The Penn's Grove record., 1914-05-29
CHURCH OF CHRIST
What He Considers Its Real
Meaning Pointed Out by
an Authority.

an Authority.
by Charles Sickle, Church Efici-
ency Expert and Consulting Sociolo-
gist; Formerly Head Of the Social
Service Bureau of the Presbyterian
Church,
IT is beginning to dawn upon some
of us that the church hasn't a monop-
oily Of all the Christianity in the world.
The church undoubtedly became the
custodian of what Christianity there
was 1000 years ago, although it must
be confessed that even then 1t hadn't
a monopoly of ali of it any more than
it has today. But the teachings of
Jesus were SO much bigger and so
much more significant than anything
that had been taught up to that time
that the church which Jesus estab-
lished through his disciples at once
stood in a peculiar way for Christian
principles.
Since those days the very truth
which the church taught has inf1u-
enced vast areas outside of itself.
This truth was SO broad and compre-
hensive in it's application that men
outside the church began to appropri-
ate 1t without accepting the church
itself. Now the church is simply a
means to an end. The church is not
an end in itself. The people are the
end of it's endeavors. The moment
that the church sets up its organiza-
ton or it's machinery or its member
ship roll as the supreme thing, that
moment it will lose its grip on the
world.
This is precisely what has happened
in some instances. The church sought
to p%erpetuate itself through denomi-
national enterprises with narrow sec
tartan teachings, and men lost inter
est in it. Denominations undoubtedly
have a legitimate place at this period
in the church's history. What will
happen to most of them in the future
no man dares prophesy. Sometimes.
when the dis%couraging features in the
social, the economic and the political
world are discussed, somebody within
the church of Christ is sure to win"
True enough. but what is the church
Of Christ?
UNCONVENTIONAL History.
If by the church of Christ n means
the Methodist. church, or the Baptist
church, the Presbyterian, the Congre-
gational, the Episcopal or the Catholic
church, I'm not so sure about it. The
history of the denominations in every
age has demonstrated that God is not
limited in his plans by the prevailing
denomination or communion. Always
has he raised up other leaders and
churches to carry out his purpose.
when those in existence proved them
selves too narrow or too inefficient
He may yet again raise up still anoth-
er movement, and this very movement
may become the real church" Of
Christ. Surely this cannot be denied
by those who themselves owe their
origin as a church to certain situa-
tions which seemed to call for their or
ganization.
The peculiar thing about some Of
the present denominations among the
churches is that their founders never
dreamed that the movements which
they established would ever develop
into ~full-fedged, distinct church organ
izations. They each of them stood for
some neglected truth and preached it
with great earnestness, and usually
in spite of the 1ercest opposition.
Soon they had a strong following;
not always made up of the great ones
of the earth, either. This was notably
true of the church which the imme-
date disciples of Jesus established.
Not many great ones, not many
mighty, were identified with it. 1t
was composed for the most part of
working men and slaves. 1t had a
strong grip upon those identified with
the great labor guilds of that day.
First Followers of Christ.
Indeed, so plainly is this revealed
in history that some students Of eco
nomic and social conditions of that
period have insisted that Paul and
some of the other followers of Jesus
were leaders in the labor guilds of
that day, and that the church was
actually a great movement in behalf
of laboring men. One can easily i'm
agine that this was true when one
considers the character Of its earl
lest constituents.
Who knows what influences are at
work today to challenge the church of
the twentieth century? And is it not
apparent that whatever these inhu.
ences may be they are social in their
character? The mex great revival
will have as it's emphasis the social
gospel Of Jesus-that great forgotten
truth taught so clearly by the founder
Of Christianity. Perhaps there's in
training somewhere a group OF men
and women who will soon proclaim the
new message which will give the
church the greatest opportunity for
service that it has ever enjoyed, or
which will crush it so that it may
make way for the greater church
which is sure to come.