The Book - Page 62

Question

How and when did you first become aware of the "Community Church" movement?

Mr. McDade

In August of 1995, the Harding Alumni magazine featured an article on the Downtown Church in Memphis that credited Evertt Huffard, professor of missions at HUGSR, with being the impetus behind the new church. The article presented some of the now classic indications of the Community Church movement, i.e., hand clapping in worship, praise team to replace a song leader, testimonials, the use of art as expressing devotion to God (they had created a twenty-five foot modern art mural of the crucifixion which still dominates the interior of the meeting place), and a casual, come-as-you-are dress code.
Subsequent to that time friends of ours that worship with an area congregation of the Lord's people became concerned when one of their elders stood before the congregation and raised a copy of Rick Warren's book, The Purpose Driven Church, and proclaimed that it would be used as their pattern for future growth. They asked me if I was familiar with the book. I was not. They asked me to obtain a copy and give them my impression of it. I found it on the best seller shelf featured in the entryway of the Baptist bookstore. Aware that it had been suggested reading in a local church of Christ, I was shocked to read the names recommending it in the flyleaf: Bill Bright, Founder, Campus Crusade for Christ International; Jim Henry, President, Southern Baptist Convention; Jerry Falwell, Chancellor, Liberty University; Robert H. Schuller, Pastor, The Crystal Cathedral, Garden Grove, California; Adrian Rogers, Pastor, Bellevue Baptist Church, Memphis, Tennessee; Jerry Sutton, Pastor, Two Rivers Baptist Church, Nashville, Tennessee (It is a very sad commentary that our friends were unsuccessful in staving off the course charted by the elders and found it necessary to worship elsewhere).
About this time, reports of a new church in the Cordova area, a suburb of Memphis, calling itself Cordova Community Church began to appear in the Commercial Appeal. Gary Ealy from the Highland Street Church of Christ and John Mark Hicks, professor at Harding University Graduate School of Religion, reported that this would be a different kind of church "loosely affiliated with the church of Christ." (Initially, they located in the Harding Academy facilities in Cordova about a mile and a half from the Cordova Church of Christ to the west and about a mile and a half from the Woodland Hills Church of Christ to the east all on the same road. They commenced a series of mail outs as suggested in The Purpose Driven Church, chapter 11, pp. 185-203. These mail outs also went to those who were members of the church of Christ in that area). Currently, they meet in a rented facility in the Arlington/Eads area.
Locally the movement had and still enjoys the strong financial backing and support of several congregations including Highland Street and Harding Graduate School of Religion.
In March of 1999, I was invited to speak on the subject during the Memphis School of Preaching Lectureship. Material from that lecture was updated and put into a tract entitled "The Community Church" published by the Getwell Church of Christ. In October 2000, "The Community Church Movement" was the theme of The Spiritual Sword (32:1).

Question

The takeover at Madison Church of Christ appears to have been going on secretly and covertly for at least 7 or 8 years. Some of these people involved are not very nice. Sometimes we feel we are dealing with root evil rather than other Christians. Any Comment?

Mr. McDade

Sadly, Paul found himself "in perils among false brethren" (II Cor. 11:26). His reminder always is appropriate, and under the circumstances described is particularly needed: "Be not overcome

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