The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1959-10-30

SoA "a AAAy AtOAOS k.:1i1
saying they were
Of one mind. They -
were united not DR.. Foreman
in opinions but in their faith. They
were believers-in rather than be-
lievers-about. A perfectly unan-
imous church, all holding the iden-
tical opinions in the identical way.
would not be a Christian church,
but q congregation Of parrots. Be
lief Ia more than opinion: and in
this broader sense the church is
indeed q fellowship Of believers.
divers
Is this all? It might be all, if
Christian faith were the dead sort
Of thing some people think it is.
But faith, as we see it in the lives
Of New Testament Christians,
never appears by itself. We read
that these believers worked out
scheme to eliminate poverty
among them. The scheme did not
work. for we know that some years
later collections were being taken
up for the benefit Of the Jerusalem
church. But all the same. nobody
especially no apostle-arose to say
to that church, "All your concern
with peoples property and their
living conditions Is off the Chris
tian beam. It is out Of our line, it
is not a Christians business to
know how other people live. Reli-
gion Is belief, it is not distribution
of worldly goods" There is little
doubt that some must have talked
that way, because some talk that
way today. But the church of those
days did find it their business to
see to 1t that no one suffered want.
In an old American city of near
ly half . million people there are
many churches. The city govern
ment early this year decided that
they could no longer help people
who were unemployed. The con-
sequence was that many families
drifted closer and closer to star
walton. There was an effort to
enlist all the city's churches to
help feed these helpless people: but
barely half the churches made any
contribution or showed any inter
est. These count themselves as be
lieving" churches but what do
they believe?
Dssss
Every church congregation is a
Fellowship Of Listeners or Gf that
10 expecting too much) Fellow
ship Of Hearers. They all hear
readings from the same Bible,
week after week But the Bible is
not merely q book to be listened
to. It 10 not only a book to be
believed. either. It Is 4 book to b
done. Jesus drew his line, not
between hearers and believers, but
between hearers and doors. That
early church not only distributed
food and clothing. they distributed
health. They did not simply accept
the presence Of disease and de-
formities; they were challenged
by such tragedies. they did what
they could, and 1t was a very great
deal, to relieve and to do away
with them. In short, this first
church was Z Fellowship Of Doors.
AL churches are fellowships Of
people who pray. But q peculiar
feature o6 that early Jerusalem
church was that those who be-
longed to It prayed together. That
is, they offered the same prayer
together. We do not have to sup
pose that the prayer in Acts 4
beginning Sovereign Lord" was
literally spoken in unison by the
whole collection Of believers. But
we are not left in doubt that this
was the prayer of every one there.
When the minister says Let US
pray" he means it-Let US pray.
When the minister says Let US
unite in prayer" does the average
congregation do it, or do they let
him pray along while they think
about something else?
Churches are too soon content
with being Sitting Fellowships, or
Supporting Fellowships; when Be-
lieving, Giving, Doing and Pray
ing-what God really calls them
together for-go half -doas or not
done ct Ill.
| tDAssa ea estliAes eopyYighted By
~ 0iv1attn a Christian. EduAation,
EatieAA1. Council 4 Ne Churches Of
| Christ u ~ o. B. 4. Gelaased by
CSnA1Aitv 1ssss esrviasD