel younger in heart.  And when I was young I enjoyed being in the presence of elderly brothers and sisters.  It was a privilege to seek the advice of mature preachers of the gospel.  Oh, how I miss many of my seniors who have gone to be with the Lord. 

There are some congregations which have multiple assemblies of worship on Sunday morning.  Now I understand that some congregations have enjoyed a numerical growth and that their auditorium cannot seat all the people present for the morning assembly.  That is a positive problem for the leadership to deal with as they contemplate future plans for the congregation.  Sometimes this is simply a temporary arrangement while a new building is being erected.  Other churches have had this arrangement for years and will continue to do so in the future.  The negative side of this arrangement is that often you wind up with a couple of congregations meeting in the same building without the local membership knowing one another.  In this situation efforts should be made to bring the entire congregation together on occasions so that all the members can become better acquainted with one another. This might involve renting a larger facility that would seat the entire membership.  In years past the remedy for this problem would have been for a segment of the membership to move to a different location and begin a new congregation with the blessings of those Christians left behind to carry on the Lord’s work.  Come to think about it, that remains a most desirable decision in many cases.  However the autonomy of the local congregation must be respected in dealing with this particular problem.

It is prevalent among many congregations to have multiple assemblies on Sunday morning for the expressed purpose of engaging in different types (styles) of worship experiences.  There is no scriptural basis for such. Paul in writing to the church of God in Corinth mentioned this, “Therefore when you come together in one place…” (I Corinthians 11:17, 18, 20).  The church in Corinth came together in one place to partake of the Lord’s Supper, to worship God.  The use of “contemporary worship” and “traditional worship” is jargon foreign to the teachings of the New Testament.   The question could be raised as to the difference between a “contemporary worship” and a “traditional worship”.  What is the difference and why have the two different assemblies?   What is meant by a “traditional worship”?  Does it mean that the various avenues of worship are always done in certain manner?  There are congregations which do not change anything in their worship assemblies.  For example, while attending a gospel meeting at another congregation I observed on the board where the songs were listed and after the spaces for the first three songs there was the word “PRAYER”.  Undoubtedly that was the tradition of those brethren and it was not to be changed.  I remember well the time that I informed the song leader that I wanted him to lead several songs that were to be interspersed following my remarks from the Word of God. My mistake was that I did not inform the congregation of this change in the order of the avenues of worship.  He led one song and then I got up and began my sermon.  After a few minutes he got up to lead a hymn that expressed the sentiments of the teaching from the scriptures that I had given.  It was then that the congregation stood to sing, thinking that it was the ‘invitation song’. I am sure that they were happy over such a short sermon but I then had to explain what we were doing.  It is always best to inform the members if there is to be a radical change in the order of worship so that there will be no confusion during the assembly.

Some older brethren are greatly opposed to some of the newer songs.  Yet I have observed that many of these songs of praise are taken from the book of Psalm in the Old Testament.  All the songs that we have used for decades were once ‘new’.  As a mentor of mine used to say, “All men need to have a balance wheel” and so it should be in our singing during our worship assemblies.  Not all the songs should be of praise but neither should there be a complete void of songs of praise to God and the Lamb.  I have attended assemblies wherein not one song of praise was sung. Yet a brother will pray “that we are thankful that we can come together to sing praises to your high and holy name” The fact of the matter was that all of the songs were of heaven and of exhortation. Younger brethren often feel that the only songs to be sung should be of praise and are often unrelenting in their attitude. Being radical concerning this situation continues to separate us.  After all we should sings songs that teach and admonish one another (Colossians 3:16).  I am afraid that some of our younger members are desirous to have a more charismatic/experiential type of worship and that is not good.

Whether we realize it or not, even our seating arrangement in our assemblies can contribute to the polarization of the local membership. Some brothers and sisters sit in the same place year after year and if they are not careful they will not move among the brethren and visitors present to become better acquainted with them.  This problem exists especially among larger congregations when the auditorium is of greater size. It may be the youth sitting together, special friends always sitting together or it may be that family members always being together.  Sitting in different areas of the auditorium would help to alleviate this situation and it just might give one a different perspective on matters and foster a closer relationship with other Christians.

The greatest threat to the polarization of the people of God is the use of false brethren, the teaching of unsound doctrine and the unscriptural practices in our worship assemblies.  When elders ask a preacher/author to speak on special occasions, knowing that he has written a book (manual) on how to bring about changes in the church that are unscriptural, they should not be surprised that some of the members would be upset even to the point of leaving to worship and work elsewhere.  The use of mechanical instruments in the worship assembly has caused major divisions among brethren in times past and will continue to do so.  We are now having influential preachers/authors among us who are teaching that baptism is not necessarily essential to salvation.  There are congregations wherein the ladies are leading congregational singing and public prayers and even to teaching/preaching in the worship assemblies.  We must understand that it is the innovators and the innovations that are causing the division among brethren and not the brethren who are endeavoring to hold fast to sound doctrine and scriptural practices.

Our Lord prayed earnestly that we might all be one (John 17:20, 21).  In matters of opinion and tradition we must be flexible.  But when it comes to doctrinal matters we must stand firm (2 Timothy 1:13; Ephesians 4:14).  We must love our brethren (I Peter 2:17). And we must endeavor “to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3).