The American Restoration Movement had a wide appeal
specificially because it did not load the churches down with
well-paid preachers to take the Biblically-designated role of the
elders.
The Bible and church history repudiates a
PROFESSIONAL preacher or minister except for evangelists who are DUE but cannot preach
a FREE gospel and burden the students. Their task is to TEACH THE
WORD AS IT HAS BEEN TAUG HT. Therefore, Paul worked while the
students worked and taugt them when they could REST.
The so-called Second Great Awakening brushed up against the Restoration
Movement many years after those who began preaching after being
"ordained" in Barton W. Stone churches, learned of the ancient
teachings being preached by men influenced by Thomas Campbell,
Alexander Campbell and many, many others. Most of them repudiated the
charismatic influence and followed the simple teachings of Jesus --
often poorly understood and preached.
These men restored the Great
Commission and went out preaching rather than locate where the gospel
had been preached. It did not take too long for the restored churches
to drift back into a located clergy system where "evangelism" was
trading pulpits with another located preacher.
J. D. Tant notes
that:
"Fifty-two years
ago, just after coming out of Methodism, I held my first meeting in
the Christian church house at Lockhart, Texas, assisted by W. H. D.
Carrington.
Brother J. D. Tant began as a
Methodist and held his first meeting at Lockhart, Texas. He notes
that there was no division between churches of Christ and the
Christian church. However,
"in 1886 the Christian church departed from the old land mark
in Austin, and introduced human societies and instrumental music to capture the world.
This sounds like modern
seeker
movements. The belief
is that you have to use secular means to attract the secular
masses.
Brother Tant praises O. L.
Hicks a recent graduate of Abilene Christian College:
"Brother Hicks is a
young man of fine ability, and has a great future if he is not sidtracked in hunting for a
located job to become a modern pastor. He will spend one or two months at Lockhart soon
systematizing the work. We have some grand, godly members there, but
a little short on leadership.
While evangelism is the only
authorized preaching role for the church, it didn't take long for men
to understand that being a "located evangelist" was cozier than being
a "go into all the world herald of the gospel." He says:
"I notice that
my old time friend and brother, J. W. Chism, is making some complaint
that the located minister does not go out and build up as he and I
did, but are exchanging meetings all the time with other located
ministers, and knocking the evangelist out.
"A leading evangelist of
Missouri who stands up in the class with Busby and Hardeman tells me
he is not being
supported to cover
expenses, as only the poor churches
call him.
Not only did the evangelist
have their second incarnation as "preachers," they decided to freeze
out the true, biblical evangelists. It made more sense to "trade
pulpits" in so-called "gospel" meetings. With that you did two
things: you fulfilled the demand to be an "located" evangelist (like
"located travelling salesman") but within an established church, and
you began to plant roots for your next, mandatory move:
"All the churches
who are able have their
located ministers and
they exchange with other located ministers. In this arrangement I see much wisdom in the
located ministers, for we now have about four preachers for each located job and most all located ministers
wear out at one
place and by exchanging
with another
located minister as each church gets tired of their located minister
he can exchange with some other located minister and keep the work
going.
I am sure all these
preachers are doing a fine work, and judging from their reports we should enlarge five
hundred house in Texas this year for I notice each Sunday their crowds are larger
than ever before.
I am confident from a worldly
standpoint the work of the evangelist is a thing of the past. The
Bible says, "Go,"
but the modern demand says "stay,"
and I fear another warning like Chism has given will put him in the
bad like J. D. Tant. Even the Firm Foundation has been instructed that they will do better if they
will not let J. D. write in it, "For," the brother says, "He opposes
us in all we do."
He notes that however learned,
a man is not educated until he has a purchased degree:
"It was J. D. Tant
who held the first meeting at Houston, Waco, Hillsboro, West,
Georgetown, Bartlett, Killeen, Ft. Worth, Chillicothe, Quanah and
many other towns in Texas. Then Tant was an able preacher and in
demand, but all these places now have strong churches and good
houses, yet Tant would
not be permitted to hold them a meeting free of
charge. But Tant
preaches the same gospel now he did then. I wonder what has brought
about the change.
Congresman Henry Hyde noted
that: "Scholars are
people educated beyond their mental ability." Some, like J. D. Tant would probably
have never moved away from the trough if he had received his degree:
"Some claim it is
because Tant does not
have a college education. Does not hold a degree and is not refined. I beg to state the college I went to did not give
degrees. I went to school at Jerusalem under Christ. Studied zeal and
determination under Paul, and studied culture and refinement under
Sampson who tied fire brands to foxes tails, and slew a thousand men
with the jaw bone of an ass. So I am not lacking in Bible zeal, Bible
knowledge, and Bible refinement. But I don't hold a degree and
therefore am a back number.
Tant's warning is still
timely:
"Don't forget we are
drifting."
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