A Gathering in Goiania

When I told a Brazilian friend that David Bayless had been in Brazil for 50 years as of last year (2009), he was surprised.  You see, my friend comes from the a cappella Church of Christ and was only familiar with the story of the missionaries of that branch of the Stone-Campbell Movement arriving in Belo Horizonte in the 1960s.  Looking into it I’ve learned that the sustained work of those churches started slightly earlier in São Paulo.  In any event, the thought that brother Bayless  and the team he was part of had been there in the late 1950s was new information to my friend.  Then again, it makes sense that he wouldn’t know about this part of the movement’s history in Brazil.  The churches which David Bayless and his co-workers planted were “instrumental” in their worship.

When, sometime in the 1960s or so, Pentecostalism swept through the instrumental Churches of Christ in Brazil, the missionaries and churches Belém resisted.  These northern churches remained largely isolated from any but American churches until the past 20 years.  David has made an effort to maintain contact with the a cappella churches to the south, attending their missionary gathering from time to time and submitting news from the Belém area congregations to The Christian Chronicle.  Having attended a couple of the churches there several years ago I can say they are essentially non-instrumental anyway.

There aren’t many good feelings either from the Belém-area churches or the 120 or so a cappella congregations in Brazil towards the instrumental Churches of Christ that went Pentecostal so many years ago.  Quite frankly, most rank-and-file members likely have no idea such churches exist.  Those who were around for the controversy or who have heard the stories don’t have any desire to be connected to the “Pentecostalized” churches.

That isn’t to imply that the “Pentecostalized” churches have been out of touch with the rest of the Stone-Campbell Movement.  In fact, after the “split” these churches busied themselves with evangelism and growth, spreading to most parts of the nation.  Further, they continued to receive missionaries from the United States (apparently the missionaries kept the Pentecostalism quiet or the sending churches didn’t care).  It could also be said that the “level” of Pentecostalism varies among the congregations, with some being more reserved and others less so.  Most continue to teach baptism, and I was pleasantly surprised during a visit in 1998 to the Flamboyant congregation in Campinas to hear the pastor read every New Testament passage directly relating to baptism and then explain at length that baptism is essential for salvation.

As I stated in the title of this post, there’s to be a gathering in Goiania, Brazil in 2012.  It will be the 18th meeting of the World Convention.  The convention, held every 4 years, is intended to be an international gathering for people from all branches of the Stone-Campbell Movement.  Given the divisive history of the churches in Brazil, and the fact that Goiania is one of the focal points of Pentecostal Church of Christ activity in Brazil, I rather doubt that anyone from the Brazilian churches outside of that group will be in attendance.

Well, I plan to attend.

My Brazilian friend told me that before he moved to the United States his perspective on what Churches of Christ are like was somewhat limited.  All he had known from childhood was the congregation in which he was raised and other churches in the region.  For him, that was what the entire church everywhere was like.  When he came to the United States he began to see that within the same branch of the movement (a cappella) there was modest variation on some points.  When he met me and learned of churches that are committed to being simply Christian, and which use instruments in worship, his perspective was further stretched.  Of course, that doesn’t mean he agrees with it, only that he has a somewhat broader vision now.  While that may be the case with him, such is not true in much of Brazil.

To be entirely honest, I am somewhat conflicted about World Convention 2012.  While I believe in the value of meeting with others within the movement and sharing in our common faith heritage, I also understand the resistance from I some quarters to participating.  Involvement could be seen as endorsement or a lowering of standards.  Further, stories have circulated for years of “Pentecostalized” folks infiltrating the non-Pentecostal churches in order to turn them.  I have no direct knowledge of such activities, but I have it on pretty good authority that it’s true, rather like how non-institutional brethren have been reported to cozy up to “mainline” a cappella congregations in the U.S. and elsewhere to try to change them.

Additionally, I’m not one who believes in “unity meetings” for their own sakes.  As I have written elsewhere, there is a missional purpose to unity.  Getting together with Christians who hold other viewpoints on some matters can be worthwhile, but I truly believe that it’s meaningless unless used to advance the mission of God.  Putting everyone in the same room may be a first step, but it is only that unless we proceed to work out a path forward.

Still, I prefer dialogue over debate and cooperation over isolation.  The fact that I worked mostly with non-instrumental churches over the past decade or so has never been considered an endorsement of their views.  When the topic comes up (rarely) I state my views.  The world, so far, has continued to turn.  In attending the World Convention it should be no different.  I will go into it looking for like-minded people and will attempt to discern what level of collaboration we can engage in for the sake of Christ’s reign in Brazil and around the world.  There will be some with whom nothing beyond a friendly conversation can be realized.  Perhaps others will invite me to speak at a revival or seminar in the future.  Still others may be so much on the same “wavelength” that we can partner in ministry more fully.  Unless I go, I won’t know what is possible, if anything.

So, Lord willing, I hope and plan to be there in Goiania in 2012 for the 18th World Convention of Christian Churches/Churches of Christ/Disciples of Christ.  This is also why I hope you will try to make it too, if you share in the Stone-Campbell heritage and value simple Christianity.