JWJeffery.com

Hello all:

The other day, I was trying to explain to a friend the history, differences, and relation of the Churches of Christ to the United Church of Christ. After I was done with my admittedly confusing lecture, my buddy remarked that a diagram would be more helpful. I sat down tonight and made one. Click here to see if full size. You’ll need to download it to see it full size.

Josh

Hello Everyone:

I’ve been planning for quite a while now to finish my bachelors degree at Lipscomb. However, my wife is in the middle of getting accepted into nursing school here in Portland, which means that we will be here for another 2 - 3 years. I am graduating with my AA (with honors) in June.

So, I finally broke it down and figured that if we are going to spend the next 2 - 3 years in Portland, that I might as well finish by bachlors degree so that I can be ready to enter graduate studes at Lipscomb, which is what I really want to do anyway.

So, I’ve applied to Marylhurst University. Marylhurst is Portland’s other Catholic college. Its very heavy on the liberal arts, and it is quite a bit more progressive than the University of Portland. I plan on concentrating in Social Philosophy and Christian Ethics while there. This is a new direction for me, I’ve only taken one philosophy class at Clackamas, but I really enjoyed it (or at least the part of it that focused on social and political philosophy, and ethics) and I think a focus on these two disciplines will be helpful when applying to graduate programs in history.

Most of my reading lately has been on the American Civil War, which is one reason of several I haven’t been blogging lately. I’ve just been trying to get a good background in what happened during that period in American History. I’m hoping to finish in that area for a little while and get back into theology and church history, and resume blogging more frequently. We’ll see.

Josh

Hello all:

I recently bugged my mother into finally finding our family genealogy book. After much prodding, she finally found it. My original intent was to try and update it… in our branch of the family tree, it stops at my Grandfather. The book was compiled in the 30’s, so it is obviously lacking much.

I’ve spent the last few days doing internet searches, and I’m amazed at what I’ve found. I figured I’d find snippets hear and there…and for a little bit, I did, until I figured out the right key words to use. Then I walked right into a gold mine.

My grandfather was born in a town called Mt. Olive, Arkansas. My parents had told me that there was a family homestead there at one time, and a family cemetery. Unfortunately, there are about five different “Mt. Olive” locations in Arkansas. My father could not remember the name of the county, but he did remember that Mt. Olive is located on the White River. Using that, I found that it is located in Izard County.

Online, I found that my great-great-great-great (4 greats) Grandfather was one of the original settlers of Izard County. In fact, he founded the town of Mt. Olive. He moved to Mt. Olive at the close of the War of 1812, which he fought in. Several of his brothers moved to the Mt. Olive areas as well, making the Jeffery family influential because of their numbers.

As with any history, I found something disappointing as well. That great-great-great-great Grandfather of mine also brought the first African slaves into Izard County. Apparently, he owned quite a few, which would mean that he was wealthy. Most folks in Northern Arkansas had no slaves. In fact, many people in Northern Arkansas sided with the union during the Civil War.

Great-Great-Great-Great Grandpa Jehoiada served as the county judge, the county sheriff, and as the county clerk at various times. He was influential in bringing the county seat to Mt. Olive, were it resided for almost 100 years. Several of his sons fought for the confederacy, and at least one family member joined a resistance movement against the grey coats.

Jehoiada also founded the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Mt. Olive, which is one of the few remaining and operating relics in Mt. Olive, which has become a ghost town now.

I showed my five year old the picture of Jehoiada shown at the top of this post, and he cried because he realized that any great-great-great-great-great grandfather of his must have died. I guess he’s not quite old enough yet to feel the joy of finding out about members of your family that long ago left this earth for a better place.

There is so much more waiting to be learned about this one man and his family. I’ll be spending (at least) the next several months digging, and I’ll try and post a little of what I find.

I’ve been doing quite a bit of reading about the Christian Connexion. As mentioned previously, I read Barton Stone’s memoirs, then moved on to Abner Jones, and then Elias Smith. I am currently reading Milo T. Morrill’s History of the Christian Denomination.

The Christian Connexion united themselves out of existence in 1931 when they merged with the Congregational Church in 1931, becoming the Congregation Christian Churches. Those churches merged with the Evangelical and Reformed Churches in 1961 to become the United Church of Christ. I recently read in Paul Conkin’s book that the former Christian Connexion churches are now virtually unidentifiable within the UCC.

However, that got me thinking and started on a small research project. When I was doing some research on the merger with the UCC, I found that some of the Congregational Christian Churches did not agree to the UCC merger. The congregations that refused to merge generally ended up in three groups. The smallest group repudiated all denominational membership, one group of churches became the Conservative Congregational Christian Churches, and the other group formed the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches.

I searched through the congregation list of the Conservative Congregation Christian Churches (called the 4 C’s by many), and found several congregations that just called themselves “Christian Church.” These congregations are all quite old. I did a little digging and finally found one that could trace its history all the way back to James O’Kelly and the Republican Methodists. The Cypress Chapel Christian Church was originally an Anglican Church, founded before the Revolution. During the war, the congregation became Methodist, and in 1794, they joined O’Kelly’s group of “Christians.” They joined the Congregational Christian Churches in 1931, but refused to join with the UCC in 1961, and were an independent church until they joined the Conservative Congregational Christian Churches several years ago.

I’ve sent this church an email to see if they have a written church history.

One thing I found interesting. On their “beliefs page” I found this statement:

We believe that there is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

Considering that most Christian Connexion congregations were very much anti-trinitarian, this is a very orthodox statement on the three persons of God.

Josh

Hello all:

While reading the memoirs of Abner Jones, I came across this nice little tidbit, which reminded me of various incidents (sometimes ongoing) in different congregations I’ve been a member of over the years. I couldn’t help but laugh at the thought of how many things stay the same, even after 200 years. I like Jones’ remedy for how to solve the problem, as well as his remedy for determining who should preach before the church.

Josh

After speaking of the declension of the church in Boston, and some of the causes of it, he attributes it mainly, after all, to a want of thorough organization. And this was the case, he says, in most of the churches. The brethren mistook their liberty for license, and things were not conducted in that order which the New Testament enjoins, and which is essential to success. He then goes on to say.

“The great Head of the church has ordained that there shall be Elders in every church; neither can any church prosper long at a time, without a Pastor, or Elder. For lack of this our early churches suffered much, nor was it possible for us to take proper care of our churches. This caused many to go over to the Baptists, and Methodists, that they might thereby enjoy the blessing of a constant ministry. Many wandered from the fold into the world for the want of being well taken care of; so upon the whole, on this ground we have been very great losers. It was a favorite doctrine in all our early churches that there were gifts in the church, such as prayer and exhortation, which ought to be improved in public meetings, as well as those or preaching. This doctrine I now firmly believe. But in those early clays, I am constrained to say that in the injudicious use of this privilege great evil was done. For it is certain that many who had not gifts to speak either to the edification of saints, or the conviction of sinners, were the most forward to occupy the time, and such become a great burden to the church, and gave the enemy great occasion to blaspheme. If any attempt was made to correct such an evil, the cry was immediately made, ‘You want to take away our liberties, you want to bring us into bondage, you want to be popular, you want to be a Lord over God’s heritage,’ &c. &c. The question will now arise, how shall this evil be remedied in such a manner as not to stop the exercise of these valuable gifts? Answer. ‘Let the church judge of these gifts as they do of preaching gifts, and also approve the same. If a brother says, ‘God has called me to preach, the church does not approve or hear such a brother, unless they can I discover preaching gifts in him. In the same manner let the church judge impartially of all gifts.. I do not believe that every man, women, and child who are converted, have gifts to speak in public meetings. Circumstances have often occurred like the following. The sermon has been delivered in a most solemn, spiritual and judicious manner. Saints have been made happy, and sinners have been solemnly impressed. But a weak brother or sister arises, merely because they feel happy and want to express it. Yet they can say nothing to edification, and the good impressions are often injured. But it is said such an one has as good right as any other, and he ought to speak to clear his own mind. But let us remember that the true object of speaking is not to edify ourselves, but to edify others.

I have never questioned the piety, and good intentions of such brethren; but to me there is a deep importance to be attached to the charge, that every thing should be done decently and in order. Saint Paul says, that though many things are perfectly lawful, they are not expedient.

–Memoir of Elder Abner Jones, by Abner Dumont Jones. pp. 76 - 78.