Preface To The Second Printing
1. Must God Plead With God?
   
2. How The Spirit Leads
   
3. Physical Reinforcements of Faith
   
4. Jesus' Physical and Spiritual Death
   
5. Is There Merit in Pain?
   
6. The Six Days of Creation
   
7. Adding Guilt to Anxiety
   
8. Wine and The Disciple
   
9. Revolution or Evolution
   
10. I Am That Disciple
    
11. When People Disagree
    
12. Is Unity Based Upon Seven Doctrines?
    
13. Our Seven Sacraments
    
14. Instrumental Music
    
15. The Mood of Worship
    
16. Justified Then Sanctified
    
17. Is Christian Our Name?
    
18. The Lord's Table
    
19. Righteousness That Exceeds
    
20. Neither Destroyed Nor Nailed To The Cross
    
21. The Right of Self-Protection
    
22. A Tree of Error
    
23. God is Limited
    
24. You Are Here
    
25. God is In Charge
    
26. Hook's Points
    
27. Lamentations of A Mediocre Preacher
    

"YOU ARE HERE"

In some of the rest areas of our great highway system in Texas, a map of the state is provided. To help the traveler get his bearings, an indicator points to the local spot with: "You are here." The traveler may study the map, not only to see where he is, but to see where he has come from, what he has passed on either side, and what lies before him.

Some concerned researchers in the Church of Christ have made statistical studies in recent years to try to locate our position on the progress map. All have made discouraging observations. Some have expressed alarm that our conversions have declined to, or below, zero­growth rate.

Learning that "we are here" far short of our destination, we desire to know the cause and remedy for our lack of current progress. Many helpful observations have been made. It is a complex problem, so we must be suspicious of any simplistic causes or cures which may be offered. There is a factor affecting our slow-down, however, which seems to me to make our involved and expensive evangelistic efforts ineffective. This cause is not usually pointed out by our statisticians, possibly because it would hurt our self-image to make such admissions about the Church of Christ. It would admit that we have not followed our map closely enough and have traveled some erroneous, muddy side roads.

The Stone-Campbell Movement, which sought to unite the Christians in all the sects, was the most exciting thing to happen in religion in early America. The plea to sweep away the complexity of creeds, organizations, and traditions was something the common citizen could grasp. It was a thrilling plea spread with great evangelistic fervor. In the Nineteenth Century it became the fourth largest religious group on America and was the largest indigenous movement. But that was too good to be true.

Division diverted much of the attention and energy into in-fighting. The unity plea was dulled, having become compromised and perverted. The argumentation that brought and justified division brought legalism. Legalism and doctrinal division developed together. We can hardly have one without the other. Legalistic interpretations foster divisions for they demand conformity, and divisions foster legalistic interpretations to justify their existence.

The Church of Christ became a separate body and began to splinter into other fellowships (a euphemism for sects). These divisions began to proclaim that they were the one true church restored and that unity could be had only by conformity with them. They became exclusivists, claiming to be the only Christians. Now the public was called upon, not just to decide against denominations in general, but also to judge between different exclusivistic groups, who each claimed to be the undenominational church.

In spite of the change of message, the division of the Movement, and the divisive in-fightings, the Church of Christ regained momentum in growth. How could this be, since the message had changed in its appeal?

When a group has an unappealing, authoritarian, and demanding message, it spreads in proportion to the militancy and fervor of its adherents. The cults, Mormons, and Jehovah's Witnesses are examples of what zeal can do. So, convinced that all people must be in the Church of Christ in order to be saved, our zeal made us the fastest growing group in America for a time in this century.

Now there is a recession in the Church of Christ. A factor at work among us which is quite different from those causing previous slow-downs is: Our message has come to have an uncertain sound. We have become an educated, sophisticated, upper­middle­class segment of our society. Both the preachers and the members are beginning to see through our simplistic stance. Many are admitting that we are not the only ones with a chance of heaven, that we are a sectarian division, and that restoration of an extinct church is invalid. They have replaced militant zeal with an irenic, non-judgmental spirit.

These people are greatly frustrated because they are still held in the congregational systems built upon the former concepts. They cannot speak out without suffering recriminations within the fellowship. Preachers dare not utter their more enlightened thoughts lest they rock the boat and lose their positions. The structures are still held in check by the exclusivistic thinkers. So a stalemate has resulted from those conditions.

Being in this state of change, the Church of Christ is in its adolescence, seeking its identity and direction. Some congregations have been excited by this new enlightenment. Some are more ecumenical, not sure now just who needs converting. Searching for direction, some are emphasizing the servant church; some consider unstructured fellowship and individuality as more important; others place the Holy Spirit at the center; and some just want to preach Jesus, whatever they mean by that.

In the final analysis, we have outgrown our simplistic message and direction which we have confided in for much of this century. Developing from that more childish era, we are in the midst of the uncertainties of adolescence. Our aims and goals are not yet clearly defined, so our message is somewhat ambiguous. At the moment, doctrinal lessons are giving way to more Christ-centered teaching along with much amateur psychology, personal dynamics, cheerleading, and program building. We have not settled on a clear, appealing message distinctive to the Church of Christ which we can proclaim with enthusiasm.

And we may never settle on that distinctive message. Since there is only one body, why should we seek for a message distinctive to us - unless we want to continue being sectarian exclusivists?

The Lord's church will continue unshaken. The Church of Christ segment of it needs to study the map, see where we are, and determine what change in route is in order.