Facing Our Failure: The Fellowship Dilemma in Conservative Churches of Christ

Should the use of instrumental music in worship be a test of fellowship? Many in Churches of Christ say yes. If so, what about praise teams, handclapping during worship, praying to Jesus, or female translators? Must we divide when we disagree over the veil, the qualifications of elders, or divorce and remarriage? This book documents the extreme diversity of views held by traditional brethren who are in fellowship with each other. These brethren disagree over the scriptural boundaries of fellowship, which practices are biblically authorized, and which issues we must be right about in order to be saved. The one thing they have in common is a belief that fidelity to God requires us to be right on all these matters. And yet they somehow remain in fellowship with each other. Is this consistent? The author fervently pleads for Churches of Christ to acknowledge the failure of the traditional paradigm.