The Bible Way Split: Witness to Schism

In the year 1914, Elder Robert Clarence Lawson took charge of a fledgling mission started by an evangelist. He incorporated in 1919 it as a church in Columbus, Ohio, calling it the "Church of Christ of the Apostolic Faith, Inc." His assistant pastor there was Karl Smith. 
 
Later in 1919, Lawson went east to New York City on a word from the Lord. He had preached there before, but this time he stayed. Beginning at a prayer meeting in a basement on 40th Street, Lawson established the Refuge Church of Christ in Harlem, the "city of refuge" for migrant Negroes escaping the South. He preached up other little congregations throughout the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Southeast. Eventually he invited all of these congregations to partake in a convention in New York, including his church from back in Columbus, the Church of Christ. Over time, it became clear that, despite continued fellowship, Lawson was organizing his own work and was no longer a part of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World. Karl Smith took office as General Secretary of Lawson's new organization.

After some years, Lawson met with Smith and the Church of Christ congregation regarding some issue that surfaced within the congregation. Smith, following his personal convictions, disagreed with Lawson's approach to the issue. Part of the church followed Lawson's leadership, and the other part stayed with Smith, who returned to the PAW. This incident, though minor, was perhaps the first interruption to occur under Lawson's leadership.

Watching the whole affair was a young Smallwood Williams. It was he who recalled Smith's words, "I will not yield." The writer will not attempt to read any psychological effects into Williams' witnessing of this event. He was just 18 years old at the time (1925). However, observing Lawson's disagreement with another, subordinate minister must have been instructive. 

While Karl Smith was willing to take a definite stand for his convictions, Williams being so young may have seen Lawson's intransigence as a force to be reckoned with; after all, some 24 years lay between them. Williams was just entering manhood, while Lawson had ascended into middle age. Social custom demanded deference, as did the sheer power of Lawson's personality. He was respected by young and old, a genuine intellectual, and a rhetorician of unusual power. Inasmuch as he needed someone to vouchsafe his legitimacy as a teenage preacher, it is not hard to imagine Williams recognizing the need to carry on ministry in a way that not only pleased God, but also went over well with Lawson.

While the Bible Way split was based on the argument that Lawson was dictatorial, one wonders what Lawson was really like as an administrator. In our next article, we'll examine Lawson's relationship with his junior ministers.