The churches of Christ were divided more than a century ago by the use of instrumental music in worship. This same issue is dividing the Lord’s church today.

The arguments put forward by those wanting instrumental music have not changed. Then, as now, some members of the church were honest enough to say they wanted to use instrumental music in wor­ship simply because they liked it. Others, seeking a weightier reason, contended in­strumental music would improve the singing.

Yet others claimed that instrumental music would attract the world to the church. That idea soon led one affluent church to hire a 25-piece orchestra to per­form during their services. More churches began to secure the best musicians avail­able to create credibility for their musical accompaniment in worship and the devel­opment of their church choirs.

Embracing all of these reason, a willful minority of Christians who wanted to use instruments divided the Lord’s church in St. Louis, Mo., in 1869. A few churches throughout the country had been using small hand organs or melodeons as early as the 1860s. The Christian Church! church of Christ meeting at Seventeenth and Olive Streets was the first Christian Church to use a built-in pipe organ. The majority of members and church leaders did not want to use the instrument, but an “active minority” of agitators persisted. Around this time new elders had been ap­pointment who had no particular convic­tion against the organ and the current op­position was set aside.

J.W. McGarvey, a respected leader and author, wrote in his autobiography regard­ing the introduction of the organ in St. Louis: “The affair awakened intense inter­est throughout the brotherhood, and was re­garded as seriously imperiling the unity that hitherto prevailed in the body at large. .Various brethren in other states who were enamored of the instrument com­menced its public advocacy, and it was rapidly introduced in the churches though in hundreds of instances its introduction was the occasion of strife and bitterness.”

Few brethren in the late 1 800s tried to give biblical reasons for their actions. They referred to the use of musical instru­ments in the Old Testament, but most ig­nored the scriptures for justification of their actions. W.K. Pendleton, editor of the Millennial Harbinger, argued that the use of instrumental music in worship was a matter of expediency. Members were as­sured that the Bible did not forbid its use.

The result of the instrument being added into worship was a divided church with wounds that have never healed. This divi­sion was officially recognized by the US Census of Religious Bodies in 1906.

A century later, many self-appointed change agents in both the church of Christ and the Christian church are engaged in an effort to reunite these dif­ferent religions. God’s people should beware, for these efforts are well-orches­trated and designed to gain public atten­tion and acceptance.

Those who introduced instrumental mu­sic and other innovations into the work and worship of the church were responsi­ble for the division. With increasing fre­quency I hear false teachers say leaders in the church of Christ caused the division and are perpetuating it, but the words of McGarvey ring with truth, “Let our digres­sive brethren tell us which side did the drifting.” Diligent and faithful Christians need to be aligned on the side of Scripture:

“Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them (Romans 16:17).