The way Wade Hodges sees it, a cappella churches of Christ and instrumental Christian Churches share too much in common not to treat each other like family.

But in Truitt Adair’s view, any attempt at unity that does not include an “honest discussion of the things that divide us” risks creating more division than reconciliation.

Such are the disparate views among church leaders 100 years after a 1906 federal religious census first reported the a cappella and instrumental churches as separate bodies.

Today, the a cappella churches report about 1.3 million baptized members in the United States, slightly more than the instrumental churches’ 1.2 million. Both groups believe that Jesus Christ is Lord, baptize for remission of sins and offer the Lord’s Supper each Sunday.

To mark the centennial, the Abilene Christian University Lectureship in Texas and the Tulsa International Soul-Winning Workshop in Oklahoma both plan tag-team keynote addresses featuring university presidents or ministers from both groups.

In addition, about 40 ministers from a cappella churches of Christ will speak at the largest annual gathering of instrumental Christian Churches -— the North American Christian Convention in Louisville, Ky.

The ministers of the largest congregations in each fellowship — Rick Atchley of Richland Hills Church of Christ in Fort Worth, Texas, and Bob Russell of Southeast Christian Church in Louisville — will appear at all three events.

“We’re not soft-pedaling the differences. We think they’re real and significant,” said Mark Love, director of the ACU Lectureship, set for Feb. 19-22. “But they shouldn’t stop us from loving each other and talking together and celebrating the things we do agree on.”

Hodges, director of the Tulsa Workshop, which is March 23-25, said he would like to see both groups work together on service projects.

“I don’t expect to see a bunch of mergers occur, and I’m not encouraging it,” said Hodges, preaching minister at the Garnett Church of Christ in Tulsa. “But I do think it would be really cool if a church of Christ and a Christian Church built a Habitat for Humanity house together … or worked to do something about the AIDS crisis in Africa.”

However, two major ministries that usually operate booths at the Tulsa Workshop — Sunset International Bible Institute in Lubbock, Texas, and World Bible School in Cedar Park, Texas — won’t this year.

Adair, Sunset’s executive director, said in a letter to supporters that the workshop’s “shift away from a soul-winning emphasis” sparked the decision.

Likewise, John Reese, a vice president with World Bible School, cited the workshop’s “move away from the titled purpose of ‘soul winning.’”

“We are not at all hostile toward any effort to bring brethren together,” Adair told the Chronicle. “However, we believe that these ideals must be achieved in the atmosphere of open and honest discussion of the things that divide us as well as those things we share in common.”

Hodges said the Tulsa Workshop remains an a cappella event, and he has no desire to change that. As for differences with instrumental churches, he said “there is a realization among a growing number from both tribes that we’re still part of the same family.”

“We may worship differently, but we worship the same God,” Hodges said. “Our congregations may not be cookie-cutter replications of each other, but we are still committed to the same mission.”

Both fellowships grew out of the Restoration Movement of the 1800s.

Disagreements over instruments in worship, missionary societies and what it means when the Bible is silent on an issue caused a split shortly after the Civil War, according to historians.

But until 1906, religious almanacs included both groups under one heading: “Christian Churches.” That changed when the editors of the Gospel Advocate, unofficially representing the a cappella churches, and the Christian Standard, on behalf of the instrumental churches, asked for separate census figures.

In the 1920s, a separate split occurred among the instrumental Christian Churches over issues such as open membership, the ecumenical movement, liberal theology and denominational hierarchy.

The people in favor of those changes formed a third group: the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), which has about 770,000 members in the U.S.

Conservative Christian Church members started the North American Christian Convention in 1927 to provide a national gathering for fellowship and sound preaching, said Victor Knowles, a Christian Church member and founder of Peace on Earth Ministries in Joplin, Mo.

The convention, which will be June 27-30, is not a delegate meeting, and nobody votes on social or theological issues, said David Faust, president of Cincinnati Christian University, which is affiliated with the instrumental churches.

“It’s just a big annual gathering of Christians who come together for Bible teaching, fellowship and encouragement,” Faust said. Among the scheduled speakers from a cappella churches are Prentice Meador, Jerry Taylor, Jeff Walling, Carl Brecheen, Paul Faulkner, Carroll Osburn, Don McLaughlin, Albert Lemmons, Calvin Warpula, Ron Rose and Mike Cope.

Knowles, who has organized unity forums for more than 20 years, said the two groups share “the same spiritual DNA.”

“In the essentials, we are one. In non-essentials, we need to allow liberty,” Knowles said. “In all things, we need to have more love.”

Both groups believe in the inspiration of Scriptures, elder-led congregations and world evangelism, church leaders say.

But Jack Evans Sr., president of church of Christ-affiliated Southwestern Christian College in Terrell, Texas, said he sees the unity events as “just another ploy of Satan to help change the total identity of the New Testament church.”

“As it proceeds, I see a complete abandonment by some churches of Christ of the basic principles of the New Testament within the next few years,” Evans said.

On the other hand, some a cappella church leaders who view instrumental music as doctrinally wrong say they nonetheless consider instrumental church members “their brethren.” Flavil Yeakley, director of the Harding Center for Church Growth in Searcy, Ark., said he would not teach that an instrumental church member coming to an a cappella church would need to be re-baptized.

“However, I could not in good conscience be a part of a congregation that used instrumental music in the worship assembly,” Yeakley said. “I believe that the instrumental brethren are ‘brethren-in-error’ — but brethren-in-error are the only kind of brethren we have.”