An Open Letter to Anyone Interested

Dear Friends,

When I was 23 years old I was getting ready to leave from ACU and head to my first ministry position in California, and I knew I was going to be moving from the rarefied air of the academy into the life of full-time service in the church. As I prepared for this, there was one concern that loomed large for me.

This concern began to build through my experiences of learning the Bible at ACU. When I had left to go to ACU at 19 I knew only what I had been taught in the church in which I was converted, and although I had some questions about what I had been taught in comparison with the what the Bible seemed to be saying to me, I had no informed reason to doubt what I had been taught because I knew so little. In fact, that was the major reason I went off to school--so that I could better learn the Bible. Some people go to school so that they can train to enter the workforce. At that point in my life, I just wanted to better know the Bible. I thought it possible that I may end up in ministry, but my main concern was that I wanted to know the Bible better. I had questions about faith, truth, and Scripture, and I wanted to have my questions answered by the best people the Churches of Christ had who could answer my questions. My years at ACU perfectly answered my needs. At ACU I read mountains of material about the Bible. I learned biblical languages, biblical history, all about interpretive methods--and we read the Bible in an intense, focussed way. We read it in abundance, wrote papers about it, discussed it. I took classes covering most of the Bible. I started building a library so that I would have reference works ready at hand while I was in ministry.

The big concern I had as I prepared to go to California after my years at ACU was that I saw clear differences about what I thought the Bible taught on certain matters and what I had heard in the church in which I was converted in Oregon. It was clear to me that the professors at ACU, after the life-times of study they had done, after all their academic training and writing, and after all their years of serving in the church, knew more about biblical doctrine than anyone else with which I had experience. And what they showed me, and what I studied on my own after studying under them, was at places different than what I learned at the Hill Street Church of Christ. So, I was faced with a problem. On the one hand, I wanted to serve in Churches of Christ, knew only Churches of Christ, loved Churches of Christ, and thought that the Churches of Christ had soooo much right about themselves. Churches of Christ meant everything to me because they were now, especially after the deaths of my parents, the only close family I had (with me having so little relationship with my sisters--this has now changed some). On the other hand, I could see a clear difference between what I thought the Bible taught on certain things and what I was expecting the churches I served to teach. I knew there were going to be occasions when I was going to want to say to my brothers and sisters, “I think we have gotten this point of doctrine wrong and we need to restudy our Bibles on this issue.” And I didn’t know how this would be received. I honestly felt that there were things that my brothers and sisters needed to learn about the Bible and about certain doctrines in order for them to be more in line with God’s will for the church, but I was afraid they would not receive well what I thought they needed to be taught. This was my biggest concern. So I went to my most beloved professor and I told him my big concern. I asked him, “How can I take the things that I have learned about the Bible into the church in a way that will allow them to hear and understand?” I was convinced that my new understandings were more biblical than what I was taught, but I was afraid that the church would not listen well to the message that there were new things to be learned. The advice he gave to me was sound. He said, “Kelly, you have to keep going back to the biblical text. You have to show people that what you are teaching comes from the Bible.”

This is all I have ever wanted to do. I want to learn the Bible the best I can and teach people the Bible. That is why I constantly read about the history of biblical times. That is why I read my Greek NT on a regular basis (right now I am doing my own translation of the gospel of Luke). That is why I have three degrees and am still trying to finish my Ph.D. I just want to know the Bible the best I can and to teach other Christians all the things that I have learned about the Bible. When I think about it, that is what I learned from those good people who first taught me the Bible in the church where I was converted. They had learned the Bible to the best of their abilities, and this is what they taught me, and they taught me that I had to study the Bible for myself and teach the truth I found there. It didn’t matter what I had learned as a Catholic growing up or what anyone else thought. I needed to study and learn the Bible for myself, and what I learned that the Bible taught is what I had to teach others. My professor at ACU was saying the same thing. Read the Bible. Teach the biblical text. Help everyone to learn what you think the Bible says. If you cannot show that what you believe is found in Scripture, you have nothing to teach.

It has been 30 years since I left ACU. In the meantime I have continued to learn and teach the Bible. I try to study it every day. I try to pray every day about my understanding of Scripture. I pray all the time that the things I teach the church will be right and true. I do not always live and speak purely, but I have tried to be as pure hearted about this as I can possibly be. I don’t see how I can do anything else. May God help me to never to do anything different from this.

Despite what anyone else may say or think, my only agenda regarding the matter of instrumental accompaniment of our singing is to teach the Bible and for the church to follow its truth, wherever that may lead. As it turns out, this currently means that my view is different from others who see things differently. I may think the church needs to head in a direction different from where we have been because I am convinced that the Bible is leading us to a new understanding. But I have no other recourse than to teach in the church of Christ what I think the Bible says. Anything else would be a violation of my understanding, my conscience, and God’s will for my life. There may come a time when I cannot convince people that my understanding of Scriptural things is accurate. There may come a time when a church thinks, “What he believes and teaches about the Bible is not true, we need to get someone else to do the preaching and teaching here.” If and when that happens, that will be fine. That will be their right as Bible following people who have to follow what they believe to be the truth about Scriptural doctrine. But if and when that happens, I pray it happens because the people who think I am wrong are as willing to take the time and effort to study the Bible for themselves, and to be the best Bible students as they can be, as what God would want them to be. As Christians we have an obligation to learn the Bible the best that we can. That means taking it far more seriously than most Christians do. I want people who tell me I am wrong about my interpretation of biblical doctrine to do so because they know the Bible better than me; because they have a more studied, learned understanding of Scripture than I do. When I am convinced this is the case, may God help me to follow what I come to see as biblical truth.

Recently, I heard the concern voiced that we at the Calgary Church of Christ not make a decision that forces people who could not sing with instrumental accompaniment--because of their beliefs about what they think the Bible teaches on this subject--to be put in a position where they either had to sing with instruments or not be part of the body. I said that I would not promote the church doing anything that would put people in that position. I don’t believe that we have or that we will put them in this position if we introduce another service that includes instruments. Instead, people in our church who want to praise God with instrumental accompaniment of their singing will not be prevented from doing so by people who think the Bible teaches that to do so is wrong, and people who want to praise God with a capella singing will not be prevented from doing so by people who think the Bible teaches that singing with instruments is allowable. Under the current plan, both groups of people, who view biblical doctrine on this issue so differently, will get to practice their faith and worship as they see fit. They will both get to practice what they think the Bible allows with respect to the issue of singing with instrumental accompaniment. To me this seems like a very good compromise. Both groups of Christians will get to practice what they think the Bible teaches and what our leaders have decided is biblically appropriate. Neither group will be forced to practice something other than what they think the Bible allows in worship. Neither group will be hindering the other from doing what they think is biblically right. It seems to me that in such a context, Christian love and unity can be preserved quite easily; Christian love and respect for others will actually win out in this situation.

For my part, I want to teach people what I think the Bible says on the matter of singing with instrumental accompaniment. I believe I have that responsibility. I think my job description requires that of me. I don’t think the church would want anything different from me, even if they ultimately decide that I am wrong. Of course, the church has the option of disagreeing with me. The Elders, as those responsible for doctrinal teaching in our church, have the obligation to ask me to stop teaching in our church what they think is wrong, and if I cannot do so in good conscience I should leave my position. But if our Elders as a group agree with me, they have the same obligation I do to teach what they think the Bible says. Then, if the church disagrees with the leadership of our Elders and me in this area, the church has the right and the obligation to remove us from leadership. In such a case, the Elders and myself should no longer consider ourselves leaders in the church.

I am not the only one who is advocating that we have an instrumental service. There are many that think that we should do this. I can only assume that that is because they have reached the same conclusion that I have about what is biblically allowable with respect to our singing with instruments. Our Elders (as a group, not necessarily as individuals) have also reached the conclusion that to have an instrumental service is not a violation of biblical teaching. But they have chosen to not put their brothers and sisters who think differently in the position of having to violate their consciences and to practice something they think is unbiblical. This seems to me a loving choice. I am praying that everyone can come to see it this way. You may decide after studying the issue intensely that you actually don’t have a problem with Christians singing with instruments in one of our services, or you may decide that you do. But I hope that you can respect our Elders and leaders for making a choice that they think is biblically sound and lovingly gracious, even in light of the fact that there are those who disagree with them.