Facing Our Failure: A review (part 1)

February 6, 2009 Matthew Keedy Clifton Book Reviews

Deaver, Todd. Facing Our Failure: The Fellowship
Dilemma in Conservative Churches of Christ.

Todd Deaver sees a problem with the church. In a nutshell, he believes the church’s view and practice of fellowship is wrong and must be changed. In this multi-part review, I will take a look at Deaver’s arguments and address as much as I can from what some would call my “conservative” point of view. Let me be clear that I will not present counter-arguments to Deaver’s work in this initial article. Instead, I will attempt to give the reader a feel for where the author is coming from. In this first part, we will look at some basics.

Deaver has been in full-time ministry for 12 years, and is currently the pulpit minister for the Church of Christ in Oliver Springs, Tenn. He began preaching in 1989 while enrolled in the Southwest School of Bible Studies in Austin, Tex. After his graduation in 1990, he began attending Freed-Hardeman University in Henderson, Tenn., receiving a BA in Bible and Philosophy in 1992 and a master’s degree in 1997. He and his wife Janel have two daughters.

The copy of Facing Our Failure that I utilized for this review was a paperback edition, 6″ x 9″. Facing Our Failure is organized into five main chapters not including the introduction and conclusion. There is an appendix and a bibliography to round out the book. Deaver is to be commended for his writing style, which is straightforward and logical, and will be easily accessible to most readers. He presents his arguments in a simple and easy-to-understand manner. The book is extremely well-documented, and the footnotes are a big part of the book’s content. Even if you disagree with Deaver, his research is to be appreciated, and his footnotes and bibliography can be used as a quick reference to brotherhood literature on many “hot button” topics.

As for his thesis, it is pretty simple. He believes that the churches of Christ have been inconsistent in the practice of fellowship (p. 14). He attempts to demonstrate that this inconsistency shows in how the church handles a variety of issues on which we sometimes find disagreement.

In his introduction, he presents a laundry list of problem issues: Instrumental music in worship, women preachers, observing the Lord’s supper on days other than Sunday, divorce and remarriage, biblical inerrancy, direct operation of the Holy Spirit, and fellowship with denominations. He says these issues have “desecrated the precious unity of Churches of Christ” (p. 11). But, he writes:

“…there are other issues over which we disagree but don’t divide. Many of them seem just as serious as the ones named above–some of them even involve our public worship, just like instrumental music–and they are often opposed on exactly the same grounds. But for some reason we tolerate diversity in these areas and remain united. Why?” (p. 11).

Among the issues that he says we tolerate diversity in are singing religious songs with instruments in our homes, listening to instrumental “contemporary Christian” music, clapping hands during songs in worship, the use of praise teams, praying to Jesus, drama in worship, head coverings for women, different teachings on marriage and divorce, elder qualification issues, and several others (pp. 52-55).

Deaver’s point is this: If we divide over instrumental music, why do we not divide over, for instance, clapping during singing in worship? Throughout his book, he cites examples of one gospel preacher teaching something on a certain issue, then Deaver shows where another gospel preacher disagrees, but remains in fellowship with the one with whom he disagrees. Why can the church not do this with instrumental music, he asks? It is all about consistency, he says.

“Some brethren, though, will see: a theology that can’t be consistently applied is one that is fundamentally flawed. Something must change” (p. 14).

With these concepts from Deaver’s book in mind, we can look further at what he says is his primary goal:

“That’s why the sole purpose of this book has been to destabilize the traditional view” (p. 108). “The sole purpose of this book, therefore, is to help traditional brethren see that their current view of fellowship cannot be defended and ought to be abandoned. We must turn to something else.” (p. 109).

Because of the inconsistencies that Deaver sees in church doctrine, he feels the current state of teaching on fellowship should be abandoned, and replaced with…something else. The “something else,” however, is left out of the current work. Deaver says this is by design. To do so, he says, would risk attacks from those who would oppose a novel solution to what he perceives as the problem, without actually admitting there is a problem to begin with. He writes,

” My contention is that the dilemma should be faced on its own, before any possible solution is considered or critiqued. If the alternative approach is refuted by means of traditional beliefs and arguments, and if those traditional beliefs and arguments are not-and cannot be-consistently implemented (as this book has, I believe, shown), then the traditional beliefs and arguments are themselves flawed and cannot be validly used as an answer to the alternative paradigm” (p. 109).

So, is the current understanding of fellowship among churches of Christ a “web of self-contradiction,” as Deaver states (p. 14)? Or are there factors about doctrine and fellowship that Deaver has overlooked in his work? We will examine these issues here in the coming days and weeks. Stay tuned…

Other reactions

Although most reviews of Facing Our Failure are by far not conservative, I present some links here in case anyone wants to get a well-rounded set of opinions on this book. I make no endorsements on teachings, associations, etc., in regard to these sites. They are provided merely for further information.

John Dobbs’ review

Gil Yoder’s review (Part 1 — he has a series going, this is the first)

Yoder, Part 2

Yoder, Part 3

Yoder, Part 4

Yoder, Part 5

Bobby Valentine’s review

Nick Gill’s review

Jay Guin’s review

Alan Rouse’s review

George Mearns review

John Mark Hicks review

As more reviews pop up, I will post a link.

book review, Fellowship,

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