WHAT CHURCH SHOULD I JOIN?

The week following the events that took place at the schoolhouse was an important one in the life of Robert and Mary Davis. Having put their hands to the plow, they could not look back. Already, they were aware that the steps they had taken religiously were separating them from the people about them. Robert’s bold stand for a holy Christian life made him the butt of many a joke, and a laughing-stock. They began to hunger for companionship and spiritual fellowship with those of like mind and hope. The gradual separation taking place, which was throwing over their neighbors a coldness toward them, accentuated the question of which church they were going to join. Their hearts were hungry for soul-food, for spiritual nurture; there was a longing within which was acutely felt, but which was unsatisfied. The intensity of this desire for the fellowship of saints increased as Robert and Mary studied the Scriptures and beheld glimpses of the path which was being so clearly marked out from therein. They were willing to be martyrs for the truth, but how their souls did long for someone to whom they could unburden their hearts and in whom they could confide!

There is inherent in the human heart a desire for fellowship and companionship. God has recognized this desire. Jesus Christ soon gathered around him chosen men, who were one with Him in heart and soul, one with Him in His grand purpose to lift a world out of sin. The story of Christ’s and the apostles’ lives reveals a most remarkable affinity of spirit between Christ and them. They became so much at one with Him that they gladly forsook every earthly prospect, and became willing to die for Him, even as He died for them. Jesus made a class called his “disciples,” which was an inevitable result of His salvation work. They were the members of the spiritual kingdom which He founded. They were the members of the church which He built. With His infinite love He had sought them, and with His atoning blood He had bought them. He found them dying, and He gave them life; He found them sinning and doomed to a devil’s hell, and He redeemed them. Having received so richly of Christ’s blessing, all these saved ones were drawn into a unity of soul and heart unknown in any organization of man.

It was exactly for this that Robert and Mary Davis were longing, at the time of our narrative. They had expected soon after their conversion, to join some denomination. They had purposely set out to see which church was right. They had supposed that it would be a matter of a few weeks only, and then they would be safely housed in their church home. But the more they searched, and the more of the Bible they read, the less inclined they were to join any of the churches about them. God was leading them, but it was some time before the hand of the Lord was seen.

There was an awakening over all the religious world in the latter part of the nineteenth century. Holiness, the key-note of Holy Scripture, was being taught. Out of that holiness awakening grew a reformation whose standard was “Back to the Bible” in faith and practice. Robert and Mary Davis were strangers as yet to these grand movings of the blessed Holy Spirit, but that Spirit was leading them on unerringly. God desired to plant in Bethany His own glorious church, to be a beacon-light, an ark of salvation, to the people of that community.

A series of events accelerated the progress of the Davis’ toward the ultimate truth. Their attendance at the various churches, and their spiritual life, caused every pastor to consider them good prospects for membership. It so happened that during the few days that followed the last debate at the schoolhouse, three different ministers visited them with this idea in mind.

On one fine day, Pastor John B. Jones, of the M.E. Church, drove up. He was invited in, most cordially. After some casual remarks, Pastor Jones introduced the subject of joining church.

“Do you contemplate uniting with any church in the near future?” he asked them.

“Yes, it has been our intention to join soon,” said Robert. “May I ask a few questions?”

“Certainly,” replied Mr. Jones.

“Does the Methodist Church teach holiness?”

“John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church,” said Mr. Jones, “taught holiness, and sanctification subsequent to regeneration. But we do not preach much on that subject now.”

“What I am thinking about,” said Robert, “is this: I am longing for a real church home, where I can feel at one with, and in fellowship with real Christians. Pastor Jones, there are so many professing Christians who are Christians only in name. I cannot fellowship them. They engage in questionable practices; they are dishonest and tricky; they use bad language; and their bent is more toward pleasure than religion. My soul really craves a church home. Can you offer me such where I shall have the fellowship I crave?”

“We need just such members as you and Mrs. Davis would be, Mr. Davis,” said Pastor Jones. “Many of our members are not spiritual. I have tried to arouse them, but it seems in vain, but if we had more members like you, we should have a spiritual church. Old Mother Piercy claims sanctification, and there are three or four who are praying members.”

“I will pray about it, Mr. Jones,” said Robert.

On the next day, Mr. Percy Johnson visited them on the same mission, and on the day following, Mr. Claude Perkins came. To them, Robert replied much as he did to Mr. Jones. All of them deplored the lack of vital godliness in their churches and bewailed the lack of spirituality among their numbers. It was a fact that on prayer meeting nights very few persons were out to either of their churches. On the outside, Robert could discern little difference between the various denominations. He had learned that they held different doctrines, and had different schemes of government, but as to the real church life, the heart and soul of them, he saw little difference. He was about to decide to join by casting lots, when something providentially started his mind along another line of thinking.

Robert Davis suddenly bethought himself of the new religious paper. Those words which he read when he first saw a copy stood out before him again:

“A Definite, Heart-Searching, Non-Sectarian
Religious Weekly
Published in the Interests of
the church of god.”

“Mary,” Robert suddenly said to his wife, “there is beginning to form in my mind an idea of what a church ought to be. I suppose that text in the Acts that you read this morning for worship, and that religious paper, are responsible for it. These words paint a beautiful picture:

“’And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of these things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common. And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.’

“This, it seems to me, is the kind of church there ought to be today. Where is it? By the way, those words were written of the early church, were they not? Yes, for see here, in Acts 2:47 it says, ’And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.’ This description is of the early church then.

“They were united, with one heart and soul; one holy purpose animated them; one powerful motive brought them together. There were no divisions among them, they all believed the same thing, and their holy fellowship was complete. Everyone knew them as the disciples of Jesus, and anyone under conviction of sin knew where to go for salvation. It was a pure church. I suppose that there was not a sinner who dared to profess very long among them. It was not a mixed multitude, part saved, part unsaved, part trying to do God’s will, and part with a bent on pleasure and full of worldliness. They were all full of grace. They were humble, too, and consecrated. They were not classified as rich and poor they were all brethren, and the wealthier members had a care for the poorer members’ temporal welfare. What a contrast with the churches as they exist today! My heart longs for a pure, united church which will bear the pure testimony to the world.”

“Mary, do you suppose that there is any church today like the early church was?” asked Robert.

“I do not know,” said Mary. “It may be that there is.”

“Do you suppose the ‘church of God,’ in whose interests this paper is printed, can be that pure apostolic church?” said Robert. “What should the true church be called, anyway? This paper says it is ‘non-sectarian.’ What is a sect? What does ‘non-sectarian’ mean? Say, Mary, let us set this afternoon apart as a time of investigation of what the Bible has to say about the church. What do you say?”

“Let us do that,” said Mary. “We have not read the Scriptures at all on this subject. Now, since we wish to find a church home, it would be well to first search the Scriptures; probably the Bible will direct us in this most important step.”