The family of God here at Dowagiac Church of Christ wishes to extend to you a warm welcome. If you have questions about our worship services and why we do what we do, we will be glad to give you a biblical answer. The uniqueness of the Church of Christ is that we are trying to restore to the best of our ability those things that we see the first century Church doing. We are also working hard at building the spirit, unity, and love that Jesus taught and prayed for. We have no clergy, but are working together as equal co-workers trying to serve one another and the area in which we live. Come study with us, grow with us, and serve with us as we strive to do God's will in all things.


Remember to get a copy of the "prayer sheet" from Julie and Karl Marcussen. Use the sheet and keep track of people in need, praying for them, calling them, keeping in touch.

The Foxes have sent a few cards from Florida, and Larry has called a couple of times. He was crabbing that it got down to 75 and was cold, so he was rubbing salt in the wound. They have a congregation they were involved with last year, so they are staying connected. Donna Pickens took a fall on the ice on Monday and hit her head pretty hard. She was better on Thursday, just sore and a little dizzy. Cynthia Clayton is in Grand Junction, Colorado, taking care of her mother and trying to help get things settled from her brother's death in December. Plans right now are that she will join John in a California lectureship March 4-6 and be back here March 7.

DIVIDING THE WORD OF TRUTH

We have encouraged everyone to use the question box in the lobby to ask questions anonymously that they would like to know the answers to concerning the Bible, the Church, and the work here. This discussion is in response to "Why we don't have an organ, piano, guitar, or some other aid to our worship." We would hope that what distinguishes this congregation is not whether we have an organ or not, but how we serve, how we care, how we are involved in doing the Lord's work. Here are some of the reasons we do not use instruments in our worship service.

1. Our basic message to our community concerning who we are is that we are trying to restore the Church we read about in the New Testament as completely as we can. Nowhere in the New Testament is there any indication that the Church of the first century used an instrument in their worship; nor is there any command to do so. In the Old Testament in the Jewish worship there was, but just as we do not sacrifice animals in worship we do not use harps or other additions to the human voice because as far as we know the first century Church did not. The first historical reference to instruments being used in worship was not until many hundreds of years after the last apostle had died.
2. Commands to the early Church in the Bible are all about singing and never about playing. Ephesians 5:19 says we are to speak to ourselves "in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord." Colossians 3:16 tells us the same thing but adds to admonish one another in our singing as well. When we sing we do these things if we pay attention to the words and consider the message of the songs. Our song leaders do a good job of connecting our songs to our lessons, helping us do this. Listening to an instrument usually will not do all of these things.
3. Worship is not a spectator sport. Worship is something that everyone should participate in, and whether a person can sing well or not, we can all in our own way participate. It requires skill to play anjnstrument, and usually solos are a part of the use of an instrmhent. Quality of the sound is not an issue. Participation is, and we try to do everything we can to have 100 percent participation.