A brother told me his friend asked if the church of which he was a member was the true church. The brother is an honest, conscientious man, and he said he couldn’t tell his friend the church of which he was a member was perfect. He knew, and the friend knew, they had problems and imperfections. So he told the friend it was the nearest thing to “right” of which he knew. Is this the best approach?<\/p>\n
The “nearest thing to right” says I know what is “right,” but either I can not find — perhaps believe there does not exist – one that measures up; or I am willing to settle for some less than what I know should be. Perhaps some of our readers believe he should have said he was a member of the church of Christ and that is the “true church.” He could have said it; and launched into the time of its establishment, its name, its government and the other characteristics usually used for identification. But his Querist referred to the local church of that community and was smart enough to know that proving the features of the first-century church is not proving this local church qualifies.<\/p>\n
I suggested he discuss the church of the New Testament records from two angles: the ideal<\/strong>, or the perfect church one might envision by studying what is approved and disapproved of God. Then, point out that the actual congregations of the first century were not perfectly aligned with this ideal. In fact, we learn what Christ desired by seeing their errors corrected, as well as by approved examples, etc. Then, drive this home! Anything short of a sincere, all-out endeavor to be and do what Christ wants us to be and do, is not quite good enough. Tell your friend you have done what you believe God’s word teaches one must do to become a child of God. And you are in fellowship with other like-children, who are endeavoring to work and worship as God’s word directs. Ask him to examine your faith and practices in the light of God’s word. If you can show him you welcome constructive criticism, will correct any errors he might find, are ever cognizant of weakness and need to improve, and are praying for forgiveness and strength to do better – brother, you have shown him the “right” church. If you can’t stand such a test, perhaps you will change the subject<\/strong>!!<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Robert F. Turner A brother told me his friend asked if the church of which he was a member was the true church. The brother is an honest, conscientious man, and he said he couldn’t tell his friend the church of which he was a member was perfect. He knew, and the friend knew,…<\/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":[27],"tags":[448],"class_list":["post-59347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-church"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":61080,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-i-left-the-baptist-church-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":59347,"position":0},"title":"Why I Left the Baptist Church (Stevens)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 29, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"by Grover Stevens No Animosity For Baptists I would like to say in the beginning that I have no animosity whatsoever against Baptists. Personally, I have no reason for leaving the Baptist church, but quite to the contrary, if personal reasons counted, I would never have left the Baptist Church,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":22173,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-should-we-go-to-church-every-sunday\/","url_meta":{"origin":59347,"position":1},"title":"Why should we go to church every Sunday?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 15, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Recently a friend asked me why we should go to church every Sunday. I told him to learn the Word of God, but he said we can learn that any time. So why should we go to church? Answer: Ask your friend what he learned from the Bible last\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":55569,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-church-yours-mine-or-the-lords\/","url_meta":{"origin":59347,"position":2},"title":"The Church: Yours, Mine, or the Lord’s?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 7, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Clem Thurman via\u00a0Gospel Minutes, Feb. 6, 1976 Questions: Isn't it true that the present-day church of Christ was begun in the early 1800s by Alexander and Thomas Campbell? Was there any organization of your church from the first to\u00a0the 18th centuries? On what basis can your ministers claim that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14219,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-address-the-criticism-of-the-church-by-a-family-member\/","url_meta":{"origin":59347,"position":3},"title":"How do I address the criticism of the church by a family member?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 19, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I am a member of the body of Christ and it disturbs me greatly that people within my physical family, as well as my spiritual family, are saying that God never founded the church of Christ. Below you will find a few correspondences sent to me by a\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":60980,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-the-lord-opens-the-door-you-have-to-seize-the-opportunity\/","url_meta":{"origin":59347,"position":4},"title":"\u201cWhen the Lord Opens the Door You Have to Seize the Opportunity…\u201d","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 29, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bob Lovelace For some reason. perhaps because it is beneficial to be reminded how apostasy works, or better yet because apostasy does indeed \"work\" and presents itself in order to perpetuate its working of error, I keep meeting those who say they really do not see anything wrong with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":68919,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-we-resolve-a-conflict-between-two-brethren\/","url_meta":{"origin":59347,"position":5},"title":"How do we resolve a conflict between two brethren?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 19, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Greetings sir. I trust you have been doing well. I have a matter that needs your advice on dealing with conflict resolution. I have these two brethren who had a misunderstanding over a report on the church building project. They belong to the team overseeing the project. 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