{"id":25826,"date":"2011-01-27T20:17:00","date_gmt":"2011-01-28T02:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=25826"},"modified":"2020-09-08T20:21:17","modified_gmt":"2020-09-09T01:21:17","slug":"isnt-the-use-of-conservative-non-institutional-or-mainstream-to-describe-churches-wrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/isnt-the-use-of-conservative-non-institutional-or-mainstream-to-describe-churches-wrong\/","title":{"rendered":"Isn’t the use of “conservative,” “non-institutional,” or “mainstream” to describe churches wrong?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t

Question:<\/h2>\n

Since the “Church of Christ” is the only authorized name for the church, why do some take pride in calling it the “conservative church” or the “non-institutional church”? I also hear of the “mainstream church.” Is this not liberalism and denominationalism?<\/p>\n\t

Answer:<\/h2>\n

First off, “church of Christ” is not the only name found in the Scriptures. The Bible uses numerous descriptive names for the church, such as “churches of Christ” (Romans 16:16), “church of God” (I Corinthians 1:2), “body of Christ (Ephesians 4:12), “kingdom of God” (Acts 8:12), and many others.<\/p>\n

Since the name is not trademarked, there are a large number of groups calling themselves churches of Christ who do not strictly follow Christ. Thus the problem arises in how to talk about sets of churches, who use the same name, yet teach differently. In English, we do this with descriptive adjectives. I might talk about the Honda cars on the road, but if I want to narrow the field I can mention the yellow Hondas or the four-door Hondas.<\/p>\n

“Conservative” and “liberal” are just how a person approaches authority. A liberal finds justification in an authoritative document based on what the document does not say. A liberal approach states that when something is not expressly forbidden, then it is allowed. A conservative approach is an opposite. Something that is not expressly allowed, directly or implied, is forbidden. One of the distinguishing factors between churches is their approach to the authority of the Scriptures. Some take a liberal approach and others a conservative approach.<\/p>\n

One of the problems with a liberal approach to the Scriptures is that it is hard to establish boundaries of how far you can go and not exceed the authority of Christ. Thus in recent years, there has been a rise of ultra-liberal groups. Most of the congregations have a liberal approach to the scriptures, but not extreme, so they began calling themselves “mainstream” to distinguish themselves from the “way out there” liberals. Most mainstream churches consider themselves conservative when compared to the ultra-liberals, so they might call themselves “conservative” and the ultra-liberals, “liberal.” They tend to call the original group that they branched off from “antis” because their truly conservative approach to the Scriptures makes it appear to the liberal groups that they are against everything they want to do.<\/p>\n

Because of the liberal approach, most (but not all) of these congregations found justification to use the Lord’s money to fund institutions to do portions of the church’s work. The conservative congregations objected. Thus, another distinguishing attribute is the support of institutions (institutional) or the rejection of institutions (non-institutional).<\/p>\n

The disunity is wrong, but it isn’t denominationalism, at least not yet. However, I should mention that the ultra-liberal groups are fast approaching a denominational viewpoint. Denominations tend to see themselves as an organization composed of churches. The Bible speaks of the church as being composed of Christians, whether we are addressing the church in a universal sense or a local sense. Denominations tend toward organizing beyond the local church, so there are regional and sometimes worldwide headquarters. Denominations use documents beyond the Bible to define their particular sets of beliefs, such as statements of faith, creeds, and manuals.<\/p>\n

For more on the history of the church, see “What is this business about “anti,” “liberal,” and “sound?”<\/a>“<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Question: Since the “Church of Christ” is the only authorized name for the church, why do some take pride in calling it the “conservative church” or the “non-institutional church”? I also hear of the “mainstream church.” Is this not liberalism and denominationalism? Answer: First off, “church of Christ” is not the only name found in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[448,726,300,1508,192,998],"class_list":["post-25826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-church","tag-church-history","tag-denominations","tag-institutionalism","tag-liberalism","tag-names"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":30984,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/im-not-certain-what-group-you-are-with-but-i-find-your-website-helpful\/","url_meta":{"origin":25826,"position":0},"title":"I’m not certain what group you are with, but I find your website helpful","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 17, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am a disciple of Jesus Christ who attends a fellowship of churches once known as the International Churches of Christ. I was googling opinions and articles on various biblical topics when I saw your website. I just wanted to tell you how refreshing it was to see such\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9737,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-this-business-about-anti-liberal-and-sound\/","url_meta":{"origin":25826,"position":1},"title":"What is this business about “anti,” “liberal,” and “sound?”","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 13, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Mr. Hamilton, in the last day or so, you received\u00a0a question concerning congregations. The writer spoke about 'anti' and 'liberal' congregations. What does this mean? What is meant by a sound church? I find all this to be very confusing. Jesus didn't want us to be divided, so what\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2327,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-do-the-churches-of-christ-insist-that-their-name-is-scriptural\/","url_meta":{"origin":25826,"position":2},"title":"Why do the churches of Christ insist that their name is scriptural?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 22, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why does the \"Church of Christ\" insist that their name is scriptural when it cannot be found anywhere in the Bible? The church is referred to as the \"church of God\" eight times in the Bible, but never is it called the \"church of Christ.\" The verse they use\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":52393,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-a-church-right-because-it-calls-itself-a-church-of-christ\/","url_meta":{"origin":25826,"position":3},"title":"Is a church right because it calls itself a church of Christ?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 14, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How do you know if a church is the right church? Is it because they bear the name \"church of Christ\"? Isn't it possible that a church might also be a Bible-believing church but might not have a \"church of Christ\" attached to their church? Or is the name\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":67110,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-the-churches-of-christ-the-only-correct-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":25826,"position":4},"title":"Are the churches of Christ the only correct church?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 19, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi Jeffery, In the article \"Wasn't Babel the city of Eridu?\" you mentioned, \"You will not find any claim that the churches of Christ are the only correct church on this site.\" Do you no longer believe in the one true church? I understand that not every church with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":69384,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-liberal-and-conservative-churches-of-christ\/","url_meta":{"origin":25826,"position":5},"title":"Why \u201cLiberal\u201d and \u201cConservative\u201d Churches of Christ","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 19, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Robert Harkrider During the past two decades, many have asked this question. Some sincere brethren who have been caught up in one stream or the other never fully understood, and many who were too young before have now grown to adulthood wondering why. 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