Lipscombian anti-ism

“Port Gibson church is now redeemed from the thralldom of Lipscombian anti-ism, and safely anchored again to the Rock of Ages.”

--Gospel Messenger July 16, 1987, p.2.

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Published in Nashville, the Gospel Messenger was affiliated with the Christian Standard orbit of preachers and evangelists and was edited by M. F. Harmon and O. P. Speigel. Its pages carried reports of meetings by T. B. Larimore, T. W. Caskey, B. F. Manire and T. W. Brents, and in the issue prior to this one, quite favorably reviewed D. Lipscomb’s Commentary on Acts.

Lindsley Avenue Homecoming

It was my pleasure to speak yesterday at Lindsley Avenue Church of Christ in Nashville for their Homecoming Sunday. Lindsley Avenue is the oldest Church of Christ in Nashville, having grown from the preaching of David Lipscomb in South Nashville (as early as 1855). By 1877 they purchased a lot at the corner of Third Avenue South (then known as College Street) and Ash Street. A decade later they completed a brick building (which is no longer standing) and under the preaching of T. B. Larimore the congregation was set in order. That was November 1887, so this years' homecoming marks their 120th Anniversary. From what I can gather they can legitimately claim to go back to the 1850's although they existed for years as a "mission" church. It seems that they did not have elders and deacons and may not have met every week to observe the Lord's Supper and carry out a program of ministry until Larimore's meeting gave them a real boost in 1887. Although not set in order, they did have an active Sunday School (which was quite large) even though they conducted in rented quarters until the building was completed.

It was this congregation that David Lipscomb served as elder from 1887 until his death thirty years later, in November 1917. This church piques my interest becuase it is one thing to read what Uncle Dave writes each week in the Advocate; this church's story shows what life is like in a congregation, week in and week out, under Lipscomb's pastoral care. I'm not suggesting there is a disconnect between what he writes and what he practices; I suggesting that this church provides a wider frame of reference for understanding Lipscomb that simply the pages of the Advocate. At any rate, having outgrown their building, they purchased the Presbyterian meetinghouse at Second and Lindsley Avenues in 1920. At that time the Carroll Street Christian Church (which had swarmed from South College Street) returned and the two congregations took the name Lindsley Avenue Church of Christ. The building is an eclectic Romanesque example of 1890's church architecture, originally constructed for the Grace Cumberland Presbyterian Church in 1894. The older photo to your right is from 1896, when the Grace Church and her pastor were featured in the Centennial Album of Nashville (the same Centennial which gave us, among other things, Centennial Park and the Parthenon).

I'll have more to say about this congregation, the building, and the area of town (not to mention the ministry Uncle Dave pastored) in future posts. Needless to say, I have a new research interest. Tomorrow I'll try to post additional photos of the interior of the building I took yesterday. I'll also post my sermon.

Converting the World

Converting The World
David Lipscomb
Gospel Advocate, Vol. 52, No. 3 (January 20, 1910): 77

The world can never be converted to Christ in the meetinghouses or by the regular or professional preachers. There are not enough preachers to reach the masses of the common people. Nor can they be carried to the meetinghouses to be converted. The Bible with its teachings must be carried to them at their homes and amid their family associations. It must be carried there by people who can make themselves familiar with them and in their surroundings. The preachers who depend on the congregations for a support cannot do this work. Men doing this work should be helped by the congregation in many ways. Personal help and assistance, where it can rendered, is better both for the helper and helped. It is better for a Christian to visit and to help a sick person than for him to send others to help him and stay away himself. All his service cannot be so rendered; but personal attention, a visit to a sick man, helps both parties, the visitor and the visited. A few persons in a community starting in an earnest way to worship God and to interest all they can is the surest way to build up a church I know. There are more Christians and churches in Nashville than in any city of its population in the world. They were made through the private members studying themselves and teaching the word of God in various neighborhoods. Very frequently these private members become earnest and effective preachers. South College Street, Green Street, Carroll Street, and Flat Rock were built up in this way; and in West Nashville, North Nashville, and East Nashville the same was true. Brethren that go to work when first converted, to learn and teach, grow by teaching and continue to spread and multiply.

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Another paragraph worth hearing from Uncle Dave's pen. Terry Gardner called this to the attention of the Stone-Campbell email discussion list. I thought it worthy of passing along.