Abundant Life: April 2008

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Thinking about Bible authority ... again

The good news is that folks are thinking about Bible authority again. Perhaps as a result of the continued slide of many churches into liberalism and doing things without authority (particularly adding instrumental music to worship) I am seeing renewed interest in the subject of Bible authority, how the Bible authorizes, and what constitutes authority. The bad news is that in much of that discussion (in the blog world, Internet lists or discussions, or in various periodicals) it is plain that there needs to be a lot more talk about authority because there is a lot of confusion and misinformation about the subject! Let's think some about Bible authority.

A Brotherhood of Churches

The mail recently brought an invitation to attend the 2008 North American Christian Convention. What is NACC? Their website says "it's the connecting place, providing ideas, inspiration and identity to New Testament churches, ministries and their leaders. NACC is an annual gathering of Christians for worship, preaching, teaching, fellowship and networking." What does that mean? I think it means that NACC is an organizing instrument to put together some sort of denomination, composed of congregations of churches of Christ and Christian churches. That suspicion is confirmed as the invitation letter talks of God's work and how "For the last 200 years our brotherhood of churches has led the way in that mission." A brotherhood of churches?