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REPEATING THE DIVISON OF OPEN FELLOWSHIP

Pages in periodicals are revisiting the 100th anniversary of the 1906 U.S. Census officially dividing the churches of Christ and the Christian Church. Much ink has been spilled lamenting the separation or defending the broken unity. Many explanations have been elaborated on why there was the division, with the consensus being the issues of instrumental music and the missionary society. It seems that many in the progressive mindset have desired to sweep these doctrinal issues under the proverbial rug while the conservative mindset has come to the realization that unity will not be possible without a compromise of truth. These discussions are beneficial because of the constant emphasis one needs on biblical unity as well as an emphasis on maintaining a strong stand for truth.

The History of Open Fellowship

Unfortunately, the issues that caused the reporting of division in the 1906 Census are not the same problems in the 2006 churches of Christ. Though the issues of instrumental music and the missionary society must always be guarded against in every generation of the church, the current issue pressing for division in the body of Christ is open fellowship. Open fellowship is the problem of accepting the un-immersed into Christian fellowship. The view breaks down the demarcation line between the baptized and the un-baptized.

Once again the Liberal L.L. Pinkerton influenced the Restoration Movement in a negative way. Remember that Pinkerton was the first to introduce instrumental music into the movement. In early 1869 he began to advocate the acceptance of open fellowship in Midway, Kentucky. Soon R.C. Cave in 1889 started to declare the open fellowship doctrine in the Central Christian Church in St. Louis, Missouri. Soon the Lenox Avenue Church of New York and the Cedar Avenue Church of Cleveland adopted the practice. Edward S. Ames diligently promoted open membership among the Disciples of Christ. He came to the conclusion that baptism was a hindrance to Christian union. After a series of sermons on the topic, Ames finally convinced the Hyde Park Church to accept the practice in 1903 (Webb 264-265).

From these beginning roots, the open fellowship issues spread throughout the Christian Church side of the Restoration Movement. The controversy was escalated in the Missionary Society of the Christian Church. Some missionaries were for open fellowship and some were against this. Ultimately, the dispute was over supporting only those missionaries that practiced the same level of fellowship as the supporting congregations. Finally, the problem with open fellowship was one of the major factors that divided the Independent Christian Church from the Disciples of Christ (Garrett 424, 470). Today the Christian Church does not on a whole practice open membership, but nearly all of the Disciples of Christ congregations warmly welcome the unimmersed into full congregational membership (Toulouse 579).

The Present Practice of Open Fellowship

Regretfully, the church of Christ is struggling with the controversy of open fellowship once again. This doctrine has already been influential in provoking a split within the Stone-Campbell Movement, and it seems that open membership will spur a division in the churches of Christ. One must lament the lack of learning that history has to teach because the churches of Christ seem to be intent on repeating the mistakes of the other half of the movement. Sadly, some of the prominent writers in the churches of Christ are advocating open fellowship once again.

One author in a recent book argues for acceptance of the improperly immersed based on the changing narrative of the denominational world. He argues that since many people today have been confused or taught improperly on the normative pattern for baptism, then members of the Church should accept them into fellowship as a Christian (Hicks and Taylor 181-182). There is a serious inherent difficulty with this understanding. One must admit that there is religious confusion in the denominational world today, but this is not an excuse for accepting the denominational plan of salvation into the church. Man has changed the message of the Bible, and by the church’s accepting this; Christians are allowing man to change the judgments of God. The sovereignty of God is replaced with the will of man. Man is authorized to accept only those who have been added to the church through the plan of salvation (Acts 2:41).

Another set of writers also propose that members of the church accept open fellowship. The argument is that the act of salvation is no longer an event but a process of conversion that people today have to belong to the church before they commit to Christ. The authors maintain that spiritual fellowship should be extended to everyone who is searching for Christ (Shelly and York 179-186). In a sense the church has always practiced this “fellowship” with non-baptized believers. Many non-Christians will attend services and even engage in the work of the church. But many of them have not been added to the church. There is a difference between friendliness and spiritual fellowship. A congregation can extend friendliness and personal acceptance to perspective members, but the congregation is not at liberty to offer spiritual fellowship (2 Cor. 6:14).

The Lesson of Open Fellowship

With all the literature on the marking of division in the 1906 Census, one may forget about the signs of division in the churches of Christ today. There needs to be an exploration into unity as well as the stand for truth in regard to missionary societies and instrumental music. But today books that are being published have a different agenda. There seems to be a push for the acceptance of open fellowship in the churches of Christ. This problem has been influential in dividing the Christian Church and the Disciples of Christ. It seems that the church will not learn from the past and realize that open membership is becoming the next major dispute. Hopefully, the church will look to history and see the divisiveness of this doctrine.




Garrett, Leroy. The Stone-Campbell Movement: The Story of the American Restoration Movement. Joplin: College Press, 1997.

Hicks, John Mark, and Greg Taylor. Down in the River to Pray: Revisioning Baptism as God’s Transforming Work. Siloam Springs, AR: Leafwood, 2004.

Shelly, Rubel, and John O. York. The Jesus Proposal. Siloam Springs, AR: Leafwood, 2003.

Toulouse, Mark G. “Open Membership.” The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement. 1st ed. 2004.

Webb, Henry E. In Search of Christian Unity: A History of the Restoration Movement. Abilene: ACU Press, 2003.